With wristbands collected, me and my partner in crime (H.Risk) headed off into Leeds to explore the city and eventually make our way to the first venue of the day, The Cockpit, to catch the formidable BLACK MOTH blast their way through tunes from debut album ‘The Killing Jar’ which mixes the bands blend of Doom Metal and Punk. Exactly what you need to wake you up for the day ahead!
Still at the cockpit and with pint in hand we watch Toronto, Canada’s very own HOODED FANG. With comparisons that could be made to Black Lips at their most pop and ‘King of the Beach’ era Wavves, Hooded Fang are a lot of fun and their debut gig in Leeds is received well by all.
A trip into Leeds to visit the beautiful city some more and a belly full of food later, we find ourselves once again at The Cockpit (we weren’t being lazy; The Cockpit had some very cool bands on at LAL, ok?) to see if all the hype surrounding FANZINE is worth it. In short, not really. The band play a tight set but it only takes you a few minutes to work out what they are all about, Lo-fi pop numbers that sound like Yuck.
Ironically our first venture outside of The Cockpit is to Leeds Met to see yet another Lo-fi indie pop band, THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE. The difference between Fanzine and THOAP is that THOAP are a very fun live band, not necessarily in engaging with the crowd, but you get the feeling they love being onstage, and with distortion turned up to the max and bassline bumbling away, it’s hard not to tap your feet along to the noise.
Down to the The Well next (infact LAL was The Wells’ grand re-opening) to check out Leeds’ very own riff slayers HAWK EYES. The band arrive 20 minutes late but no one seems to care by the time they take to the stage as the pit opens and even the odd crowdsurfer makes their way to the stage.
Due to Hawk Eyes turning up 20 minutes late we have to leave early (boo!) and get over to Nation of Shopkeepers to see GROSS MAGIC (yay!) who are already in full swing as we enter the venue. Looking around there’s a lot of band members present to catch Gross Magic’s set, and they bring the party. Shopkeepers is the perfect venue for Gross Magic with bunting scattered about the place and neat art all over the walls. Lovely.
To finish the night off we decide to head up to Leeds Uni and see that band off that Budweiser advert, LOS CAMPESINOS! Who battle through original sound problems to deliver a career spanning set, to leave a packed Leeds Uni Stylus wanting more long after the band have left.
After the short journey to the bus stop we were soon home, reflecting on what a wonderful day we had, thank you to everyone involved for creating such a great event and thank you Leeds for being so darn cute. See you there next year!
Aaron Lewins
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