Party in Peckham...
The Bussey Building
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the Bussey Building, but if you haven’t you need to get yourself down there STAT. Sort of like Corsica Studios on steroids with an even stronger dilapidated warehouse vibe, it has two massive live rooms, bizarrely nice toilets and various other nooks and crannies to explore. For Radfest, almost all of the space was used to great effect, from the Caribbean barbeque in the courtyard to a remarkably civilized zine swap that was happening at the back of the upstairs room.
In fact, the only downsides were that the council had closed the rooftop bar because of the riots and that the barman in the smaller room thought it was funny to shake up your drinks before he gave them to you. Nice one dude.
The History of Apple Pie
The History of Apple Pie are one of those bands I shouldn’t like, but I really do. A sort of mash-up of Dinosaur Jr’s bop along alterno-rock and the doe-eyed innocence of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, these guys are just the right blend of riff-heavy rock ‘n’ roll and cutesy indie-pop twee.
The first band on the main stage, their care-free stoner pop was a great way to kick start an all day drinking session. Expect to hear much from these guys in the future.
Deceptor
OK, so Deceptor might not be the most brutal metal band I’ve ever seen, and the fact that they’re from Wales or something but speak in American accents when they’re on stage just seems weird, but I ended up liking them anyway. I mean, after being bombarded by Animal Collective-style art rock for the past four years, any band that can make thrash metal that sounds like Megadeth meeting Mastadon is more than a breath of fresh air.
Upholding the time honoured custom that is the heavy metal stage show, they had a burlesque dancer strip out of a wedding dress, French kiss a skull and smear herself in fake blood during the first song of their set. Even the most ardent metal haters have to admit that it was pretty cool.
Poster Roast
As previously mentioned, there were quite a lot of stalls at this year’s Radfest, but the one I was most impressed with was the Poster Roast stand that had taken over one of the walls of the main room.
Displaying a vast array of screenprinted gig posters from the past few years, this small but strangely engaging exhibition featured designs and illustrations by the likes of Luke Drozd, Kate Prior and Adam Pobiak and was a masterclass in what you can achieve with just a few stencils and some poster paint.
Mazes
A band who consistently live up to the hype, Mazes were on top form again this Sunday. Recently back from America, the guys have perfected the whole Beatles-meets-Pavement thing to such an extent that I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t the biggest band on the planet by this time next year.
Playing a few numbers and battling some weird sound issues, they deliver yet another half hour’s worth of pure pop bliss that had everyone in the room smiling by the time they called it a night.
Basically, if you ever need a pick me up to get over that Sunday night/Monday morning gloom, then you should go and watch Mazes.
Sexbeat have a couple of shows coming up next month and are releasing The Fresh and Onlys' next 7". They're also playing at the Lexington on the 3rd of September.
http://sexbeatlondon.com/
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Frieze Art Fair to launch new section for young galleries in 2012
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