With so many bands playing across six stages, there’s a reason why The Gathering Sounds is one of the best multi-venue festivals in the North East, if not the UK.
Special guest Antony Szmierek was first up, enticing quite the crowd. With spoken word at his essence, he’s comparable to Mike Skinner or John Cooper Clarke but more Mancunian, with niche lyrics and uplifting dance beats.
I’ve seen End Credits before, but they’ve proven to be ones to watch, as each time I hear something new. Today, I was treated to a slower pace that built up through elevated grooves until it crashed into rugged power play. With energy that’s considered yet chaotic, pop-rock moments are welded with super-fuzz nuances that defy decades.
Newcastle’s TV Death are the contemporary garage band I’ve been waiting for. The deafening rawness of distortion produces growling guitars that carry a set of energetic tracks at pace.
Lost In Translation’s opening song may be worthy of a ’90s teen drama, but the lush sound these young lads produced afterward was on another planet. Each member held their own within a bubble of richness smothered in John Mayer vibes, detectable most in their latest single, ‘I Hope You Know’.
Duo Look Terrified rebel against my expectations as they arrive on stage with a full band, which makes them seem heavier and more emphatic. What isn’t absent, however, is their unique genre-bending sound (think indie, disco, pop, and more), complete with playful lyrics that manage to hit deep.
Put ’80s Damned and Roxy Music in a tumble dryer, and you might be close to Bristol-based Erotic Secrets of Pompeii. It’s theatrical and bizarre, with elements of dark carnival, conjuring up hauntingly punchy melodies that twist the norm to confuse. It’s insanely good.
Southern trio Snayx were one of my two headliners and the perfect antidote to the early evening slump. Rambunctious in the best possible way, they shook the crowd with blistering industrial punk that was full of beefy bass. Frontman Charlie commanded the stage like a neurotic ringmaster, and the whole thing had my heart singing (and ears ringing).
CVC immediately transport us back to the ’60s, and although they are Welsh, tropes of American lounge envelop the room. The six-piece are unified in joyous rapport as every last note and beat plays in its rightful place. A cover of ‘Lady (Hear Me Tonight)’ by Modjo accelerates the dancing crowd, which continues right through to the last note of a cracking set and an even more cracking day.
