So our Italian team member MATTIA and his videographer have approximately 10 hours of footage to sort through from the 5 days of madness that were this year's UK Tech-Metal Fest. They're working hard to bring you a 1 hour documentary of what went down. Just to keep you on your toes, he put together a rough teaser. Watch and read Mattia's statement for more info below.
And if your Tech Fest cravings aren't satisfied know that our official video and final report are coming soon! In the meantime, read up on Report 1 HERE, Report 2 HERE, Report 3 HERE, and Report 4 HERE. Booyah!
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We recently crashed UK Tech-Metal Fest in Peterborough and filmed
some amazing footage there including HD live performances, interviews
with great bands, some hilarious and even psychedelic stuff happening
around during the weekend. We filmed a load of material and we're
working hard to bring you a finished live experience as soon as possible.
It
will end up being a one-hour documentary showing you how amazing that
weekend has been for us and everyone who attended. We filmed so much material that if you were there, you will probably appear in some frames
of the final video. In the meantime, we've decided to show you a small,
low-quality teaser of what's coming because we just can't wait for you
to see what we're working on. The definition of the final video should
be way higher but this should give you an idea of what we have here. We hope it can bring you even just a small glimpse of what was the
amazing vibe you could feel at Tech-Fest.
The ambient track in the
beginning of the video is called “Genghis” produced by
an artist called Interlaken. The track is featured on an amazing
downtempo/glitch compilation called “Fragm'nts”. It has been released
under a Creative Commons License so it can easily be downloaded for
free on the psychedelic music portal Ektoplazm.com or at the label's Bandcamp.
You need to check that compilation out if you're a fan of this type of
music too.
The heavy djenty song is from our old, good French friends in
Cycles and it's called “From Fear To Fascination”. This track is
available for a "name-your-price" download on Bandcamp as well. Keep your eyes on this band too, since their new EP shall be hitting
your eardrums soon. Check out the teaser below and be patient...the full
video's coming very soon!
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Video and final report coming soon! Read up on Report 1 HERE, Report 2 HERE, and Report 3 HERE.
After the hard work of Saturday we were happy to have a relaxing and enjoyable day Sunday, even though we strongly started to feel the need to take a shower.
But as soon as the concerts started we immediately attended the Mask Of Judas performance. We also had an interview scheduled with them in the afternoon. They played songs from their latest mini album “Axis” and I must say I liked their live performance more than their studio material, which I definitely appreciate. After them it was the time for Chronograph's heavy performance on the main stage, followed by Basick Record's and Peterborough's very own Visions, and Monolith Music's Nexilva.
Later on the main stage, one of the funniest moments of the festival took place. Sadly Aliases performance had been cancelled, so the Tech-Fest team decided to replace them with a party. Stiff Bizkit, a Limp Bizkit cover band got on the stage to entertain the attenders for a half hour bouncing set! I was at the press area for my interview at that time so I couldn't attend most of the set, but it featured guests appearances from No Consequence, Linked, and other acts. In any case I recognized songs like “Nookie”, “My Generation”, “Break Stuff”, “Livin It Up” and more. As soon as I realized what was going on, I immediately ran from the press area to the stage to spend my last 15 minutes before the interview there as my friend was preparing the camera... Yes, I must confess I liked Limp Bizkit. They're one of the first "metal" bands I ever got into. And believe it or not, a lot of tech-heads loved that set. There were a lot of people moving, singing and jumping to those songs. It was a good way to slow down and take a funny break from the complicated proggy stuff played at the fest, and in the end everybody knows the lyrics of at least one Limp Bizkit song. You cannot escape.
After that we went back to some fast and furious technical death metal with the UK-based Dyscarnate, delivering one of the most virulent sets of the weekend (we got this on tape too...wait for it, it's coming soon!). After that we moved again to the main stage where we filmed what will be remembered as the most extreme mosh pit of this year's Tech-Fest during Heart Of A Coward's set. The band delivered a massive and devastating performance, confirming they're one of the most interesting hardcore bands to come out of the UK in recent times. They also recently signed a contract with nothing less than Century Media Records!
Shortly after, some quality instrumental music owned Tech-Fest's main stage. First, Basick Record's Chimp Spanner played a heavy and largely attended set, with a big crowd to appreciate the quality of their exhibition.
Immediately after, we saw the “only band not playing 8 strings guitars” as they defined themselves on stage. I'm talking about dutch fusion metal champions Exivious which did a virtuous and flawless exhibition with original and beautiful sounds. Unfortunately, there was just a small crowd to attend their set... The audience was probably tired from the long weekend and decided to take a break and come back for TesseracT performance, but I must say that this was probably the most clean set from a technical and instrumental point of view.
A few minutes before TesseracT's performance, Simon Garrod (Tech-Fest organizer / owner) and James Monteith (TesseracT and HoldTight PR) picked the winners of the contests to win an 8 string Ibanez RG8 and a coustom Double Slit guitar. After that, Simon delivered a small speech asking the crowd to celebrate the success of the festival with a big group hug that was one of the most moving and unforgettable moments of the weekend. Lovely. And TesseracT with the final performance? Well that was an amazing show with an exhausted but enthusiastic crowd enjoying one memorable set from the perfect band to end this festival. It was an intense, moving, and passionate performance to end Tech-Fest in the best way possible.
Yeah, because Tech-Fest, despite the timing troubles, the absence of showers and wi-fi connection, trouble finding power, and all the bands delayed or cancelled, was still the best Festival I have ever been to. And if I had to choose between finally sleeping in a bed and taking a shower the following night or sleeping for 3 more days on the grass, smelling like dirt, I would have definitely chose another Tech-Fest! If you missed this epic event, you better not make the same mistake next year. Be there!
Video and additional reports coming soon! Read up on Report 1 HERE.
Friday July 12th, 2013
The real UK Tech-Metal Fest is just getting started. The sky is grey over our heads but it seems like there will be no rain for the whole weekend, which is a remarkable sign of good luck for the fest considering we're in the UK.
During the early afternoon the performance that surprised us the most was delivered by The Colour Line, one of the first bands to take the main stage today. Everyone who saw the set can confirm that this band definitely wins the award for the most frightening and insane live performance of the fest. A perfect example of what a chaotic mathcore band should do live (we got it on tape, you will see it very soon). You need to check out this band if you're a fan of The Dillinger Escape Plan's recent stuff and live attitude, or if you like some good mathcore in general.
Later on we received sad news that Destiny Potato had to cancel their show. But we were informed that it had only been delayed to the following day due to some trouble with their gear on the plane. Exist Immortal's performance received good feedback from the audience during the first afternoon. Other bands proceeded to play main stage, including the heavy live show from Cold Night For Alligators, supported by a good and enthusiastic audience as well.
After lunch, around 3:30 PM, our friends Damned Spring Fragrantia got on stage despite the long series of troubles with the UK plugs (they're completely different from all the other European plugs. And believe me, this gave a lot of problems to a lot of European musicians). Their set was powerful and enjoyed by a considerable audience. It was amazing for these guys to travel more than 2000 miles for their first show out of Italy and find several people already wearing their t-shirts. We filmed part of their set too, which featured a good portion of their latest album “Divergences” including the song “Heritage” that they weren't able to perform during their recent release party. I've already described more than once the power and the intensity of their live shows, so I won't reiterate. But it was a great show, trust me.
After that, UK local heroes Meta-Stasis played their ruthless show headlining the second stage. I had seen these guys walking around the camping grounds and the stages, doing their best to try to give away their CDs and spread their music, putting all their heart into it. You should check em out.
Destiny Potato's spot on the main stage was taken by the Israeli band Linked. Fronted by two vocalists, capable to bring dynamic singing, both clean and screaming, this band had a sort of Fellsilent and early Monuments flavour, reminding this band during the “We Are The Foundation EP” period. I've met them many times during the weekend. They were a bunch of really friendly guys (they also saved Damned Spring Fragrantia's ass one minute before their set, finding them an adapter for the UK plugs, of which I spoke before). I really hope to meet them again. This was the last show of their UK tour with Invocation and No Consequence, who played shortly after. The UK-based band signed by Basick records has been growing so much since last year. With the release of their album “IO”, they've been showing more than serious potential. They played the most renowned tracks, like the single “Coerce:Conform” and “Unify”, but also amazing tracks like “Enemy Of Logic” and “Bury The Debt”. It was a memorable and high quality performance from a band that has by now conquered their spot in the UK and international tech-metal scene as one of the most interesting and promising acts. Me and my mate also met their vocalist around the venue many times for some very drunk Italian lessons with him - one of the funniest moments of the weekend.
Unfortunately I was busy trying to solve problems with my computer and camera so I wasn't able to attend Cilice's performance and part of Scar Symmetry's set. Anyways, I was told that Scar Symmetry's set was damn intense and attended by the largest audience so far. They performed songs like “Morphogenesis”, “The Anomaly”, “The Iconoclast”, and “The Illusionist”.
After a short break we were ready for the first after-party! After midnight it was officially my birthday as well! Celebrating it here at UKTMF was one of the best experiences of my life. As I was walking towards the stage I met two really funny English guys that insisted that I had a real English birthday, so every time they found me without a drink in my hand they bought me one. Alcoholic nights apart, I met them in the following days and had great times with them. Unfortunately, I cannot remember their names (met so many people!) and I hope this post will help me find them.
I was really curious to see the UK-based metal & drum n' bass band Collisions. Luckily, I was sober enough to enjoy them and The Algorithm as well in a worthwhile way. There was a good number of people to watch them even though most of them didn't know the band. I must say that I was really surprised and liked their performance more than their studio stuff, which I actually already loved. They played their singles “Believe In This”, “Push” and the the Bjork cover “Army Of Me”, also bringing us some new amazing material. I'm definitely looking forward to this band's new album, coming very soon. You all should check em out too if you already haven't. After Collisions, it was the time for The Algorithm's live set. I already told you about The Algorithm's live show with Mike Malyan, and how intense and incredible they are. This time was possibly even better than the last time: Remi and Mike were also supported by an amazing guitarist adding thickness and epicness to the sound. The show was also more continuous, almost without interruption between the songs, making it more similar to a live DJ set.
First official day has been a fucking blast! Tomorrow will be probably be even better considering it's my birthday but also one of the busiest days. You'll see...
Excited as hell, we reached the airport in time but our flight had been delayed. So we arrived at London's Stansted Airport 45 minutes later than we expected. We lost our train and reached the venue at 10 pm. We immediately met that golden guy named Simon Garrod (owner of UK Tech-Metal Fest, Monolithic Music, and English Djentlemens Quarters). He showed us the camping and the press area. It was already very dark and it took around one hour to place our tent! Going to sleep now, had enough adventures for today.
Thursday July 11th, 2013
We woke up and started shooting some video around the camp grounds, slowly invaded by a lot of tech-heads for the very first early bird day. We met up with a lot of nice people and our friends in Damned Spring Fragrantia.
We attended the very first concerts and saw the massive performances from bands like Foreboding Ether, Red Enemy (which resulted to be one of the audience's favourite performances), Black Tongue (Infant Annihilator side project) and Bloodshot Dawn.
We all couldn't wait to see Monuments performance with Chris Barretto and it really went beyond our expectations. Their show was truly unbelievable. One of the best the band has ever done (their words). There were already a load of people to attend the show, way more than expected by the organizers themselves. We shot a bunch of sick videos of the Monuments performance. You'll see them very soon.
Monuments' performance took place on the second stage, literally invaded
by this big crowd. I was so excited and amazed by the band and Chris'
performance that I wasn't even able to memorize their setlist. I'm
pretty sure they started with the new instrumental track “The Indulger”
and continued with “Degenerate”, followed by (order is probably wrong
and I'm probably missing some songs) “97% Static”, “Doxa”, “Empty Vassel
Make The Most Noise” and “Regenerate”. They also played their new, yet
unreleased, song somewhere during the set and finished it with “Admit
Defeat”. As I said, there might be some mistakes in this setlist,
because I was simply too amazed by everything happening there. I had
already seen Monuments two times in Italy with Matt Rose, but there were
just small crowds in small venues. Seeing them here in the UK, during
Tech-Metal Fest with this beautiful crowd and with that brilliant
performance from Chris Barretto was such an intense and memorable
experience. I will never forget this night.
We were already having trouble with my PC that works terribly and it seemed like we wouldn't have a wifi connection available during the weekend. It was also hard to find plugs and power, but we dealt with it. This festival hadn't even already started, and it's already one of the best events ever.
During the afternoon we also had the time to interview our friends in Damned Spring Fragrantia and enjoyed our camping life. It's all amazing and it's truly unbelievable for me to be here. And as I said - the real festival is not even started yet. I can't wait for tomorrow.
It's finally here, the long awaited third announcement to complete this summer's UK Tech-Metal Fest line up! First up, a little info... The festival is going to take place in Peterborough from July 11th to the 15th and it's looking to be one of the greatest events of this Summer!
Onto the announcements. The UK's psychotic technical death metal act Meta-stasis will headline the second stage on Friday the 12th. Along with this announcement, 12 more bands were also added to the line up. They are Bloodshot Dawn, Empires Fade, Red Enemy, Black Tongue, Acrania, Chronographs, Murdock, Mask Of Judas, Karybdis, When Our Time Comes, Subversion and Cambion! This is going to be sick! Also, Dan-Elias Brevig and Seething Akira are set to join the after parties!
They've also announced specific event dates and stage splits. Monuments will be headlining the early bird show on Thursday 11th. Scar Symmetry, Sybreed and Uneven Structure will be ruling the main stage on Friday. Veil Of Maya, Skyharbor, and No Consequence will conquer on Saturday. This leaves Tesseract, Exivious and Chimp Spanner on Sunday! Headliners of the second stage will be Meta-stasis, Xerath and Dyscarnate.
This is going to be an unforgettable weekend! Single day tickets and weekend tickets are available at www.uktechfest.com. Book yours now!
UK Tech-Metal Fest announced 11 new bands to perform at this Summer's edition of the festival. It will pack all kinds of extreme talent into Peterborough, UK from the 11th until the 15th of July! Check the full flyer down below.
The new additions are Exivious, No Consequence, Red Seas Fire, Visions, Damned Spring Fragrantia, Exist Immortal, Beyond The Dust, Shattered Skies, Foreboding Ether, Invocation, and Linked! All these new bands will now be featured alongside the 24 acts already announced, including Scar Symmetry, Tesseract, Veil Of Maya, Skyharbor, Monuments, Chimp Spanner, Sybreed and many more. This brings the count to 35 bands! And there are still more artists to be announced!
The festival has also announced the acts for the after-parties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This will feature a DJ set from The Algorithm, a live performance from the UK-based drum n bass-metal band Collisions, Aleksandra Djelmash, Aleksandra Radosavljevic; ESO, Drewsif Stalin, and the Bilo Super Jam, featuring David Maxim Micic, Bojan Kvocka, Milan Jejina Yeqy (Destiny Potato) Jakub Zytecki (Disperse), Tymon Kruidenier (Exivious), Sam Bell (Mask Of Judas), Uri Dijk (Textures), and Adam Swan and Mike Malyan (Monuments). If you live around Europe, you better not miss this festival. It's gonna be huge!
UK TECH-METAL FEST have announced the headliners along with the first wave of bands for the 2013 edition of their festival. The main event will take place in Peterborough from July 11th until the 15th.
And the line up is looking incredible! Scar Simmerty, Veil Of Maya, and Tesseract have been confirmed has the headliners of the 3 main days (July 12th, 13th, 14th) while Monuments will be headlining the early bird / warm up show on July 11th. Guess we'll see if Monuments will be performing an instrumental show or if they'll have a new vocalist ready to go in July considering it has just been announced that Matt Rose is no longer their frontman.
The line up features plenty more amazing acts, some of which are also UK exclusives, like Skyharbor and Uneven Structure. But we also find Chimp Spanner, Heart Of A Coward, Sybreed, Aliases, The Algorithm, Disperse, Destiny Potato, Xerath, Cilice, Neosis, Dyscarnate, and Nexilva among several others. A total of 24 bands announced with more on the way! This is looking to be an amazing weekend. Check out the flyer below.
Also, did you see The Circle Pit's logo on the flyer? That's right, we'll have people there and we'll be telling you all about what's going on through our interviews and reports! It's time to get stoked! If you're around the UK / Europe come hang with us 'cause it's going to be one helluva good time!
UK Tech-Metal Fest is continuing to expand rapidly as they have added yet another event to their ever growing line of concerts. That's right, there will be a second London event held by the Tech Metal aficionados and it's looking as good as ever. It will take place March 31st at the Scream Lounge and will feature a multitude of bands. The headliners will be No Consequence and Mask of Judas. Supporting acts include Last Legion, Sincerity, Foundations, and Karybdis among many others. Check out the flyer along with music from the bands down below and get ready for the solid ton of metal headed your way!
UK Tech Fest is expanding their operation aggressively this year. There's yet another auxiliary date before the main event. After recently announcing the two day UK Tech Fest London, they have returned with UK Tech Fest Manchester! It will take place on April 27th at Dry Live in Manchester. The line-up is even more stacked than the London event including Aliases and The Algorithm as headliners and several bands such as Red Seas Fire, Nexilva, and Orion in support. Check out music from all the mentioned bands below and also take a look at the flyer if you want to go. UK Tech Fest never fails to put on a good show and from what we've heard, the main event this summer will be MASSIVE. Get ready for that!
It appears our friends behind UK Tech Fest are expanding their operation. Instead of just the main event this year, they're having a two day Tech Fest in London on March 9th and 10th! Headliners include Visions, Carcer City, Nexilva, and Terakai. You can listen to music from these bands and check the flyer below for more. Get stoked for this, and get especially stoked for the main event in July. It's going to be a HUGE year for UK Tech Fest!
