It is 1pm on a glorious Saturday afternoon in the seaside town of Worthing, West Sussex as first band Vektrill hit the stage. Lead singer Scott Miller is sporting a pink and purple shirt that complements the uplighters and he’s playing an equally colourful red glitter guitar. It is a bright start to the festival! During Loveless Machine, a track never played live before, he encourages the crowd to mimic the guitar sounds and they reciprocate. An air raid siren precedes a politically charged intro to a subsequent track, before Scott does a couple of laps of the dance floor, and he falls to his knees before skipping a further couple of times around the crowd.

The energy levels are high, and the crowd continue to warm up for Brighton duo The Better DeaD. The hall is filling up nicely as Cameron Jessop has to take a break to adjust the drum kit, leaving singer Steven Speck to ad lib, while he fixes it. “Have you got something we can stick in front of the bass drum to stop it sliding? No volunteers? he chuckles. The crowd is fully engaged and fixated as they play Sweet Soul Sanctuary, you would never guess that they played their debut gig just three months ago. Four-piece Feral Sun are up next and play a passionate set including recent release and crowd favourite Save Yourself , before dedicating Stand Up to festival organiser Harry White. Guitarist Mark Hosri leapfrogs into first place in the most beautiful guitar of the weekend competition, with his stunning blue Ormsby.

Feral Sun

Weller

NESHIIMA

Exist Immortal

After a slight delay to tweak the sound, Seething Akira are straight out of the starting blocks with the opening line, “Raise your fingers up”, as singers Charlie and Kit grin inanely from the stage throughout Punishment Instructions. By the second track, Charlie is up on the speaker stack, before Kit leaps into the crowd. An effervescent mosh pit erupts and a spillage on the floor is quickly wiped up with a hoodie. Before the set is over, Charlie crowdsurfs and the crowd ruptures again for Gravity. An emotional performance follows as Mordecai deliver the first farewell of the weekend. With his flame red hair, Dan Hicks and co. open with Fight Fire with Fire before the chugging guitars of Method In Your Madness and words of encouragement from Dan’s mum in the crowd. If the heart strings had not already been tugged, Dan explains, “This is a personal song about my grandfather and the first time I’ve played it live since he passed away”, before playing Lifeline. James Sanger-Brown from Caine makes a guest appearance on aptly named Final Curtain and it is soon time for precisely this. As the band leave the stage, Dan raises his guitar above his head in a pensive moment.

Mordecai

Esoterica

There are smiles all round as we arrive for day two, and the buzz from Saturday is still lingering in the air as the sun yet again is shining on this coastal town. With ten more bands on offer, it wouldn’t be a festival in 2022 without a last-minute change in line up. Doctor Payne is unfortunately not able to attend but Glass Grave slide effortlessly into the slot, and bedecked in a white boiler suit and blue and pink hair, singer Adam Connor is soon leaping into the audience and getting up close and personal. It is a great turnout for such an early start and this usually five-piece wake everyone from their Sunday slumber. No sooner does the crowd comply with the now familiar “move forward” and Adam is back on the dance floor cutting a swathe through them like a strimmer! After just 17 minutes the set is over and the audience are left wanting more.

After a Ted Nugent Stranglehold soundcheck, Lost Asylum are ready to be discovered. Resplendent in a NWOBHM vibe studded jacket, frontman Ryan O’Donovan uses a voice effect for a Terminator-style intro to the set. Opening with Asylum, their five-song hard rock performance ends with the recording of their latest video for Dysfunctional Me, explained as “about taking pride in everything that is dysfunctional”.

Lost Asylum

Found Missing?

There is much discussion in the ERB camp about the name of the next band – Drallion – and we settle on Dragons and Marillion being the inspiration, but singer James Watts later explains it is in fact Dragons and Lions! James’ Michael Poulson (Volbeat) sounding voice, with added growl, delivers a polished five-song set. The band are heavy and impassioned, owning the stage and oozing confidence. As a mosh pit appears, punters from the back of the hall are seen running to join in and the church organ style intro to Song For A Fall sounds resplendent in the former church setting and again we are treated to a sneak preview of a yet to be released track.

Another final hurrah next and a more gentile band with, according to fellow ERB presenter Wardy, “a Hootie and The Blowfish vibe”. Southbank Crows play a set that includes Runaway Boots and Paradise Park. Self-described as “just as bunch of guys who love what we do and live for what we love”, they certainly look like they are enjoying playing and we wish them luck with their future endeavours.

Southbank Crows

The Five Hundred

The Five Hundred

As the evening progresses the raised platform is further used as Bleed Again vocalist James Dawson stands on high, as if commanding the crowd. Making his second appearance of the weekend, Seething Akira’s Simon Williams is also in the line-up. As the band play Walk Through Fire, the crowd demonstrates beautifully synchronised headbanging. As the set list progresses, this turns into moshing and then a melee, and then finally a mostly topless rendition of the Macarena is performed. As the sun goes down, the energy levels in the audience certainly do not, and this is credit to the band, who deliver a captivating performance from melodic intros to growling vocals, and everything in between.

The job of closing the two-day event falls to THECITYISOURS. Singer Oli Duncanson bookends the pink theme of the festival in a fuchsia jacket, just as Scott Miller started it in pink the previous day. Looking like a metalcore boyband, there were also moments when there was also a hint of this in the songs, aspects of So Sad being an example. This was soon contrasted, “This song is called Body Count. Body Count by name and Body Count by nature”, explains Oli. This song definitely did not sound like a boyband and as the weekend draws to a close, the audience is singing right to the end.

Organiser Harry White confirmed at the event that Hammerdown will be back next year, so if you fancy a tantalising line-up, friendly and helpful staff, a beautiful venue with grandeur and history and a weekend at the seaside, follow Hammerdown Festival on their social media pages to keep to date with all their plans.

HammerdownFestival

dunc-rockphotographer.co.uk

Vektrill

The Better DeaD

As the sun continues to stream through the stained-glass windows of The Venue (formerly St Paul’s Church), the mostly camo-short wearing crowd are instructed to move closer to the stage by Weller vocalist Charlie, and they duly oblige. The energy in the hall goes up a notch as Charlie bounces around to Pacing and Harry White is again seen cutting loose at the front of the dance floor. Brand new song Bad Vibes is introduced to the welcome crowd, and after another air raid siren, the singer yells “This is your last fucking chance to party with us, I wanna see ya movin’”, and they close with Irritated. It’s quite a contrast to hear a Backstreet Boys cover in the next set, but such is the variety of this festival, that Glasgow’s NESHIIMA were able to deliver a crowd-pleasing version of Larger Than Life. In his lilac shirt and denim cut off jacket, Singer Liam Hesslewood dons his gold sunglasses and growls and bounces through their brand new single HYDR8 before their last song is sadly cut to keep to the strict timings.

The stage is filled with the black wings of Radha Nemocova and Aren Drift. Radha sings beautiful melodic harmonies with Simone Iaria, and the audience dances and beams at this local five-piece prog band. A chest thumping loud and solid performance follows as Exist Immortal state, “It’s a pleasure to be back in Worthing!” The first mosh pit of the day is underway as Flare is performed ahead of its release on the 19th August, and the mic is passed to the audience for a growling response. Before the set is over, vocalist Meyrick de la Fuente cannot resist lifting the Warhammer prop on the stage above his head, saluting the crowd.

Aren Drift

Seething Akira

Seething Akira

Eight and half hours in and it is time for Esoterica to take to the stage. Whilst the audience has slightly dwindled, they still have sufficient energy to bounce around to this London six-piece. At the end of the first song, vocalist Tobias Keast observes that “it is dark now” and proceeds to remove his top! Despite the dusk, he then dons a pair of sunglasses for a superb cover of True Faith by New Order. He later sits on the edge of the stage in his socks and then joins the crowd on the dance floor before taking a moment to compliment the preceding line-up. “I’ve discovered lots of new bands today, and I wish I’d written some of the stuff I’ve heard.” He’s not alone in his views, it has been a superb day. Organiser Harry White makes a final appearance on the stage perched on Tobias’ hip whilst he is singing and it is soon time for us all to head home to recharge for day two.

Festival organiser Harry White

Glass Grave

Sonnet Of The Damned

After a quick stage turn around, Sonnet Of The Damned are yet another new discovery. They are loud and growling with pounding drums. A highlight was Stand For Something, Die For Nothing, as Harry White stands at the front of the crowd shouting words of encouragement like a proud dad at a Sunday football league. I have never seen a festival organiser so invested in their line up or so passionate about the performances and it is truly a joy to observe. Following a brief interlude to fix a faulty mic, singer Rob Parker jokes “In light of that we will now play our brand-new single Misery”. The first mosh pit of the day ensues, and for final track Too Little, Too Late, a circle pit prompts cheers of support from the Emerging Rock Bands stand as we chuckle at the spectacle!

 A change of image and genre next with Found Missing? Hailing from Essex, frontman Justin Brett grips a vintage style mic and delivers tracks including Now I’m Awake, their first single Pretend and recent release Bliss. We are also treated to a sneak preview of It’s You from the album that they have just finished recording. Watch this space!

Drallion

Caine

The energy again picks up as Caine take to the stage and singer James Sanger-Brown is leaping all over the stage from the opening bars. The vocalist is soon accompanied by Harry White in the front row belting out all the words! Alongside James, Dan Hicks who appeared yesterday in Mordecai is today sporting a kilt and the front row is completed by Joe Constable who is covering for Josh Bates whilst he is on holiday. Drummer Connor Byrne completes the line-up. One of the highlights is Gaslight!Gaslight! and we are informed that every song in the set is a single. We are then asked, “Who wants a cover? Who listens to pop music?” And the crowd erupts to Earthquake. James’ enthusiasm is infectious as he covers every inch of the stage, spinning around. His mood is not even dampened when his pint of beer is confiscated!  

Before they even hit the stage there is a queue at the merch desk for The Five Hundred. Incidentally, the set up for bands to sell merch is superb with plenty of tables provided, to ensure that all the bands are able to sell their wares for as long as they wish. I bought a top on the strength of the design and the crowd interest before seeing this band perform. This is not a decision I regretted. The band are all dressed in black and singer Jonathan Woods Eley stands on a raised platform and observes the congregation. “Let’s throw some shapes, Hammerdown, are you still with me? This is The Rising Tide.” Later he declares, “If you’ve got hair I wanna see a fuckin’ windmill!” After pretending to shoot the crowd with the microphone, mimicking a machine gun, he separates the audience in preparation for a wall of death! The band delivers a powerful and dominating performance.

Bleed Again

THECITYISOURS