On this glorious autumnal Saturday (6 May), Nowhere Production's reimagined the Nowhere backyard party (of sorts) as this fully fledged independent festival with two stages landed at Mansfield Tavern in Brisbane's north.
All the better for more eager eyes and ears to enjoy the feast of audible delights of the heavy kind, I say.I did not feel 100 per cent this morning, and as a result I got to the Mansfield a little later than intended. By the time I arrive, fans of the heavy sound persuasion are in the throes of lapping up a fully stacked 21 band line-up, which is boasting a plethora of genres on offer.
Think punk, prog, thrash, groove, black-type metal (main stage) and stoner, sludge and doom on the Garden-doom stage. The stages are no more than a hop, skip and jump from each other – and no noise bleed. Killer.
Punters who arrived at 'gates open' are well into their 11 hours of amplified power and I am joining them for about the final 8 hours.
I have regretfully missed the likes of Serpentum, Mother Magnetic, Vomit Bomb, Hells Horizon, Warrior Within, Symphony of Putrescence and Beast Machine. After a quick chat with some punters, I'm convinced I deserve my feelings of regret – all those bands received a lot of praise and thumbs up for their sets. Damn!
I note some changes to the line-up and 14 bands are yet to play at staggered set times. I don't have to miss any here on in. Yass!
I waste no time digging into the merch. I listened to a couple of Artifact songs pre-festival and decide to purchase one of their shirts. Their bus driver/ merchandiser is thanking me and tells me that it will help pay for fuel on the 14-hour trip back to Wagga Wagga.
Fidel A Go Go - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Stashing my tee, I head to check out Fidel A Go Go at the Garden-doom stage first. As I enter the room, I am hit full on in the chest with some extreme, down-tuned riffage of the most dense and glorious kind. What an intense start – I'm feeling better already!
The room has a low ceiling and curtains that don't quite shut out the sun's rays that leak into the room and on the stage. This visual and auditory combination is giving me little hole in the wall/ pub in the middle of the deserted highway in the desert feels and has my mouth watering for a tequila.
Let's just say that the vibe in this room doesn't change as I switch back and forth between stages to catch each of the remaining acts.
On this stage we are seeing back-to-back sets from Holystone in matching garb and hats, The Wretched Creatures and Kentucky Green stoner rockers – what? Did the name give it away?
Holystone and Kentucky Green have skin hitters doing mad work on the tubs behind the impressive talent on strings. 'Unlikely Hero' from Kentucky Green is a solid banger from this tight three-piece.
Kentucky Green - image © Clea-marie Thorne
'Gods Gun' and 'Midnight Sun' by The Wretched Creatures were simply delicious doom-iness and my faves from their set (that I caught).
Following this on the Garden-doom stage is HIPPO and then Dr Parallax, who are giving off a real retro feeling, low grooving, heavy bass sounds. Actually, the bass players in these two bands appear to be extremely comfortable with onstage performances.
HIPPO's bassist, Loki is armed with a modified bass that is a double axe set up but on the bottom neck is a board of effects units, even one with a pig face. It is huge. It's insane and outlandish!
While Rashid AlKamraikhi of Dr Parallax gets to twisting and turning his body to their proggy tunes while thrusting the head of his guitar toward the roof while still hammering the strings and fret board.
HIPPO - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Khan, proggy and psychedelic in sound, are the last act to give it up on this stage to a very chill and cruisey crowd, some of whom are sprawled out on the carpet in front of the low stage to soak in their sounds.
I stay for a while to bask in the aural wash of Khan before peeling myself away to scoot back to the main stage to ensure I don't miss Frankenbok's set to end all sets of the festival.
While traversing between the two stages, it's easy to quench my thirst at the long bar providing punter access that requires little to no queuing for drinks or the pub grub options that are delivered to you.
The room has amazing air-conditioning these days that is making it easy for punters to get loose to the music in front of the generous stage. There are ample seats on the outer of the mosh area giving a great view of the stage when weary legs need resting. Some of us are getting on you know.
Artifact are my first taste of bands to hit the main stage and boy are they are hitting us hard with 'Fragile', which is anything but! These up and comers from Wagga Wagga have the attention of the room and are drawing more than a few to the barrier to get closer to their tight five-piece action.
Artifact - image © Clea-marie Thorne
It's not all frenetic energy; Rebecca Horseman on vocals sets a melodic vocal contrast to Michael Veneris' forceful pipes in most songs, and when she does it is striking. I think I'll be nabbing a copy of the new EP; you should too!
The progression of main stage acts for me after Artifact were Therein, who left nothing short of smashing us in the chops with extravagant stage presence and varied set. Decked out in a cloak, the bass player jammed out like he was in another world and had many in the crowd hooked on his style.
When we are told they will play us a song about tripping balls, the instrumentation for it did just that. I swear it was about 10 mins long. . . or was I tripping?
Infinite Exile, hardcore metallers from WA, got to turn it on next and holy heck, I'm loving their sound and their vibe! Not only are they giving us a brilliant set list, but we were more than entertained by special guest joining on stage who did a 'shoey' from his own sneaker and put it back on again!
Meanwhile the guitarist dons a mullet wig that looks like rats have been gnawing on it, but he wears it like a glamourpuss! Also, when we should be supporting artists by purchasing merch – lead singer, Shannon Marsten may belt out the vocals but he also hurls out free merch to punters digging their blistering set.
Vulgurite, another gem from West Aussie, keeps the momentum going during their set as the vocalist darts about like an Energiser Bunny while the rest of the band have a highly animated presence to complement him. I mean who isn't mesmerised by unison hair whipping while getting loads of shredding love? Pick me!
Vulgurite - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Ok, there's a more than a few fans in the crowd for this next band, Kaosphere who can I say were sold to me as groove metal, but I think there's a dash more happening here on 'Choke Hold' and new song 'Bring Out Your Dead'.
Sheesh, the lead singer, Ricci Dyer is a force in himself, let alone when you put the likes of a well-oiled band behind him pumping it hard. Punters lapped up what they were putting out and cheers sounded loudly at the end of each song.
While the Nowhere Festival line-up has included a badass helping of fresh and upcoming talent that is keeping the heavy scene alive, the seasoned bands are still celebrated by fans and fellow musicians as they were many years and some even decades ago.
Even now these bands remain influential to new kids on the block. None more so, than the two final acts on the main stage. The Dreamkillers and Frankenbok!
Dreamkillers our penultimate main stagers, are now bringing down with a frenetic punk energy often laced with true groove to boot. Punters are giving a pretty loud sing-along especially to their classics 'Sarah' and 'Father Can You Help Me'.
It's exciting to hear more recent work and we anticipate newer work to come from this stellar iteration of new and long-term band members. Dreamkillers may be one of the bands that are also mid tour, but there is nothing stopping this powerhouse of talent from smashing out with force and we are getting a set that has fans moshing hard.
Jobson is dedicating songs to long-time fans on the barrier but the band don't get the option to give us that one encore song we are begging for, so they pack down leaving us wanting more.
Dreamkillers - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The show must run to the schedule. . . Actually, Nowhere Festival's programme scheduling is working so well that it's obvious that someone thought about the flow of set times in terms of smooth transition as well as avoided full set clashes for punters.
As the night is drawing to its conclusion, solidifying their status as relevant and capable of furious energy, Frankenbok are giving us 'F...enK.ntz' – a set that doesn't let up. It is often difficult to perceive lyrics and the blurring torrents of riff work against the fast-paced drumming that is simply battering us.
Punters and other band members are riding the high of the festival to the very end of the set from these Victorian heavy metal legends. If only noise restrictions didn't crash the party, we might still be there at sunrise watching them jamming or rather battering songs out.
Nowhere Festival perfectly curated a bunch of bands with all heart and dedication to their craft – I was so aware of the lack of posturing that it made me pay more respect to the confident attitudes and abilities of the artists. They all have so much to offer and be proud of.
Frankenbok - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Punters have come together as a musical community of fans who are open to supporting the variety of bands on offer at the festival today, including newer bands and the legends that have persisted through the highs and lows of live music patronage and developed a cult-like status with their devotees.
I can't recall a single time I thoroughly and absolutely enjoyed 14 bands in a row! I warrant that every band playing Nowhere Festival had a group of these punters adding them to their playlist and gig wishlists – that is if they weren't already fans.
Nowhere Festival may have been better titled as the ‘Nowhere you'd rather be' festival, to remind a few more fence sitters to #getoutofthehouse – cos if this independent festival rocks around again in '24, with the same calibre of bands – it's totally the only place you'd want to be.
More photos from the show.
