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Hydraid...
review
In an effort to raise money following the biggest natural disaster Gloucestershire has ever seen, bands - and not that many fans - turned out for Hydraid to support the flood victims.
Even Ozzy Osbourne's PA was there, at a reduced fee, to help the day go smoothly and to help auction off a drum kit signed by all the people who played at the event.
Unfortunately there was a very poor turn-out, possibly due to the lack of advertising and the fact that the event was conceived and staged in just six weeks. However, those who did go created a day of fun and appreciation of good music, and it provided an opportunity for awards to be given to some of the heroes from the floods.
The first part of the day or ‘dawn show’ as it was coined, comprised of nine bands varying in genre and success. Gloucester born and bred rock-metallers, Mynor Setbak, opened the day to a rip-roaring start with their impressive debut set, fuelled by their charismatic new singer who bantered with the audience and put energy and drive into his performance despite the disappointing number of people there. Next on was Two Minutes Hate, whose name is a reference to George Orwell’s book, 1984, followed by classic Cheltenham punks Demob. Both bands, once again, gave a heavy and energetic performance to the few people who had turned up at the beginning of the day.
Later into the afternoon, as more people arrived, the style of music merged from loud angst-filled heavy guitar music to fun-filled folk and fusion bands, with psychobilly-ska punk band Frenzy filling in the gap. The band gave an amazing performance, making full use of the stage to play songs from across their impressive career of thirteen albums. The latest of which, Nitroboy, was recently released on their own independent label, and they will soon be touring hard again across Europe. Frontman, Steve Captain Zack Whitehouse, played his double bass so frantically you almost expected to see smoke rising from the strings. By the end of their performance they had got a good majority of the audience dancing around the hall, which created a great atmosphere for the next few bands.
The youngest stars of the day, Majorical, were next to the stage to get the audience dosey doeing, attempting to Irish dance and just generally moving in the most ridiculous and fun ways possible to their catchy folk music. A couple of lads even tried to start a mosh pit at one point. Fusion band, The Smirkins' performance had much the same affect.
The two headlining acts finished off the dawn show, first classic rock band Which Way Up, followed by Gloucester heroes Irritant, who recently topped the MySpace unsigned charts. Between the two bands was a “drum off” between the drummer of Mynor Setbak and the headlining act.
Thankfully more people bought tickets to the dusk show, which consisted of six international bands varying around the gothic/pagan/industrial/electronica genres, with a refreshing infusion of metal from Isolation mid-way through.
Psalms and Inertia opened up the evening, after which Isolation took to the stage, who arguably should have headlined the show. The band took to the stage in orange jump suits, ripped and blood spattered with a front man clad with hockey mask, silver dreads and straightjacket. As he flailed to get out of his straightjacket his mask flew off revealing his staring blacked out contact lenses. Eventually as he flailed he got out of it, marching around the stage with his awesome tattoos displayed. A real hit with the audience, particularly when they covered Drowning Pool’s Bodies. “If only we wrote it” said front man Al, “Then we’d be the rich rock stars”.
The atmosphere was then darkened back down again for curious duo Deviant UK. Next on were Vlad in Tears who had travelled from Italy for their UK tour, using Hydraid as a warm-up gig. And finishing the day were female fronted, Inkubus Sukkubus, who wound down the evening with their pagan rock to a calming end, including a cover of The Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black.
Many of the bands who played Hydraid are currently playing around the UK. Tour dates and more information on each band can be found on their myspace sites by clicking the band nam above.
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