The Great Escape, the UK’s own version of SXSW, is growing in prominence across the industry, with bands and delegates coming from far and wide to showcase their work in the lovely seaside town of Brighton.
This year, we hosted a showcase at the event for the first time ever and it was a huge success. A queue started forming at 11:30am and the venue — The Hope — was full to capacity by the time The Crookes (pictured) took the stage at 12:15 in the afternoon. Defying their early stage time, the Sheffield rockers produced hit after hit.
People came and went, but the venue remained packed to the rafters throughout the afternoon, with The Big Sleep shredding their way through a noisy set featuring tracks from their recent album, Nature Experiments.
Hey Sholay, a personal favourite, then produced one of the performances of the weekend — with a short but intense set featuring DiS-lauded singles “Wishbone” and “The Bears, The Clocks, The Bees” as well as their upcoming hit, “Burning.”
Headlining the stage, Hollie Cook Soundsystem, featuring the lady herself, Prince Fatty and Horseman changed the rhythm and delighted the crowd with their own unique brand of dub.
As for the rest of the festival, we had a whole plethora of acts represented, from the loud, loud Hawk Eyes to psychedelic rockers Weird Dreams and one of our festival highlights, Devin. The Brooklyn rocker is everything a frontman should be.
Now, for your “Best Of” run down of The Great Escape…
While we feel old reaching the age of 15, Fierce Panda are already legal to drink in the UK, turning 18 this week. We’re going to use that as an excuse to shine a great big spotlight on some of the wonderful music they’ve released so far this year before we go and celebrate with them in London tonight.
First up, we had The Kabeedies‘ sophomore album Soap released on Jan 23rd. Their pleasingly urgent, raucous, and happy indie-pop songs are enough to implant a smile on even the stoniest of faces. Check out this lovely video of the lead single, ‘Eyes’:
Although not normally associated with heavy rock, Fierce Panda signed the brutally aggressive Hawk Eyes, whose album Ideas has become possibly the most universally approved, ever. If they did a poster featuring all of the reviews, it’d look like the stars and stripes. Without the stripes. It’s not everyday that you get 5/5 from Kerrang! and 9/10 in Classic Rock, who described them as “possibly Britain’s most exciting band.”
The most recent album we’ve been able to feast our ears upon is a personal favourite of mine – Hatcham Social’s About Girls. Following a successful trip to SXSW, they’re gracing the stage at the aforementioned Fierce Panda party tonight in the midst of a UK tour. Fans of The Horrors and The Charlatans will love this riff-laden record.
That’s not all, either. We’re pretty pumped about the prospect of records from The Crookes and Hey Sholay coming along later this year. There’s a taste of these and the albums mentioned above in this craftily embedded playlist. ENJOY!
