Written by DJ Monk
There is something to be said for indoor festivals – staying dry being perhaps the most obvious! And when one is dedicated to everything that is big hair and mascara… well, you don’t want the rain ruining all those precious back combs and carefully applied eye liners, do you now?
With the summer festival season now approaching something of a damp ending, the focus now turns to those events staged with a roof over the crowds’ heads: first on the horizon is the second iteration of HRH Sleaze. As DQ and I prepare to head back across the Irish Sea to Steel City and the darkened confines of the O2 Academy, here is my personal choice of the bands I am most looking forward to catching over the first weekend in September…
The Idol Dead (Saturday)
The Idol Dead will no doubt be a name familiar to many regular ÜR readers, but I first came across them, live and in the flesh, at HRH AOR this past March. Not only was I blown away by the fact that Polly Phluid is from just a few miles up the road from ÜRHQ, but also by their hugely entertaining stage show. There may have been nothing adult about them opening the second stage at ridiculous o’clock, but then the same could be said of their snotty-nosed anarchic punk, characterized by the frontman bouncing around the stage like our three-year old grand-daughter on a trampoline. But, then, this is rock ‘n’ roll and we’re all still kids at heart…
The Senton Bombs (Saturday)
The Senton Bombs will be another name familiar to long-time ÜR readers and have rightly earned a reputation as another truly exciting live band, who most definitely light up stages whenever and wherever they play. With a new album reportedly in the can, and a tour backing up the sensational Supersuckers later in the year, the Bombs are riding on a high at the moment, and no doubt will prove one of the highlights of the weekend…
www.facebook.com/thesentonbombs/
Midnite City (Saturday)
Having said that, the weekend is filled with guaranteed highlights, and the Rob Wylde-fronted Midnite City, who released one of the best melodic rock albums by a UK band last October, and have gone on to consolidate their position with some incendiary live performances. Their tightly polished AOR with an inevitable glam touch possesses big singalong choruses with enough hooks to skewer Moby Dick, which in turn are built on concrete solid rhythms and topped of with Wylde’s flamboyance. Another band I’m most certainly looking forward to catching up with again.
www.facebook.com/midnitecityuk/
Last Great Dreamers (Saturday)
What can I realistically say about the Last Great Dreamers? Some of the nicest blokes in rock ‘n’f’n’ roll – even if they’d (try to) nick your miniatures of Cloven Hoof quicker than Lewis Hamilton down the back straight – purveyors of some damn fine toons and executioners of even finer live shows… By our reckoning, this is the first time LGD have actually had their names on an actual HRH poster, having been drafted in as last-minute replacements during the past few events. But, what the hell? They deserve the upgrade – but, this time, the spiced rum is on Slyder!
www.facebook.com/lastgreatdreamers/
Jetboy (Saturday)
Celebrating their 35th anniversary in 2018, San Franciscan glunksters Jetboy continue to prove that they are still a highly relevant force within a genre of which they are quite rightly credited as one of the progenitors. With a new single, ‘Born To Fly’ due to drop at around the same time, it is hard to believe that this weekend will see the band performing in the Uber Kingdom of Rock ‘n’ Roll for the very first time… here’s hoping it’s been worth the wait (I’m sure it will)!
The Black Bullets (Sunday)
When Ben Hughes caught Basingstoke glunksters TBB on their support run with Bullets And Octane earlier this year, it is fair to say that he was extremely impressed, praising them for keeping the spirit of glunk well and truly alive, and comparing them to the now reformed Towers Of London. Well, that’s no bad thing in my books, so I’m looking forward to Billy T and his four bandmates blowing away our Sunday morning cobwebs.
www.facebook.com/TheBlackBulletsUK/
Falling Red (Sunday)
Following on from the release of their superb third album, ‘Lost Souls’, Cumbria’s Falling Red have proved they are anything but, as they continue to carve themselves a niche in the heavily contested field of rock ‘n’ roll hallionship, concentrating on combining hard as nails riffs with massive melodies and hooks guaranteed to stick in your brain for days afterwards. It’s great to see festivals such as HRH continuing to support young, independent bands, and equally that so many of them have used the opportunity to take themselves to the next level. Falling Red are one such example.
www.facebook.com/fallingredofficial/
Shiraz Lane (Sunday)
Life is full of mysteries and one of them is how Shiraz Lane’s amazing debut album, ‘For Crying Out Loud’, didn’t make into my albums of the year list at the time: it just goes to show how much frickin’ great rock ‘n’f’n’ roll music is out there that such gems can fall off the end. However, I hope to more than make up for that lapse in judgement, and checking out tracks from their more recent ‘Carnival Days’ opus, by rockin’ out to the Finns’ brand of slick AOR meets old school glam like the teenager I still am deep down in my filthy r’n’r soul… Hope you’ll join me for the booty shaking!
Tigertailz (Sunday)
Rob Wylde certainly is a busy man at this year’s iteration of Sleaze, what with fronting Midnite City on the Saturday and then undertaking the same role with Welsh glam titans Tigertailz just over 24 hours later. The ‘Tailz and their storied career should need no introduction to ÜR veterans, who also will know one thing is guaranteed and that is fucking great, high energy set crammed with all the songs we’ve come to know and love over the past three decades or so… and if ‘Love Bomb Baby’ doesn’t bring the roof of Academy down around us I’ll wear a pair of DQ’s frilly red knickers the next time around…
www.facebook.com/OfficialTigertailz/
Backyard Babies (Sunday)
Celebrating their 30th anniversary early in 2019 – and with their original line-up still intact (no mean feat in itself – the Babies are one of the most eagerly anticipated headliners in recent HRH history. Having re-signed to Century Media, through whom they released the ‘Shovin’ Rocks’ single at the beginning of the summer, they have a new album – their first in almost four years – also scheduled for early next year. Hopefully we’ll get a bit of a taster of what to expect from it when they bring HRH Sleaze to a riotous close…
www.facebook.com/backyardbabies/
So, there you have it: my personal picks of the bands to watch over the weekend of 1/2 September. No doubt, I’ve omitted some acts that some readers themselves are looking forward to but, hey, that’s the nature of rock ‘n’ roll. No matter, it’s going to be another great weekend of camaraderie, craic and music – any the UR crue, of course, will be there to capture the occasion in all its sleazy detail. See y’all at the bar!
- A limited number of tickets are still available.
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