Artists: Various
Venue: Great Yarmouth: Vauxhall Holiday Camp
Date: 7-9 November 2024
"All I heard feedback-wise was everyone saying how much of a great time they had had. This included the bands and the press."
HRH Awards
The main “mothership” event of HRH in the autumn traditionally starts with the awards. After greeting all the dark circle punters and bands at the door personally, Jonni Davis, owner of HRH dressed as an ancient Viking warrior, began events with a sword and a soliloquy in old Norse, dramatic and effective. Not Now Norman was the first band on, showcasing singer Taylor-Grace’s fine voice and giving a bit of girl power to proceedings. Slackrr and Asomvel were the other award-night bands, both giving it loads of welly. Asomvel picked up the Rising Stars award. There was a huge cheer when Sam Spade of The Midnight Devils came onto the video screen to remotely accept an award for Best International Young Blood. Ronnie Romero took Best International Frontman. The Living Legend award was awarded to Uriah Heep with Bernie Shaw attending in person to take the honour.
Thursday
Thursday evening opened with Star Circus. Their sound tonight was done by none less than Tony Wilson, the guy who used to produce the BBC Friday Night Rock Show with Tommy Vance. (They both started the TotalRock radio station over twenty years ago when the BBC decided no longer to invest in Rock as a genre). The sound was indeed excellent, loud and clear. Bolstered with new guitars including Owen Palmer, their sound was heavier and had greater depth. Frontman Dave Winkler also seemed to be being a little more adventurous with his vocals, adding falsetto “woo hoos” where I had not noticed them before. The HRH faithful made them feel very welcome.
Next we had the theatrical performance of Thunderstick (ex Samson) in his dungeon cage and diamanté wrestling mask, assisted by the powerful vocals of Raven Blackwing. She donned an array of masks, veils and costumes to honour the tradition of the band, but the true story is her wonderful skill as a vocalist which can lift even a prosaic melody to an art form. Fronted by her, the band can be considered a new musical force reaching new highs to rival the best of Metal.
South Of Salem followed without their usual dark cheerleaders. Over time they have evolved from a band riffing on double meanings (‘Let Us Prey’ instead of “pray”) with commercial choruses fitting in seamlessly at melodic festivals like Call Of The Wild, to a heavier, more Nu Metal sound where the puns are a less obvious part of the show. Certainly, the crowd knew the songs, so much so that vocalist Joey Draper let them sing final lines and they came through perfectly and loud! Final song ‘Cold Day In Hell’ now has a much heavier bass line and seems more drivingly hard than before.
Asomvel were back again on stage after their first appearance headlining the awards. The resemblance of their singer Ralph Robinson to Lemmy in his twenties is somewhat uncanny. Given the Motörhead-like quality of their material, it is a match made in heaven. Robinson was at pains, however, to get the crowd to pay tribute to the band’s dearly departed previous frontman Jay Jay Winter, Robinson’s real life uncle. The band are loud and fast, just like Lemmy, with songs that Lemmy would have been proud of like ‘Luck Is For Losers’. Some may say there’s no substitute for Motörhead, but this band are super close.
Hardcore Superstar were totally wired and delivered an impassioned performance. All the audience were familiar with their material, so it was very easy to get them to sing along. Starting with ‘Into The Debauchery’ and ‘Medicate Me’, they were soon into ‘Kick On The Upper Class’. They got most of the classics in like ‘Moonshine’, ‘Last Call For Alcohol’ and finished with ‘We Don’t Celebrate Sundays’ and ‘You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘n’ Roll’. But they also changed it up, substituting ‘Dreaming In A Casket’ with the lesser played track from the same album ‘No Resistance’. Vocalist Jocke Berg lived up to his reputation as a great frontman and got onto the barrier, wore the audience’s hats and invited the crowd to clap their hands “Or if you don’t have hands bang your face or your feet”. Their set had the right balance of Metal fun and singalong anthems to raise everyone’s vibrations. They even got the only crowdsurfer of the festival. They took a photo with the crowd singing along to Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’, a band always guaranteed to raise a smile.
Wednesday 13 were able to capitalise on this raised energy with an entertaining show. There was a packed out crowd in attendance for their set which consisted solely of Murderdolls/Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 tracks. Very much a theatrical horror band starting with ‘Chapel Of Blood’, but without any actual blood or gore, they were preaching to the converted. The crowd was singing along all the way. Searing solos were aplenty, notably from guitarist Ashes, looking impossibly tall, especially when he lifts his guitar right above his head. Wednesday 13 himself took plenty of time to talk to the crowd, including telling the story how Dave Lee Roth approved their parody of a Van Halen album title, changing it to ‘Women And Children Last’. One person in the crowd had a hobbyhorse style toy white unicorn head on a stick and was banging its head constantly through the set, redolent of the Vibing Cat. Wednesday 13 called them out “…And that person just wants to be seen. Let me just get my toothbrush backstage and I’ll be with you... only kidding”. For the person who held up a sign asking for a set list he bargained “If you sing all the words loudly THEN I will give you my set list”. He explained in the intro to ‘People Hate Me’ how he found out that being support to Iron Maiden was more of a curse than a blessing, because it turned out that Iron Maiden fans “hate people who look like me”. (Although with Rock taking a darker heavier turn I really don’t think that would be necessarily true anymore). Overall the set was very heavy, but was sufficiently vintage to mean that the songs had an underlying melody, making the songs easier on the ear for a Classic Rock fan (this being mostly a regular HRH audience, rather than the usual Wednesday 13/Murderdoll crowd). Humour and irony is also apparent in tracks that are not meant to be taken literally, such as ‘Die My Bride’ and ‘Graverobbing USA’. After the frontman donned a red PVC jacket and military cap, the encore comprised well known tracks: a spooky cover of Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’, ‘I Love To Say Fuck’ and ‘Dead In Hollywood’. With his flamboyant frontman style he kept the crowd with him. Lifting the mike stand above his head, kneeling down to the crowd and bantering with them “Who is the drunkest person in the room?... You look insane!” Reassuring the audience that he would not rather be anywhere else than HRH, the show was undoubtedly a hit. They promised to be back if the audience would be, and I think they will.
Friday
Molly Karlov opened on the main stage with a set that was more focussed on harder nineties Rock and traditional guitar solos than I remembered from them last time, with less Gothic and Glam elements. Their sound seemed to be maturing into a more professional polished affair since I saw them last.
Poole Vigilantes followed. NWOBHM inspired from the stable of bands such as the Tygers Of Pan Tang, they introduced one of their songs ‘Midnight Alley’ with the description that it was about “the sites you see when you stumble into Bannermans”.
Sweet Electric are fronted by Massive singer Brad Marr who never takes himself too seriously, running around in a gold checked lamé tracksuit and talking about his sweaty nether regions. It’s Party Rock with a bit of a swing and a funky style at times, some Country music elements and some tracks reminding me of a combination of Chas ‘n’ Dave, Slade and Status Quo. They have musical talent evidenced by a lovely bluesy guitar solo and the band sounding a bit Lynyrd Skynyrd-y when Marr was running around the audience taking photos of himself and the audience from the disabled platform. However, Marr is such a big personality it can overshadow the music and it can be hard to notice much except for him when he starts his antics. He does have a ready wit: when asked for a set list he replied “Yes, but we’ll have to write one first!” and this produced large guffaws in the crowd. It is the power of entertainment versus cold hard musical talent and overall he’s probably right that it’s worth the trade, at least when you’re an up and coming band trying to get noticed.
Bai Bang, all in white, brought their commercial Party Rock. They have received a new impetus with the addition of larger than life bassist Magnus Rosén (ex Hammerfall) who livens matters up with party tricks such as the inversion of his bass. The band’s message is very positive, although the cover of the mainstream song ‘Smile’ may be considered by some as a step too far. The band has a new album on the way and Diddi was kind enough to let me listen to a couple of them on his phone outside when we were having a chat. I look forward to hearing some of these new songs onstage.
I made a point of cutting to the second stage to take in the whole of the Not Now Norman set to get another chance to hear Taylor Grace’s amazing voice. It was showcased on tracks like opener ‘Re-introducing’ and a Rocked up version of the single ‘Mama’ where the tremolo in her voice is indeed like a bird and full of emotion. She is not shy to chat to the crowd, explaining that they named their band after a deranged chicken (remarkably this is true!). When an amazing performance got a bit of a lazy response from the crowd, she gently reminded the crowd that the band have travelled seven hours from the top of North East England to get to HRH and asked them to show appreciation by purchasing merch which would help with petrol money. She did get the warm response she deserved, especially when she explained that despite being five foot three she could still see who was clapping at the back. She has a voice like a siren and a plucky personality, despite the stories she tells on stage of being abused by a former partner who has been the inspiration for a few of the songs. I anticipate she will go much further.
Black Rain were next on the main stage and provided some old school style falsetto scream Metal with a dash of Glam and Sleaze. With new theatrical characters on stage there was certainly a nod to bands like Maiden and WASP. The band have continued to get stronger with recent album ‘Untamed’. Today was a great chance to hear this new material, including ‘Summer Jesus’ where a very Rock ‘n’ Roll looking saviour came on with a goldfish bowl full of picks to give to the crowd. Older tracks included the upbeat ‘Wild Wild Wild’, ‘Blast Me Up’ and ‘Innocent Rosie’, and the epic ballad ‘Nobody But You’ revived on their recently re-issued album ‘Hot Rock Time Machine’. As a common denominator livener in the middle, they did the well known Twisted Sister track ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.’ After reminding everyone that it’s Saturday the next day, singer Swan Hellion brought out a bottle of alcohol and treated the front row to a few mouthfuls for good measure. This eighties influenced band was a welcome blast from the past and the best band of the day for me.
Headliners Nashville Pussy were not lacking in energy and chutzpah! Guitarist Ruyter Suys sure can play. Blaine Cartwright, her husband and frontman, had all the lines. A lot of his patter seemed to be narcotically themed; “Drugs can take an asshole and make him a super asshole”, as do some of their songs. Introducing one about marijuana and barbecues, he made a joke about the gig being in a holiday camp of caravans by saying “You can’t have a trailer park without a barbecue!”. It’s the last night of the tour for the self-professed “greatest band on the planet” and the band are clearly in a mood to celebrate. Suys decision to drink some Jack Daniels and spit it/throw it all over the crowd did get a bit of a mixed reaction though, from some who didn’t appreciate the favour. I also wondered if Cartwright would regret pouring a whole bottle of liquor into his hat, drinking most of it and then tipping the rest over his head. Surely the smell and stickiness would be a lasting legacy, but he doesn’t seem to care. With their lively playing and banter such as “My family got kicked out of your country 200 years ago and now I’m back” and “Retire is not in my vocabulary, I’ll be here for ever” they kept the audience packed in right to the end of the night.
Saturday
Saturday began with Hearts And Souls, a band from Yorkshire in the vein of the Quireboys with influences from the Stones and the Faces. They’re mostly seventies inspired good time Rock ‘n’ Roll. Inevitably after such a full-on Friday their audience was smaller, but still respectable and they made a good fist of it.
Lixx has a Scottish livewire as a front man, Joe Ogilvie. He too has all the lines and likes to show off his torso. They still have the shapes from their days in the eighties as Glam Rockers. Newer track ‘21st Century Wreck’ is an obvious pun on T Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’. As well as the Glam legacy with loads of twiddly guitar solos in tracks like ‘Someday’, they mixed it up with a track that was much darker, described as a bit Nick Cave: ‘Frustrated’. Another track ‘Supercharger’ reminded me of Alice Cooper with a gravelly vocal delivery. They amused the crowd with tales of making a trifle out of two bottles of Thunderbird in the eighties. Another moment that made the crowd laugh was when Ogilvie attempted to throw a t-shirt into the crowd and it stuck on a hook in the roof.
Syteria are a lively Poppy female band featuring Jax Chambers of Girlschool on guitar. They remind me of a Rocked-up version of The Bangles and sometimes of Cherie Currie’s solo stuff. They have a brattish element and clearly like a bit of Punk, covering ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Highschool’ from the Ramones. On the Rocky side they played my favourite track of theirs from the last album ‘Monsters’. Another stand out moment was the more commercial track ‘Pause For Peace’ which was extremely topical and showcased singer Julia Calvo’s great voice.
The Electric Boys got a roar of approval from the crowd for their groovy blend of Rock and Funk. They played a couple from the newest album including ‘Domestic Blitz’, ‘You Spark My Heart’ and my favourite track ‘I’ve Got A Feelin’. Mainly it was a greatest hits set, including ‘Electrified’, ‘All Lips ‘n’ Hips’, and ‘Mary In A Mystery World’ with its extended in-track jam. Despite a bit of feedback, it was the super cool, exceptionally talented set you expect from these veterans. Surprise moments included frontman Connie Bloom enacting the crucifixion in their instrumental outro of ‘Heaven On Their Minds’ from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and a little bit of an Iron Maiden melody thrown into ‘Groovus Maximus’.
Dobermann were a very popular third band down the bill, keeping the main stage room full across the dinner time slot. Looking the part with old school curly perms, they’re a very hard working band. They having racked up a lot of shows over the years and this road experience shows in their slick performance and crowd management, such as their synchronised guitar movements and mock sniper miming picking off members of the crowd with the necks of their guitars. So they have the showbiz razzle dazzle, as well as the musical talent, including Valerio Ricciardi’s superb squealing eighties style guitar solos. They are so old school they even dared to include a drum solo, the only one I saw all weekend. There was no fire eating from singer Paul Del Bello tonight, as, with HRH’s low ceiling, we would have all gone home in a box. They finished with a crowd rallying cover of Van Halen’s ‘Hot For Teacher’.
Gilby Clarke was the big A-lister on the bill and wowed the crowd with his solos. He brought along the strikingly glamorous actor and bass player EJ Curse who was clearly experienced onstage and threw all the right shapes. As well as material from Clarke’s solo albums such as ‘The Gospel Truth’, they did a few GN’R numbers including ‘It’s So Easy’, ‘Patience’ and ‘Welcome To The Jungle’. Before ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’, Clarke paid tribute to the musicians we lost this year including Wayne Kramer of MC5. They also did a very Rock ‘n’ Roll, Faces style version of the Stones number ‘Dead Flowers’. Obviously everyone knew and sang the words and the vibing-cat-mimicking unicorn was also banging its head throughout. Clarke showed his sense of humour in his song intros, joking that as a musician he can only count to four and back again. He told a story about that time he overdid it, which he didn’t think was possible, and ended up in Tijuana jail before playing the song of the same name. This touch of Rock royalty was something special.
Final headliner Lizzy Borden is renowned for his stage theatrics and ability to entertain. The front row went crazy when he applied theatrical blood to their faces. I was really struck by the devotion of the fans during this ritual. I met one in the station the next day and he had refused to wash it off overnight! It was great to hear ‘Midnight Things’ and ‘Long May They Haunt Us’ from the last album which is a favourite of mine (albeit that the layered harmonies from the record are impossible to reproduce live). ‘American Metal’ really does what it says on the tin. The set was gleefully upbeat, with inflatable beach balls being thrown around the audience in ‘Pet Sematary’. All the theatrics and costumes were presented with great enthusiasm, matched by the crowd. They pulled out the stops and did a remarkable amount given the restrictions of appearing at a festival. It was a remarkable end to a remarkable festival.
Once again HRH was incredible. It was diverse, but with enough of a common heritage to keep everyone happy. The rigours of the Pandemic are well and truly forgotten and the festival is now back fully in its stride, providing awesome shows and great music to a faithful crowd. The regular venue and faces and the fact that the event is mid-size, really makes the festival a community, and this is enhanced when the bands go to the merch booth for signings and photographs and are seen in the bar chatting to fans after their sets. All I heard feedback-wise was everyone saying how much of a great time they had had. This included the bands and the press. Although running the festival must be incredibly hard work, the managers, staff and crew all have a smile and make time for other people, making people feel valued. The event is a special place to be. All I can say is Roll on 2025!
Review & Photos: Dawn Osborne
Gallery: All photos © Dawn Osborne (used with kind permission)
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