Saturday 14/08/04 Nasty Festival @ The Faversham, Leeds

You couldn’t really call it a summer so far. A better bet might be to rename August monsoon season. But, in amongst the endless downpours, there have been one or two glorious days, and luckily The Faversham picked one such day to host Nasty Festival, a celebration of punk and new wave. The Fav (as it’s known round these parts) is basically a small stately home and large garden in a city centre locale, today turned over to rage, noise, energy and excess.

Local jerky post-punkers ¡Forward Russia! bravely kicked the event off, albeit with limited success. Angular riffs and stop/start rhythms were all present and correct, the makings of something interesting…but then they attempted to crowbar too many ideas into each song, and the audience were left with nothing to grab hold of for more than a few seconds. If they concentrated on one or two sections from each song and tried to develop them, they could end up with a more satisfying whole. As it is, apart from a couple of nice guitar whiteouts, the set was unmemorable.

The Holy Terror unfortunately suffered at the hands of the soundman, a recurring theme for many of the day’s bands. Still, they struggled through and played a convincing but repetitive set. Driven by a bassist whose need for speed rivaled The Dead Kennedys’ Klaus Flouride, they had a tough sound which they relied on too much, giving the strong vocalist - who was already battling against the sound mix - little room to manoeuvre.

If The Holy Terror were robust, then Nervous Shakedown were positively monumental. On a bill dominated by the shrill and the shrieking, it was refreshing to hear a band so unashamedly grounded in the low-end. This was unreconstructed growly blues-rock from a beefy three-piece who seemed happy to be the day’s black sheep, controversially mouthing off about the collective hair-dressing bill for Leeds’s disturbingly fashion-conscious punk crowd. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The Grips brought a bit of punk edge to proceedings. Their set was brief and chaotic, bringing to mind those early Jesus and Mary Chain shows which had audiences rioting in the theatres. Their messy finale was the first moment of real connection, electrifying the audience into a boisterous response.

Unfortunately, Baby Food failed to capitalise on this latent energy. Though certainly the most unusual band on the bill – dispensing with guitar and drums in favour of 80’s synth and beatbox – there wasn’t much imagination in the delivery. Frankly, it felt like little effort had gone into the songs, and the whole thing came off as very gimmicky.

Neither Michael Dracula nor Bane Overlord did much to improve matters. The former band had obviously spent a long time perfecting their image (and they did look good, though like they should be in four different bands), but the songs were nondescript. Bane Overlord meanwhile, were a metal equivalent of ¡Forward Russia! – loads of ideas, but little structural consideration, just an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink mix of early-RHCP funk metal, shouty thrash and slowburning grindcore bits.

The next great energising moment came from Nottingham’s Punish The Atom, who worried The Fav’s security team with a display of crowd-surfing which saw the singer catapulted perilously close to the ceiling and lighting rigs. Aggressive and combative, stylish and swaggering, they easily took the title of nastiest band on the day’s bill, not bad considering the festival's title.

Leeds’s very own Robochrist was next, and his one-man mash up of thrash, gabba and goofy TV samples was as joyous as ever. This deranged, face-painted individual is playing the Leeds Festival next weekend – do not miss him!

After such a frenzied build-up, the day’s three big names perhaps couldn’t help but be anticlimatic.

The Fav’s main room reached boiling point as highest placed local act Black Wire took the stage. Unfortunately they didn’t rise to the feverous expectation, merely dropping jagged chords over an unimaginatively programmed drum-machine.

Much better were The Futureheads, who took the same spiky blueprint, but actually managed to weld some great melodies onto it. After so much blistering noise action, the ‘Heads came as something of a relief, and were certainly crowd favourites.

What a pity to finish off a great day with the least challenging, most challenged group on the bill. Pink Grease made a stylised but substance-free cacophony comprising other people’s ideas inadequately stitched together. Following on from The Futureheads, it would have been nice to hear something equally pop-oriented, and perhaps local – The Kaiser Chiefs, anyone? As it was, Pink Grease brought proceedings to a sloppy conclusion.

Thankfully though, this did not undermine the gargantuan effort put into this day by festival organisers, and Nastyfest - as it shall henceforth be called - was a rather nasty success.