Brought to you by our intrepid reporter Dougle McMysteron, whom selflessly threw himself into the festivals ravening maw in order to bring you the grass roots beef!
Monday:
Strangely, my first show of the week came via the youthful Nashville death-mongers As Hell Retreats. Big hardcore style beat downs and fast blast beat sections could easily have overwhelmed the bulbous crowd assembled at the large generator stage (I’ll not name it) if the sound had not been an obvious hatchet job. I’ve rarely seen such a blatant attempt to monkey wrench a band but fortuitously team ‘Retreat showed a professionalism rare in many young bands and worked through it. The punters responded favourably and a good time was had by all regardless. Kudos to them.
A chance meeting with some friends from Denmark heralded a some great entertainment from Solace The Day on the Greenlight generator stage. The sound was poor but the wiry Vikings swung their dreads and contorted their way through a half hour of fairly convincing slovenly southern metal. Unfortunately, it became apparent that with so many ultra-tight metal bands at the fest STD’s calculated slop-core seemed to go over the heads of many of the passers by. I couldn’t believe that so many seemed to miss the point that its meant to sound like that.
During the general malaise of what I call ‘festival admin’ – setting up tents, bimbling around and finding your friends etc. – I found myself distracted by the horde making their way to the Anchor tent and a band hitherto unknown to me called Children 18:3. A kind of east coast punk thing set out by this 3 piece seemed to go down well with the large mob assembled and a proper excited vibe became apparent. It I thought they where quite good but that their attempt to show off the skills of their more than proficient drummer fell a little flat with me.
A Hill To Die Upon on the impromptu stage at midnight provided me with my first ever black metal show (or ‘black death’ as I was later corrected) and a fearsome spectacle it was. Extremely aggressive, tight and focussed I was impressed enough to decide to explore the genre more thoroughly upon my return to blighty.
So day 1 down and its metal: 3, punk: 1. But Tuesday is still to come…
Tuesday:
FBS (Fight Before Surrender) where nasty as ever, whipping up the crowd and pummelling out the low down street punk in short sharp bursts, just like yo momma used to make. I consider these guys a festival essential and suffice to say they brought the goods and all where summilarly rocked. Nuff said.
For me, cornerstone this year was all about Tuesday punk at Fatcalf. I missed earlier sets from the likes of Destroy Nate Allen and True Liberty but managed to get back in the game in time for the ever faithful Scurvies. I was disappointed that the bands whole line up had been replaced but the Aleutian quad brought the beef none the less. Flanked by two former members of the Mainline Riders, singer Chris held court over a crowd who where intent on freaking out – and freak out they did indeed. A large, fast but sparsely populated circle pit opened up and bodies flew out of the way like rag dolls. Pure rock n roll is rarely as pure as this. The Scurvies are thoroughbreds and you NEED to see them.
Revolution Radio stepped up to the mark and provided some respite from the madness with a good old sing along. Aaron has a knack of connecting with the audience and much singing along entailed. Backed by the boys from the Last Hope and sp
orting a new drummer RR seemed to be flexing some new muscle and really enjoying themselves. Half an hour with this band is time well spent.
A few band later and bumbling on stage came Sexually Frustrated. Decked out in splendidly tasteless Hawaiian shirts they barrelled through a host of intense hardcore numbers, stopping only to allow space for the totally entertaining poetry of their mascot Mikey. This band is a joy to watch – pure and simple. It was also cool to see loads of girls watching a purity band and I was surprised to find out that it was their first show in a Christian environment. I can only deduce that there where some fairly rowdy crowd antics in the offering as I was buffeted from all sides, having worked my way forward to shout along like a mad man. Sheer glee.
Having lost my shirt in the SF swim pit I took the opportunity to grab a couple of Flatfoot shirts and ran to my tent to deposit them. Upon returning to Fatcalf I heard the sounds of OCD (Our Corpse Destroyed) covering Black Flags Rise Above and ran join the fun. I braked hard as what can only be described as utter carnage met me. The maddening scene comprised of the stage brimming over with punters all gleefully making a grab for the mic. Bodies where surfing from the drum kit into the generous pile up enveloping the stage and the circle pit was nothing short of a frenzied drag race. Ill be honest – my bottle went and already knackered by the preceding bands I decided to enjoy this one from the sides. In all my 32 years I have never, ever, witnessed a gig with such ferocity to have such an unbelievably positive vibe. A new wave of craziness swept over the crowd as Reap What You Sow opened up and my resolve broke and I lobbed my aching frame into the fray to bark along with all my heart. The chant of REDEEEEEMPTION! REDEMP-TION TODAY! must have been heard all the way to the main stage. Amazing.
Few people could have followed this set and the knackered crowd thinned considerably for relative newcomers Brain Freeze. Cheap and nasty in all the right ways the three piece rattled out a bunch of loose fitting choons at a reasonably receptive crowd. Personally, I was glad of the relief from the intensity and enjoyed laughing along with their happy go lucky chant-o-pop. Good times and Mickey Mouse ears are their modus operandi and very effective it is too. A turn in events came with a cover of Jesus Christ Hardcore brought a sudden rush of people darting in from the edge of the tent and further a field to grab the mic and throw their lungs into it.
Here is some great video of Dougle with the Rodent Emporium at Cornerstone this year. See if you can figure out which is Dougle (sorry Doogs, couldn’t resist sharing this with the world and perpetuation the Doogs legend!!)
Tuesday was a triumph, but Wednesday is coming…
