Tagged: pontins

Why ATP's demise comes as no surprise... - by Benjamin Bland

"We can't understand German, so we got yelled at by some bus driver telling us we were in the wrong place. He was nice enough to turn around, otherwise it would've been kinda awkward having to lug our equipment around. 'OK, yeah! Danke! Danke Schoen! Bye-bye!' Pfft." That's the jovial reasoning behind this afternoon's scheduled Plausch with Alex Zhang Hungtai of Dirty Beaches taking place that bit belatedly. He's currently, well, not exactly living in Berlin but he's been there since December. "I don't know how long we're gonna be here, but I guess [...]

• bigloverecords - DIRTY BEACHES "Danseur De Ballet"
• Dirty Beaches - Love Is The Devil

It's time for another Thrash Hits festival splash page - and this time it's for Hammerfest . All of our Hammerfest 2013 coverage from the weekend will be linked to on this here post, so make sure you bookmark it as it's all you're going to need. Yep. That means individual band coverage (photos, setlists and maybe even some reviews), all the dodgy rumours and awful gossip our man David Keevill overhears, and every single photo of Wales-based debauchery that Gary Wolstenholme and Jenn McCambridge snap will be here. -- [...]

There was a grim irony to the demise of The Stool Pigeon earlier on in the year, such was the hyperbolic doom mongering assumed to speak of the then lingering uncertainties over the future of  All Tomorrow's Parties  – a once in a lifetime kinda festival held in dilapidated holiday camps across Southern England, if you've not yet been. That is to say that mercifully, though the 'Pigeon may have croaked it, organisers Barry Hogan and Deborah Kee Higgins live on to call upon variegated curators once more, thus making ATP so much more than an in every respect one-time [...]

Well, he survived - and here's the final proof. In the last of his three reports from Hammerfest IV, David Keevill pretends he didn't have a permanent hangover, and reviews Oaf, Cerebral Bore, Mortad, DripBack, Hell, Amon Amarth, and - of course - Saturday night's headliners, the almighty Skindred. - 6 things we learnt on Saturday at Hammerfest: 1) It’s early when we get up to see [...]

With (hopefully) a painful and debilitating hangover in tow, we forced David Keevill back out into the drinking pits of Hammerfest to report on Day 2 - the first full day of the festival. Little did we realise at the time that one of the band he would see would result in him getting "spermy pants". Jeesh.... - 6 things we learnt on Friday at Hammerfest: [...]

We've already shown you the vast array of photos we took at this year's Hammerfest , but they only tell part of the story. What really  went on at Hammerfest IV - The Hammer of Thor ? We turned to David Keevill , our man on the ground, to find out... - 6 things we learnt on Thursday at Hammerfest: 1) Pontins may look (and [...]

There is absolutely no-one on Earth who can pull off wearing a white bowler hat and sunglasses while performing on stage other than Benji Webbe, frontman with Hammerfest's Saturday night headliners, Skindred . -- Skindred @ Hammerfest IV - 17 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme � Back [...]

If you're going to call your festival "Hammerfest IV - The Hammer of Thor", it'd be downright rude not to invite the world's best-known (and hairiest) Viking Metal band. We are of course referring to the titanic Amon Amarth (and their equally titanic beards). -- Amon Amarth @ Hammerfest IV - 17 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

Oh, Dream Evil . Don't ever change. In fact, please come back to the UK as often as it's physically possible. If only because if gives us an excuse to repost a link to our "study" of your many (many) ridiculous promo photos . -- Dream Evil @ Hammerfest IV - 17 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

If there's one thing that our experience of Wizard at Hammerfest 2012 taught us, it's that their frontman, Sven D'Anna, really knows how to fingerpoint. -- Wizard @ Hammerfest IV - 17 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme � Back [...]

Mortad  gave away their debut album for free with Metal Hammer the other month, so the people at Hammerfest had no excuse not to know all the words. Well, other than the fact they were probably all drunk by the time Mortad took to the stage. It is Hammerfest, after all. -- Mortad @ Hammerfest IV - 17 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

By the time Paradise Lost took to the stage at Hammerfest IV, control of the photo-pit had gotten so out of control and over-crowded with amateur-hour snappers, that the band ordered  every single photographer  to get out. EVERY SINGLE ONE . That's why our man, Gary Wolstenholme, was only able to get one photo from their set. We know every photographer has got to start somewhere, but if you're clogging up a photopit whilst trying to take [...]

We're guessing Waylander get through a lot of blue dulux emulsion every time they play a gig. Then again, we don't have a career where smearing paint all over our faces is part of our job description, so we're not going to mock the Irish pagan metallers on that score. -- Waylander @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

Fury UK return to Hammerfest to play guitars very loud, and very fast. Just as they should be played. -- Fury UK @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme � Back Next � [...]

Diamond Plate are Earache Records young US-based contribution to the current Thrash Revival (which one are we on now?) Were the Illinois quartet able to do enough at Hammerfest to differentiate themselves from the rest of America's latest crop of thrash heads? -- Diamond Plate @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

Heaven's Basement are one of those bands we swear have a completely different line-up every time we see them. Although when we checked out their official line-up, they've only got three ex-members. Oh well. Maybe we're going senile in our old age. -- Heaven's Basement @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

The longer Mark Hunter and his gaggle of hired hands continues, the more apt his band's chosen name of Chimaira becomes. Currently featuring members from no less than three other bands, Chimaira more than lives up to their mythological namesake . -- Chimaira @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]

Headlining the Friday night of Hammerfest IV, Anthrax continue to solidify their return to the forefront of the metal scene. Wow. We didn't think we'd ever be saying things like that about Anthrax ever again. -- Anthrax @ Hammerfest IV - 16 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme � Back [...]

Fury were brought in at the last minute to cover for a band that pulled out of Hammerfest. This confused the hell out of our deputy editor, as Fury UK - a completely different band - were also  playing over the weekend too. Fury? Fury UK? This lot is Fury (without the UK). Everybody got that? Okay. Cool. -- Fury @ Hammerfest IV - 15 March 2012 c/o Gary Wolstenholme [...]