Buzz bands come and go like the wind, yet Man Made have been slowly rising up through the ranks. Tonight sees them opening up for guitarist Nile’s dad, the incomparable Johnny Marr but with that to one side, Man Made storm the stage with an intriguing sound. They take the best bits of a multitude of genres and combine it into an incendiary performance.

From the heavier jams to the wonderful rock 'n' roll freakouts, its like Ezra Furman if he hailed from Manchester. Their straight up sound has the entire crowd up and dancing, there’s flamboyance without being overzealous. They’re tight and filled with energy, latest single 'TV Broke My Brain' sounds phenomenal.

It’s unsurprising that the band is tipped to be huge, and tonight compounds this. They’re one of the brightest and most exciting bands that we’ve had the pleasure of capturing in some time. Johnny Marr also put on one hell of a show, but it is only a matter of time before Man Made are up there headlining.

Musos' Guide, as a rule, doesn’t usually review cover bands, however Fanny Pelmet And The Bastard Suits definitely deserve a mention. Not only because they covered some of my personal '60s favourites such as The Standells' ‘Rari’, The Eyes' ‘You’re too much’, Sharon Tandy's ‘Daughter Of The Sun’ and Shocking Blue's brilliant ‘Send Me A Postcard’ (debuted at the Franklin tonight!), but also because they are a breath of fresh air, and are helping to keep this amazing music alive.  

Fresh from their tour supporting the King Khan & BBQ Show 'down south' are Newcastle’s Ferriday Fireballs. Singer Flyin’ Brian is a bit of a legend, and latterly a member of one of the most fabulous garage bands ever - Los Coyote Men. They open with The Stooges '1970' followed by a raucous rendition of George Jones's 'White Lightnin', but it's not all covers and their very own ‘She’s A Twister’ proves to be on a par. The crowd love their hypnotising primitive beat. It's stripped to the bone rock 'n' roll at its best or worst (depending on how you see it - but let's go with best), and above all it's a FUN show. Brian encourages the crowd and bar staff to dance, and there's cheeky banter, followed by lots of stopping and starting. It all gets a bit shambolic; the Fireballs' knocking out a few random punk covers - but it’s certainly entertaining. Finishing with a cover of Bo Diddley’s ubiquitous ‘Who Do You love’; Stephanie Pelmet joins on harmonica, Andy Bastard Suit takes over guitar duties, whilst Brian goes a bit loopy ‘it’s the codeine kicking in’ he tells us... :)

Top of the bill tonight are The Reverse Cowgirls from Glasgow opening with their new single ‘Hit The Sidewalk’ which has a distinct, soulful garage groove. Their Facebook page quotes that they ‘write simple music and make it complicated’ and I can’t disagree with that, because it’s really difficult to define their sound, spanning punk/blues/country/garage and more. Possibly taking their influences from the likes of Gun Club / Cramps / Primevals; but it would be very unfair to say that they are restricted by the sum of the output of their contemporaries. They have their own unique and potent sound. They are extremely accomplished with a massive presence; "In a completely different league" a friend said. And even though there are only four of them, the Franklin almost seems too small to contain them. Frontman Hugh McLachlan is quite mesmerising. He appears to go through the full range of emotions tonight. Bassist Alaine Alison Walls is right there by his side, and they naturally complement each other, and of course not forgetting the other members of the band who make up this powerhouse. Notable moments are the fuzztastic 'Cry Cry', country style 'As God's My Witness' and 'God Bless The Queen' = a very happy crowd. We hope you come back soon.

A special mention to Jim on the decks spinning, garage gunk, glam junk, rockin' crunk and (very) daft punk!

Well done to the organisers again for another cracking night - The Black Needles and Oh! Gunquit will be playing at the next Franklin Rock 'n' Roll Club on Friday 13th November - click here for details...

Having once again taken advantage of the glorious sunshine to fit in a couple of pints off-camp (and in the process become acquainted with the joys of John Inman’s ‘Are You Being Served, Sir?’) Brighton’s Prince Vaseline were the first act I popped in to see in action today. Some good moody indie was what I got for my efforts, with a really nice interplay of male & female vocals running through the bulk of the set. In their faster numbers there’s a definite Stereolab influence which was a further pleasing element.

Stepping back into daylight and a more traditional sound for the location was wafting from the Skyline stage in the shape of Big Hogg and their brass-infused pop. Pleasant enough but not what I was looking to sit around and experience long term. This was though a stage throwing up oddly placed acts today. Later on Walleater displayed far fewer teeth than their name would suggest whilst Skinny Girl Diet (who drew a good sized crowd) alternated between trying to destroy the place with crushing riffs and screeches and applying the band aid of sweet pop vocals. A visceral act who were definitely placed wrongly. Following them came the dream pop of Emmecosta who played away manfully despite having an audience in single figures. Unbilled there was also an angsty indie trio on later in the evening but as the singer wasn’t clear when saying their name I’m clueless as to who they were.

Opening the main stage was the thoroughly energetic and cheery Misty Miller and her band. Top marks for wit for the song ‘You Can’t Date A Model’ and for letting me witness four older ladies make use of Shazam when a cover version was announced but the title kept a secret (turns out it was a 1D one but I bet Misty’s version was better). Whilst maybe not quite the female version of Theo Verney her’s was an infectiously upbeat performance and definitely crowd-pleasing.

Another cheery chappy was Jonnie Common. Having last seen him in Edinburgh a couple of years ago and recalling that show as fairly dour the other side of the coin was most definitely to the fore here in Bognor. Chatty, cracking the odd joke, querying who’d enjoyed Public Service Broadcasting the night before & generally obviously having a good time his was a fun set to watch. Involving a live drummer throughout also paid off in spades. As it did for the massive performance from Young Fathers later on the same stage.

As Mercury Prize winners they could easily have viewed this date as a contractual obligation they were now too big to do justice to and just gone through the motions. Clearly though they have the pride and desire to give the utmost of themselves when in a live setting. They’ve things to say and aren’t going to let the message be diluted by laziness. Someone I passed by later on described them as punk. Not a description I’d previously have thought of applying based on the contents of DEAD or White Men Are Black Men Too but with the extra urgency the songs gain from the physicality of the band’s performance it’s not very far off the mark in a sense. In years to come being able to say you saw the band give such a vitalic show in a venue of this size, with no security barriers or worried looking chaps in luminous vests between you and the stage, will be a tale to inspire envy.

Pinkshinyultrablast were the first of the night time acts on the main stage tonight. Their sound lacked a bit of presence although that seemed to be the case if you ventured to the back of the hall no matter who was on so possibly it’s a design feature of the space, allowing you to talk without the murmur annoying those more into whomever’s on stage. They rattled through a good set (possibly finishing 15 minutes early) and did the shoegaze revival proud. Things here finished off in mildly psychedelic vein as Lola Colt’s hypnotic, emotionally charged set preceded headliners Spiritualized. As assured as when I saw them play the Liverpool Psych Fest the other year you would hope that they’re one of the acts to have benefited from garnering a bunch of new fans from this weekend as, despite the size of audience they’d attracted, it wasn’t wholly clear many there already knew them.

Fresh from headlining this year’s Psych Fest Spiritualized teased out their arrival onstage with an over long intro tape and then suffered IT issues with their projected backdrop for the length of their 90 minute set. Either that or they were being sponsored by Benq. Jason Pierce played the entire show seated, whether through injury, illness or tiredness was never made clear. Kicking off with ‘Hey Jane’ from the most recent album Sweet Heart Sweet Light they enjoyed sound that was extremely well mixed, meaning the backing vocals and even the drummer’s chimes were easily discernible throughout. Visually though the backdrop, when working, wasn’t really enough to keep that element of the senses fully engaged – a fully mobile frontman would have done that a lot better and as such from about the point that ‘Electricity’ ended there was an air of self-indulgence in the lengthier instrumental parts.

With no overruns it was easy to close out the three days back in Reds one last time to enjoy the final act of the festival, Cult Of Dom Keller. Only a select few had decided to do the same so it was rather like seeing one of the afternoon bands in that respect. Theirs is a distinctly late night sound though – dark, swirling and enthralling as time and again someone’s reminded “You are not my god”. A fine end to a good first effort. 

Further photographs from the event can be found here.

Earlybird tickets for Rockaway Beach 2016, from as little as £79, are available here.

Photos:  Allayne Cassidy

Giveamanakick are, and were, a duo from Limerick made up of Stephen Ryan, on vocals and guitars, and Keith Lawler on drums. They caused a stir on the indie scene in the Noughties with their noisy rock; whimsical lyrics over furious hardcore. They toured Europe and North America playing with the likes of Deftones, Dinosaur Jr and Rocket From The Crypt before disbanding in 2009.

Debut album Is It Ok To Be Loud, Jesus? is still held in high regard and garnered the group a cult following but it was second album We Are the Way Forward that is regarded as their magnum opus, and tonight they play Whelan's main room to mark the 10 year anniversary of its release. It has been reissued on vinyl and Giveamanakick are playing four shows (“no more, no less”) around the country.

DJ Naive Ted opens the proceedings with some old school scratching and hard hitting beats, while dressed as a Luchador. His skills and showmanship are loudly appreciated by the assembled throng but the reaction when Giveamanakick emerge is on another level.

They open with a single note riff and a drum roll to an eruption of joyous screaming. Giveamanakick combine intensity and showmanship with proper hard rock riffing and power chords. Keith spins his sticks while Steve’s shouty vocals provide a strange contrast between his hardcore delivery and the humorous banality of the lyrics. A bit of call and response is encouraged, and some hand clapping. It is all gloriously noisy.

It’s a big sound for a duo but any additional instruments would be overkill. Giveamanakick employ the kind of kick drum and guitar rumble that sends your trousers flapping before the speakers. The songs are well loved by the audience and are delivered with the ferocity of a hardcore band. There’s an instinctive synchronicity between the pair despite their years apart.

There are overtones of McClusky / Future Of The Left as well as explicit nods to Shellac and Nirvana. It’s hard to tell if Giveamanakick came too early or too late to be a big success. They would have fit the grunge explosion in the Nineties, or be touring with Royal Blood or Blacklisters today. Nevertheless this is a fine testament to, and celebration of, the band’s music and live appeal. We could do with more bands like this.

They open with two songs from their debut album, then play We Are The Way Forward in order. Steve notes that “at the time of release everyone ignored it for a year, then some people listened to it”. Halfway through they pause for a question and answer session, with a prize for the best question of a wedge of Port Salut cheese. As a cheese addict and journalist, I take a moment to chastise myself for being underprepared for this moment.

Steve straps on an electric ukulele shaped like a Gibson Explorer; “this is a joke instrument, never stays in tune, we never realised, but here it is again”. It’s a treat to see the whole crowd head banging to a ukulele, although this is probably the heaviest ukulele song ever. He ditches the dinky axe for the song’s finale and switches to a floor tom while Keith puts a whistle to his lips.

Having played the whole album, and with the crowd baying for more, we are told “this is our last song, the last song we will ever play in Dublin”. In beautiful, shambolic punk style, Steve stops the song in the middle of the second verse. His index finger has cramped up and seized into a fixed position. He massages it back into action and they finish up.

Some bands get lucky. Some become huge despite, or because of, the mundanity of their output. Giveamanakick are a welcome reminder that making good music is its own reward. Their passion blazed brightly and briefly. Tonight they have rekindled the embers and all Whelan’s is aflame.