Boardie Takeover - FULL REVIEW - Part 1

Read part 1 of our in-depth review of the Boardie Takeover at Download 2010...

The Boardie Takeover is back! That venerable corner of the internet, the Download Forums, gets to take over a tent from the night and do with it what they please (within reason!). Will it be good? Will it be bad? Will it be as we expect? It’s part of the fun, with as many amateur performers involved in this as there are experienced ones.

Hopes and dreams can be made or come crashing down. It could go either way, and with most of the audience not being Boardies at all, this is not an audience who will be sympathetic or understanding if they are left unsatisfied.

The event has already moved to a different tent due to “poor conditions”, not an optimistic start at all but hopefully the exciting and eclectic performances ahead will kick off the weekend in true rock’n’roll style.

Amidst a few pre-show jitters and some mis-communication (“we’re sure our set isn’t for another hour!”) things come together at the last moment in that magical rock ‘n’ roll way. The tension just adds to the thrill when the show gets into its groove and following a gracious welcome by Phillip Hull, one of the masterminds behind this bizarre rock ‘n’ roll variety show, it’s time for the show to begin. On you go, Cyster Scalpel!

This band’s set consisted of confident, 70s-infused hard rock with a strong British flavour to it. They mixed up their covers and originals, a dangerous game to play but one they played well.

The guitar solos were memorable, a rare feat on cover tracks. There was an element of hair metal to the band’s look and sound, but their core hailed back to a slightly earlier time, and also attempted to be more modern re- imagination than throwback.

This seems to be a popular trend in the last year, with bands updating the 70s and 80s rock soundscapes rather than sticking to the tried and tested rehash pattern. It seems to be taking root, with bands like Taking Dawn making real career strides.

Perhaps the same could happen to the Scalpel guys? They’ve been regular Download attendees for the last three years and formed there. It would be fitting if they one day made a part of Andy Copping’s festival bill, though already they describe playing the takeover as “a dream come true” and they perceive today’s performance as “a step that can kick off our ambitions”. 

The set’s highpoint is a song dubbed “Donington”. Speaking of the song, the band say it tries to encapsulate “the atmosphere and the good times, which is what we live for.”

Elaborating, the band state that “We wanted to focus on the fact that the bands are just an added bonus really, the weekend and the camping, walking about making new friends and just having a laugh, that’s what Donington was more about really.”

It’s a message that reaches the crowd loud and clear. Their fairly traditional sound is a nice, safe way to open the takeover, accessible to and enjoyed by the entire crowd.

Erin was the second act of the night. In theory her performance was a vocal spot, singing along to a number of backing tracks. However, the show quickly changed as Erin hit the stage.

Not confident in her singing abilities, the show still involved some music but Erin found her feet and delivered more of a stand-up performance. Despite this rather drastic change of plan, Erin reveals herself to be a far more skilled speaker than she is a singer, able to hold a crowd’s attention and crack spur-of-the-moment jokes before revealing herself in a more literal fashion, removing her top to gracious applause and all manner of whistles and cheers, which she looked back on by saying “I think that was the most excited for me all night!”.

After the show, a little stunned, she told us “I don’t believe I’ve just done it!” but also showed modesty with her sense of humour, saying “it’s not a good sign when you have to take your top off to get applause”, neglecting to mention that hundreds of people were in the room for the entire show – not just that moment.

Erin’s show had been memorable, and rock ‘n’ roll would be nothing if bands didn’t have the female form to write songs about, but it was time to return to a firmly more music-focussed show with Mark’s DJ slot.

Initially a little shy and nervous, the crowd warmed to his set, a healthy mix of fairly commercial songs but with a dash more thrash metal than you would normally get to find in your average metal club, with a particular highlight being Pantera classic Cowboys From Hell.

A member of the audience spotted us nipping behind the barrier and shouted “ask for some Slayer!” and at that moment, his
wishes were answered without me having to utter a word.

Mark’s eclectic tastes prove to be the set’s strong point; when discussing the festival he says he’d like to hear “something a bit different” at Download, with the Foo Fighters being his top choice for a headliner - ‘they’ve got a lot of songs that everyone can sing along to’.

With the first pits of the day forming during his set, Mark has left the stage nicely set up for Jacknife Holiday to turn things up to eleven.

Jacknife Holiday sound like a smarter, more technically focussed offspring of Killswitch Engage and Pantera. They tell us that in a “dream world” DevilDriver would headline Download and that should be enough of a clue to about their approach at how best to batter an audience’s ears.

At times the band give this technical focus too much importance and neglect musicality for flashes of densely packed instrumental complexity, but the band play with all the energy and brutality you could ask for.

Singer PC’s instinctive, base sound provided a contrast to the overly-technical playing, bringing a balance to the sound, the combination of which make both the music and the vocal performance more interesting.

Despite this, the band still finds more of their form in simpler moments, getting into the groove of tunes more with an undeniably catchy chug. This was maintained by a vibrant rhythm section that managed to come to the fore without overshadowing or muddying the guitars, and a raw, primal vocal style. 

The band are all as energetic as each other prowling around the stage, with no member dominating the field more than the others. Given they’re a British band, they do a solid job approximating a very American form of music, something few bands here can do without losing an individual, distinctive vibe.

The band tell us they formed during a jam session and it’s telling in their sound. There’s something ever so slightly rock ‘n’ roll to the band, showing their roots: British heavy metal evolved from blues rock whereas the American scene has never quite looked that far back, or that deeply, focussing more on hardcore punk influences.

Of all the bands who play tonight, they are arguably the one with the most growing to do, but have already found their niche and are moments from completing that growth into an entertaining, distinctive entity. 

Catch them at this unique breakthrough moment if ever you can, and be sure to grab their new, free EP  from their MySpace page, something which they describe as ‘3 tracks of brutal, stinking c*** metal!’  

>READ PART 2 OF OUR REVIEW