Month: March 2023

(not really) Entombed Festival

Saturday 04 March 2023 – Hastings.

I completely managed to screw this weekend’s entertainment right up,  though having said that I still had a very good weekend. I’d bought myself a ticket to Entombed Festival in Hastings back in October I think, stupidly didn’t put the dates in my calendar and almost totally forgot about it. In the meantime I agreed to go and see another band, the Loft, in Brighton last night which was day one of the festival, and then go to dinner at the house of some St Leonards friends tonight.

Entombed Festival has been running for three or four years, a small punk and metal festival in a basement bar in Hastings. The Saturday night headliners this year (postponed from last, and the main reason I was going) are Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs (Pigs*7) a doom/stoner rock band from Newcastle. I quite like them, especially their more Black Sabbath influenced tracks. There were a couple of other bands scattered over the weekend I wanted to see as well, at least that was the plan when I bought the ticket. I managed to see just two acts, neither on my must see list. It was a bad mistake on my behalf.

To compound the double booking the weekend error I didn’t look at the start time for the festival on Saturday and only realised it started at mid-day in the late afternoon. I was quite keen to see punk band The Domestics; I have one of their records, and felt I could see their set, then catch a bus back to my place, pick up Eleanor and make it to our friends and only be fashionably late. I grabbed the camera and power walked my way into Hastings.

I arrived at The Crypt just before the doom/sludge duo Kulk started playing. I’ve seen them once before and the singer/guitarist is great to photograph, though I’m not a huge fan of their music I was pleased to see them play.

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This was my first visit to The Crypt and it’s a great venue, decent floor space, small and low stage, big bar with really friendly staff and a few places to get out of the blast line of the speakers. Though it was still a bit flat the stage lighting was bright enough to be OK for photography, which is always a bonus.

The next band up was Fatalist, a blackened hardcore trio. Blackened hardcore was new to me and I almost immediately decided it  wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t a fan. I felt sorry for them as there were issues with the bass amp/speaker cabinet and there was a lot of faff before they started, so much so that I missed the end of their set and also didn’t get to see The Domestics who were on next. None of this was anyone’s fault, tech issues are common at gigs, but I was a bit disappointed.

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I had intended to make my excuses from dinner early and go back for Pigs*7 but after a few glasses of red and a delayed meal we didn’t end up leaving our friends house till past midnight.

The festival was cheap, had some great bands and the vibe in the rooms was really good, I’m gutted I ballsed it all up. Next year I will plan better.

We haven’t been spending a lot of time in St Leonards since Eleanor bought the new house in Leytonstone in November; we’ve visited so rarely that I’m seriously considering finding a tenant for the flat which is getting more and more expensive as the cost of living crisis bites. When my mortgage goes up in June it will stretch my finances significantly, renting will relieve the pressure but means we don’t have somewhere to go if we want. I love it when I come down though. Decisions decisions!

The Loft @ The Prince Albert, Brighton

Friday 03 March 2023 – Brighton.

This was the second in a string of gigs that we planned to attend, admittedly we haven’t made all of them; mainly due to my laziness, though there are more to come, including one tomorrow.

The Loft in Brighton was, on the surface, an odd choice. I had majorly stuffed up this weekend; ages ago, possibly as far back as September, I’d bought tickets to Entombed Festival a punk/metal two day festival in Hastings. It starts tonight and here is me driving 50 minutes to Brighton to see another band. When I bought the Entombed ticket it was so far in advance of the gig I hadn’t bothered updating my calendar and we’ve now accepted an invite to dinner with St Leonards’ friends tomorrow night, which meant missing most of the festival, not going to tonight’s sets seemed to be inevitable.

The Loft were an early 80s English indie-pop band, from a time before indie-pop was a thing. They were one of the first bands to be signed to iconic record label Creation, though they split up on stage in the middle of one of their largest gigs, ending any chance of fame. I hadn’t heard of them until I met Eleanor, though I have a record of the lead singer’s follow up band, The Weather Prophets, which I bought when I lived in London in the late 1980s. The Loft are releasing a retrospective album of all their material and are headlining a gig in London tomorrow to promote it. This gig tonight is an unannounced warm up gig and The Loft are supporting Mozart Estate.

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The main reason this is an odd choice is Eleanor’s ex-husband is the lead guitarist and a founding member. Eleanor and Andy’s relationship has improved over the last few years and I guess if they hadn’t divorced then I wouldn’t have met Eleanor and be as happy as I am, and have been for the last 10 years. I think she is as happy as me so it’s been a win for the both of us. We both like the band’s music and Eleanor was hoping some old friends who live in Brighton would come to the show, which they did and she was very pleased to see them. Having a partner who likes music is one of the best things!

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I don’t really enjoy driving any more and I especially don’t like driving at night. My car is fresh from an MOT and a service so at least it was running well and the headlights had had a special clean and were the brightest they’ve ever been, making the drive to Brighton not too stressful. We chose to drive as the train journey back to St Leonards of an evening is over 90 minutes and the trains only run once an hour, not the most convenient for the tired.

We arrived at the Prince Albert just before the band came on, it looked and felt like a great pub with a positive vibe and the upstairs venue was fab too, small, good sound and a bar. I would happily see a band or go for a drink there again; if only it was in Leytonstone.

The Loft played a 40 minute set to a pretty full room of mostly people our age; people who knew the band and their songs. I really enjoyed it as did the rest of the crowd, and for a change it was a decent place to take photos. The band seemed to enjoy it as well.

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We hung around for a bit after the Loft played; Eleanor chatting to old friends, though regrettably we didn’t stay for Mozart Estate as I wanted to get home while I was still awake, we had another night out coming tomorrow and I’m very tired at the moment.