This was the second anniversary of the regular Sunday afternoon gigs hosted and run expertly by Dave Checkley, Lyse and Rob Bruce. These events have gone from strength to strength and the room is full.
The Dregs
The Dregs (me included) played the opening set of old school punk mixing new tracks and old, many of which will feature on the forthcoming studio album. The album will be available shortly and includes recently recorded new tracks, and older and live recordings. The Dracula’s garage post probably sums up the performance and we should say thanks to the sound guy who was excellent.
https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Dregs-100063678662763/?locale=en_GB
Deathfiend
Having been a regular at the Mermaid in the mid to late 1980s I witnessed the changing music scene from punk to death metal maybe influenced by the likes of Discharge and the like and I will have seen John Pickering in some of his previous bands over the years.
Since forming in 2019, Deathfiend have moved quickly and already have a number of releases in a range of formats including cassette!!!!. They have a new album out shortly too so keep an eye on their Bandcamp which offers current releases and all their merch.
They played Bloodstock in 2023 and are masters of their craft as witnessed in openers ‘Plague Race’ and ‘Rise from Decay’. The vocal delivery was class, the two guitars create a wall of noise and screaming riffs and leads, supported by pumping bass and impressive drumming driving it forward whilst holding it all in place. There are lots of influences in their well-crafted songs and the tempo changes add to the drama keeping the audience engaged. They sort of grab you by the throat and are mesmerising at times.
This was an impressive set as you would guess given the pedigree of the band members. Stand out tracks for me were ‘Dark Rising’, ‘Embrace Your Fate’, ‘Age of Mistrust’, ‘Beyond Life’, ‘Watch Them Crawl’ and ‘Outliers’ but I am sure those in attendance will have their own favourites. We are treated to two tracks in the encore, ‘Cyclic War’ and ‘Earth Defiled’ which brings their set and the afternoon to a crashing close.
Given how much I enjoyed their set I obviously don’t listen to this genre of music as often as I used to and maybe I need to get more into it again. So, I look forward to hearing their new album.
https://deathfiend.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/DeathFiend1
Another great afternoon at the Tower of Song which hosts all kinds of music, has a cool vibe and an excellent sound. Here is to the next two years.
