Earlier this month VM's photography head honcho James Donnelly headed to Twisterella Festival located just a stones throw from our head office. Here's his account of what went down:
I recently attended a one-day festival in Middlesbrough titled Twisterella which featured 5 venues and a varied array of bands and soloists spanning all genres. Headlining the bill were one of our favourite local bands, Cattle & Cane and Eliza And The Bear both of which you may have seen featured on Sunday Brunch. Although we enjoyed the headlines there were some bands we’ve never seen before but were taken aback with the raw talent that was being pumped into our ears.
First up were Fatherson, a Glaswegian band stopping off on their way up from London before heading to Leeds on the night. Front-man Ross Leighton started the set alone captivating the audience with his fantastic Scottish vocals echoing throughout the Teesside Student Union. After a few verses the rest of the band (Marc Strain: Bass, Greg Walkinshaw: Drums, Chris Beltran: Guitar/Keyboards) joined Ross on stage to belt out and indie rock second half to the song.
The rest of the set was equally beautiful and enthralling with poetic lyrics, catchy beats & riffs and dreamy vocals reminiscent of early an Bloc Party and Kings Of Leon for want of a comparison. The band obviously has a big Teesside following as the audience joined in along the way, particularly with the slow reflective end to ‘James’.
We also caught the end of another brilliant band from Sunderland, named Liliput, in a different venue. Although completely different they still captivated the audience with perfect harmonies and a careful blend of folk-rock and baroque-pop. The five strong band pay credence to their influences of The Beatles, Beach Boys, Fleet Foxes, The Bees and The Coral. Definitely worth a listen.