Victorious 2022 - Saturday

We started off our Saturday’s entertainment early for the second day of Victorious Festival with The K’s opening up the on the Common Stage followed by a trip over to the Castle Stage to catch sets from Swim Deep and Coach Party.

Swim Deep

Coach Party

Back at the Common Stage it was time for We Are Scientists who always put on a great show, their crowd interaction and between song banter really adds another dimension to the gig experience.

We first fell in love with WAS's ‘With Love & Squalor’ for it's great fresh indie rock tunes that have such immense attitude ... not to mention kittens on the cover - we were SOLD right there (clever marketing ploy). Since the early days there have been so many great albums, which really cemented them as indie rock legends with their intelligent upbeat indie rock which is what so many love them for.

Their delivery was spot on and with so many tunes to choose from even the uninitiated would recognisethey are the kind of band you can see multiple times each being a great and unique experience! With so many catchy riff-a-riffick earworms even the casual listener would be drawn into their vortex of awesome.

Kicking the set off with a bang ‘You've Lost Your Shit’ was powerfully upbeat and got the set off to a riotous start.

There was a good mix of older classics like ‘Inaction’ ‘Buckle’ & ‘It’s A Hit’ as well as new material in the set - W.A.S. are a band which have a solid backbone of hits as well as an ability to keep knocking out melodically interesting and humorous hits literally constantly whilst also seemingly always being on tour!

As the indie alt rock legends that they are they managed to squeeze so many tight performances of bangers like ‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt’, ‘After Hours’ and the bouncing ‘The Great Escape’ into their measly 30 minute set like a well oiled machine.

Check out our gallery of the beautifully voiced silver fox that is Keith Murray and the one and only Chris Cain in action:

Victorious 2022 - Friday

Primal Scream kicked off Friday afternoon opening the Main Common Stage for the weekend. With less artists performing it was still a really busy day filling up quickly.

James were really engaging and frontman Tim Booth dove into the crowd during ‘Come Home’ and it was a good day for a nice 'Sit Down'

Bombay Bicycle Club also graced the Common Stage and the evening culminated with a performance by Steroephonics which rounded off a great day and got us excirted for all the artists yet to perform over this Bank Holiday weekend in sunny Southsea!

Self Esteem:

Bombay Bicycle Club:

Victorious 2022 Preview

With less than a week to go here are our picks for Victorious Festival 2022.

With a huge back catalogue of hits including ‘Loaded’ and ‘Movin’ On Up’, psych-rock veterans Primal Scream will open up the Common Stage as special guests on Friday afternoon. They are followed by James, Bombay Bicycle Club and Stereophonics who are celebrating an amazing 30 years together in this year.

Saturday sees rock band The Subways and post punk band White Lies as well as New York indie trio We Are Scientists performing. We are scientists are a must see for Saturday - not only do they put on a great show but the between songs banter is a thing to behold, don’t miss them they play at 3.30 on the Common Stage!

Indie rock legends The Libertines will be taking to the stage as special guests for Sunday afternoon.

Sunday will also have performances from acclaimed alt-rockers Nothing But Thieves and Editors as well as indie-electro giants Metronomy.

Suede will play the Common Stage on Sunday while the Duchess of Pop herself, award-winning nu-disco diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor will play the Castle Stage.

You can find the clashfinder here to plan your day!

The Chats - ‘GET FUCKED’ Album Review

REVIEW BY DANNY BUTLER

It is hard to believe it has been five years since The Chats released their debut EP, ‘The Chats’. A short but sweet masterclass in DIY Garage Punk laced with teenage angst, humour, and Australian culture. In 2017, after creating their own record label ‘Bargain Bin’, they released their song ‘SMOKO’ with accompanying low budget video on YouTube, showcasing all the above on a global level drawing the attention of likes of Dave Grohl, Iggy Pop and Josh Homme whilst achieving more than 16 million YouTube views and 20 million Spotify streams. Their debut album ‘High Risk Behaviour’, released in 2020, was certified Gold by ARIA on release peaking at number 5 in the Australian Albums Chart. They even managed to get on Metallica’s ‘The Metallica Blacklist 2021’, a 30th anniversary special edition compilation featuring renditions of ‘Black Album’ songs from artists such as Miley Cyrus and Weezer. Pretty impressive stuff!

As of August 19th 2022, the young punks from Queensland will be back with the release of their second full length album, ‘GET FUCKED’. With that, I can most certainly say that they have not strayed from their style of ‘balls-to-the-wall-matter-fact-no-bullshit’.

Opening with an outright slap in the face, the lead single, ‘6 LTR GTR’ perfectly sets the tone for the album. Musically harkening back to the aggressive style of classic hardcore punk. The likes of ‘Rise Above’ era Black Flag instantly come to mind. The album maintains its fast pace and punch through out the first five tracks, including a 35 second mosh inducing ‘Southport Superman’ ending on a blazing ode to mental health struggles ‘Panic Attack’. After this, the album seems to slow down for a couple of songs, bringing it back to their early Garage sound. One of these songs, ‘The Price of Smokes’, the longest song on the album at 3:42, highlights the cost-of-living crisis that everybody in the world is currently going through, building its intensity until it reaches a crescendo of Eamon Sandwith screaming “THOSE BASTARDS IN PARLIAMENT OUGHTA BE HUNG BY THEIR NECKS”.

The second half of the album matches the teeth gritting intensity of the first, lyrically staying true to their “everyman” image and voice. There’s not much going on musically, but their lyrics are something that all of us can relate to in youth and mid-life. These guys are sick of being surrounded by douchebags and so are we!

Penultimate track ‘Emperor of the Beach’ is my personal highlight of this album, starting off with a mid-paced bouncy three chord roar, with a surf punk surprise that could match the twang and attitude of the mighty Dead Kennedys.

The final track of the album, ‘Getting Better’ is a two-parter that starts somewhat a gentle closer. I can only describe this as straight off a mid-late 70s Ramones album and features a catchy ‘Woo-ing’ sing-along melody. The second half of the song ramps the tempo right up to where we began with a Chuck Berry Rock and Roll style rhythm finishing with a bang!

Overall, the album can be quite repetitive, which can be quite fatiguing. Whilst it’s not the most intellectual, technical, or poetic song writing, the album is an absolute blast. This is exactly where punk needs to be right now. Back to basics and primitive. In a material, capitalist world run by ever growing conservative governments and dominated by technology, The Chats can provide a true voice for the disaffected working class with all their charm. And I wish them all the best and will hope to catch them live again. Rating: 4/5.