Rockaway Beach

@ Butlin’s, Bognor Regis - Day Two

It’s day two of the Rockaway Beach weekender in Butlin’s holiday camp, Bognor Regis and today started with a semantic debate about whether this counts as a festival or a resort. “Did you pack a tent or a sleeping bag? “asks Captain Stavros from the comfort of his double bed. He may have a point, and it is reinforced after our buffet breakfast and sojourn in the water park. We’ve never been to one of these with out being a kid, or shepherding a bunch of youngsters and it’s a wonderful experience to go on the slides without having to keep an eye on anyone. The vintage alternative rock coming out of the tannoy only adds to the vibe. We must concede the point but there is definitely a friendly festival vibe amongst the festival goers / guests / resort patrons. We make it to Centre Stage for the gothic shoe gaze of Winter Gardens, who live up to their name. Their Cure inspired tunes are pleasant enough but the harmonies never quite merge.

We Hate You, Please Die is a name designed to get attention and it certainly caught ours. From the opening, they don’t disappoint; lashings of heavy bass, clean telecaster, and thrashing drums back up the angry vocals from the French trio. It’s not just aimless noisemaking either. They aren’t afraid to switch up the tempo and dynamics, and the band never loses control over the music.

Home Counties waste no time hitting their groove. Some early problems with the mix are quickly ironed out and the duo of lead singers lay out hook after hook over a trio of synths and a very funky rhythm section. For an English pop band, they sound more like a Swedish group and bring to mind the noughties alt pop of Danish collective, Alphabeat.

All this euro pop has us to in the mood for dinner and the buffet hits the spot again. We’re coming round to the idea that every festival should have one! We enjoy the dinner a bit too much and miss half of Gans set, which we immediately regret. On record, this English duo sound like Nine Inch Nails clones but live they’ve more of a hardcore vibe, with an angry groove and catchy vocal interplay. The bass and drums merge seamlessly with the synths and their cheeky camaraderie and bluster is perfectly summed up by the Fuck Em All stencil on the synths and the Gans Is Good For The Soul backdrop. Gans are everything Soft Play promised to be before they got all bitter; a good time party band crossed with pedal to the metal energy, check them out immediately.

It’s distinctly odd, after two days of watching unsigned and/or independent bands to come into Studio 36 and see Public Image Ltd on stage. This is a new stage and dwarfs the Centre Stage. The lighting and screens are excellent, and the sound and view of the band are good from all round the room. As incongruous as it may be, it’s very welcome. John Lydon has been a contrarian for longer than most of us have been alive. And yes, his latter day incarnation is much harder to swallow but he remains a compelling performer and PiL are the band he has put most of his time into, even if The Sex Pistols retain more notoriety. A simple introduction of “This is PiL” instigates a ninety minute sermon of rousing, gurning, ululating post punk beauty. It’s a great way to spend the Saturday night of Rockaway Beach’s tenth iteration

40 minutes in and everyone who was just here to see Johnny Rotten or to hear some Pistols numbers has pissed off. The crowd has noticeably thinned out. The intensity from the band never dips though. Lydon may be a cunt, but he’s a funny cunt, a cantankerous one, and he never gives less than his maximum. his act feels like a catharsis for both himself and the audience. And he’s only trying to get a ‘Rise’ anyway.

Postscript: PiL’s interpretation of Leftfield’s ‘Open Up’, which they save for the encore is amazing.

Rockaway Beach

@ Butlin’s, Bognor Regis - Day One

Chewing out a rhythm on my bubble gum, the sun is out but it’s minus one. We’re kicking off the new year in style with a trip to sunny Bognor Regis for Rockaway Beach. Traditionally the first festival of the year, Muso’s Guide has been covering this fest since 2015 .

Captain Stavros is a veteran at this point but it’s the first time for me. It’s off season for Butlin’s holiday camp in January, so Rockaway Beach takes over the whole place for three days. A word of advice for anyone coming from abroad ; fly into Gatwick, not Heathrow, it’ll cut about two hours off your journey!

Logistics aside, we arrive on a clear night with an expected meteor shower. Unfortunately, the glaring light of the full moon makes it difficult to make out even the brightest constellations. We get a comfy room in the Wave Hotel and head down to Centre Stage, where most of the gigs are taking place. Despite the late hour, there’s a queue in Burger King and at the Chinese too.

Voka Gentle are like an hip Brady Bunch who spent their, very recent, youth listening to early Alt J. The two women who occupy the stage to the left and right are either sisters or have spent so much time together that they look and act alike. The other two band members; perhaps brothers, uncles, or cousins, take centre stage but the talent is in the two girls. Their harmonies and multi-instrumental talents are raw and only beginning to take shape but they have something. It’s not clear yet what it is, but they’ve got something. All four members are comfortable with both digital and analogue equipment and often use both simultaneously.

It’s a noticeably older crowd and many of the attendees will have children this age, and are very encouraging, which is no more than the band deserve. Diamonds in the rough but diamonds nonetheless.

After a late arrival and a full day of travel from Dublin, we retire to the comfy surroundings of the hotel room to talk nonsense and decompress, with much anticipation for tomorrow’s activities.