Camden Rocks: The Festival Underdog (2016)


Camden Town. The most random part of London, punk rockers and Japanese tourists all under one roof. Food stalls, military jackets and even a cereal bar, there is pretty much everything in Camden that you could possible need, especially if you are into the unusual.There's many things Camden is famed for. It bears the home of Amy Winehouse and became a location for the frequent drunken fall-overs of Pete Doherty, but most notably is the abundance of live music flowing through it. Whether it is coming from the boom box of Cyber Dog or the huge Camden Roundhouse, there is one thing Camden is not short of and that is the blood of music!

So, when Camden Crawl died an unhealthy death a few years back, something was needed to replace it.

Queue, Camden Rocks Festival!

Twenty venues, two hundred bands, all in ones day. Combining a mixture of metal, hardcore and indie to make sure you have a good selection throughout the day. The good thing about their line ups is that they are unexpected, not your typical headliners and performers. This year sees the surprising announcement of The Cribs topping the bill for the event, which makes you think, “The Cribs? Holy shit! That's so awesome!”. This is what the Camden Rocks Festival lines ups are always like. Completely unexpected. Showing us that it is the underdog in become a strong festival within the capital city.

Here are our top picks for the festival, and make sure you add these to your list to see on the day!

ASYLUMS
These quirky lads from Southend cross over into many areas, one second you expect to see them on the cover of NME, then suddenly they are coming at you with Weezer-infused guitar pedal riffs that leave you blown back. With a new album coming out soon, there lads are certainly an interesting pick for the day. You can also check out our live review from Asylums' April show at London's The Garage,  here and what the band had to say when they had a chat with us about their music video for 'Necessary Appliances', here.

ZOAX
Zoax recently supported Funeral For A Friend at their last London shows, where lead singer Adam Carroll took on the venue like it was him against the world. Going face first in to the crowd and tearing it apart. The buzz around this band is unreal at the moment, with every show they play their audience get blown away. Things are certainly looking exciting for the music industry if these guys are involved.


JOHNNY FOREIGNER
Johnny Foreigner spawn from Birmingham, the city famous for Cat Deeley, I caught these guys at Great Escape this year, and it was one of the most warmest sets I went to all weekend. Passing gin around on stage and making a right racket in the process too. While most of the festival is quite heavy, Johnny Foreigner lead the way for the indie bands for the day, with their fast paced-shouting guitar fused sound the band give us a flash back to noughties indie rock.


VUKOVI
Vukovi are flying the flag for Scotland at Camden Rocks Festival, but that hasn't stopped them storming around the UK this year. With a female lead singer in a rock band, you can easily be placed into the 'Paramore' label, but these guys stem away from that, giving their own spin on pop-punk with a more heavy twist.



CREATE TO INSPIRE
There is always talks of bands being that next big thing, and 'it's only matter of time before they explode', but ninety nine percent of the time this doesn't seem to be the case. The music industry eats them up before they get where they need to be. Create To Inspire have just dropped EP 'Home is Where My Heart Dies', which is a hardcore powerhouse and unlike many others before them, it is just a matter of time before this band blows up into something massive. We had a chat with them recently about their single and music video for 'Don't Let Go'.
 and make sure you grab a copy of 'Shatter/Rebuild'  below while Create To Inspire are kindly steaming it as a free download.

Words & Thoughts of Ant Adams

Editor Pick:

INME

Having formed in 1996, InMe are now 20 years into their career with an impressive slew of Top 10 singles and albums under their belt. The band have just been announced for this year’s Download Festival and with their latest record ‘Trilogy: Dawn’ - the first in an ambitious triple release of concept albums – they're really breathing new life into their sound and making their fans feel alive, bringing the ecstasy they are craving. Edging further into experimental, prog-metal territory, this could be their finest era to date. Although, for this editor, they will really have to Faster The Chase to outdo their 2003-2006 years.