Day two of Sound City was here as we headed to The Spanish Caravan at 1pm for a nice gentle start to the day from Luti, a very talented young girl who provided half an hour of acoustic tunes which the full house appreciated. 7/10. A quick dash to The Shipping Forecast was next for Dead Distance, a local Liverpool band who describe their music as gothic indie-rock, they played an incredible set for the fifty or so festival goers, the highlight being vocalist/guitarist Kadie as she kept the crowd onside from the first song to the last. Here is a band that have only one release to date, Catfish which was released only last week, another decent discovery at Sound City, that’s what this festival is all about. 8/10.
After the release of their debut album on Friday Corella did a stripped back set at the famous Jacaranda before a record signing. Played three acoustic tracks Drifting, Don’t Stop Me and Let Me Go, very busy room for this one. Up until now The Lottery Winners and Red Rum Club were the highlights of the weekend but a quick run over to the Arts Club Loft changed all that as we arrived just in time for Wirral trio Yee Loi who blew the roof off the venue with their DIY punk. Yee Loi are sisters Rose and Matilda and amazingly this was their first ever gig! This band have everything and is post modern punk at its finest: A drummer that sings, thrashing guitars and bass, what more could we possibly need for a Sunday afternoon? The few hundred that were in the room knew they were watching a very unique performance as the band played tracks from their EP Make Some Noise, unbelievably these sisters were signed up to Modern Sky UK at the ages of 15 and 13, which makes you wonder how far they can go if marketed properly, maybe the UK’s answer to The Warning. Watch this space. 10/10.
Next up it was back to The Spanish Caravan at 3.30pm for Issy Sutcliffe, a punk musician from Manchester who is beginning to make a mark on the local music scene. The half hour set went by too quickly as Sutcliffe and drummer kept the fans entertained, Cost Of Living and Drugs Can’t Fix Me were highlights for us, as Issy screamed “I hate the government and the government hates me!”. Especially Not In My Barbie Bed is a track that was released the week after the festival and sounded amazing live, a very lively set from a very confident woman, we will be hearing much more from Issy ‘not the girl next door’. 9/10.
A last-minute addition to the festival were She Drew The Gun who set the Kazimier Stockroom alight with their short acoustic set. Sound problems delayed the set so they had to take the hit to keep everything on time, Louisa Roach showcasing her musical talents. It was great to hear some of the bands big hitting songs including Something For The Pain and Resister amongst others. The five-track set went down well with the fans in the packed-out room with the unpredictability of a music festival striking again. 8/10. For something completely different we then headed along to The Shipping Forecast for Kaniva, a very talented rapper from London. This was a great half hour of storytelling and the track Mummy Says 3 is basically this guys life story in a four minute song, very hard hitting indeed. 8/10.
The plan was to head back to the Kazimier Stockroom for ARXX but unfortunately the place was full to capacity and there was a strict ‘one out one in’ policy so instead we ran back to The Shipping Forecast for Wings Of Desire, a band playing in Liverpool for the first time today. The electro pop/indie band blew us all away with their unique sound and high energy set with the energy emanating from the stage eventually seeing a few dance moves going on down the front. Here is a band that recently toured Europe and the UK with Editors, and vocalist/guitarist James Taylor reminds us of a young Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys fame. Taylor along with synth player/backing vocalist Chloe Little were both members of INHEAVEN until they broke up in 2019 thus forming Wings Of Desire, releasing their debut album Life Is Infinite on 8th December 2023. Most of the tracks were from that album and the best of the set was Choose A Life which had the whole room bouncing as they sang “Choose a life, get a job, find a wife, fuck it up”, a very memorable moment from the whole weekend for us. We would love to see Wings Of Desire play a headline show at some point this year! 9/10.
VENUS GRRLS are an alternative rock band from Leeds and do they know how to rock! The five members of the band are Grace Kelly (singer/guitar), Eliza Lee (guitar), Hannah Barraclough (bass), Grace Stubbings (synth) and Gabby Cooke (drums), there was a packed room awaiting the band taking to the stage at the Arts Club Loft at 6.30pm. They played a full-on half hour set with Hex, Divine and Bloodsick being the standout tracks for us. The excellent performance was back up by the response from the crowd who encouraged the band at every turn. We are looking forward to seeing VENUS GRRLS on their first ever headline tour in September. 9/10. There were two other bands that we wanted to see at 6.30pm – Rosellas and M60 – but the usual festival clashes strike again. While passing the Shipping Forecast we ran downstairs to catch the last track from Rosellas, Common Ground, and joined in with a boogie down the front before heading along to Grand Central Hall for Delights set, the old venue was buzzing with excitement for what was still to come tonight. The Manchester band didn’t let us down as they ran through their biggest hits including 1989, Tender, Sometimes, Lately, Utopia and Iris. We were lucky to see them supporting Red Rum Club a few weeks ago. The band have some new music coming in 2024. 8/10
Our high-energy day continued at the Arts Club Theatre where Yorkshire’s Skylights played an incredible set packed with rock and indie anthems. Skylights will be going into a hiatus after their next few gigs and this was sadly the last time we would be seeing them for a while. The room was packed out for this one, with loads of band t-shirts on show, their fanbase is exceptional with just about everyone in the room singing along to new track Time To Let Things Go as well as a few fan favourites Enemies, YRA, and Darkness Falls. A tinge of sadness at the end of this set. 9/10
We decided to hang around Grand Central Hall for the rest of the night kicking off with Corella, who didn’t let us down with a high energy set with an eight track setlist including a few from their debut album. There were crazy scenes during last track Barcelona Girl with a massive mosh pit breaking out and even up in the balcony we were all bouncing around. These were memorable scenes. 10/10
Brooke Combe is making new fans wherever she plays and Liverpool is like a second home to her, the loyal fanbase joining in with most of the tracks. We had caught Brooke playing a surprise acoustic set at the Arts Club Loft on Saturday but this time she had the full band with her creating a fuller experience. There was a good mix of old and new tracks with Miss Me Now and Are You With Me? being the highlights of the set, a cover version of Redbone by Childish Gambino was exceptional. 8/10
The Grand Central Hall was filled to capacity (3000 or so) when The Snuts took to the stage at 10pm, this was the moment everyone was waiting for. Jack Cochrane and co. worked through nine tracks from the recent Millennials album during the impressive non-stop 17 track set, kicking off with Novastar, Millionaires and Yoyo, getting the crowd onside straight away. The 2022 album Burn The Empire wasn’t forgotten as we got to hear Hallelujah Moment, The Rodeo and Burn The Empire allowing the fans to have a sing along. Highlights of the set for us would have to be Always, Gloria and Glasgow, the last track sending the capacity crowd wild to end the weekend on a massive high. 10/10
There was a late addition when The K’s announced that they would be playing the Side Door Nightclub at 11.45 – 12.30 to close the festival so it was going to be a late finish for this Sunday night! There was a limit of 200 but the nice people at Sound City organised some media passes so we were lucky enough to be able to catch the set, a move that was much appreciated. The set began with Chancer as they ran through a nine track set with quite a few from the recent debut album release I Wonder If The World Knows including Hoping Maybe and Hometown. The best was left to last though as everyone chanted along to Sarajevo the bands biggest song to date. Eleven and a half hours of music today to end the festival and definitely needed a good rest after all that! Liverpool is a … Sound City. See you next year.
Written by: Alan Brown
