Beer-by-Beer: The 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival

Beer-by-Beer: The 1-2-3-4 Shoreditch Festival

11 July, 2011
by: Johny Chhetri

Summertime brews...

So this Saturday just gone Shoreditch Park bore witness to the 1-2-3-4 Festival, a massive one day party where all of East London’s favourite bands got together and played to 400-500 people. As well as featuring a veteran of avant-garde rock, a very decent garage-rock band and a few names that'll be big in the near future, it was also a good opportunity to spend the day enjoying a few drinks in a park.

Unfortunately moderation isn’t my strong suit, so here's a beer-by-beer account of it all.

Beers 1-3

After settling in with a couple of cheeky cans the first band I get round to seeing are Sex Beet, playing the Rough Trade/Beat stage. The lads, who also run a blog/club night called PNKSLM were responsible for sorting out the pre-party the night before (which saw Comanechi, Rent Boys and  Brown Brogues play, as well as Diverge DJs), and despite partying ‘tl the early hours of the morning, they sound fresh and lively today, like any good garage-rock band should.  

Deciding that I need a bit of beautifully crafted hazy pop to soothe my anger away I stick around to check out Echo Lake, playing the same tent. I find myself swaying in a slightly drunken haze to their usual blend of noise pop and shoegaze, especially when they play the new version of breakthrough track 'In Dreams' – which now features a well-deserved drum solo.

Beer 4

After purchasing some beers, my colleague and I race back to see Fair Ohs. Now, when you're drunk, you tend to feel a bit loose and feel like you need to move those arms around. Well, that's exactly what is happening to me with a beer in my hand.

As well as providing some summertime vibes, Fair Ohs also provide some banter, albeit in the form of drunken fat jokes. It's still entertaining stuff and perfect if you want to dance like some twisted version James Brown.  

Beers 5 and 6

Time for more beer, and a trip to see Cover Girl, a super-group that includes members of Trash Kit, Wetdog and Peepholes, who, unfairly, played before the gates were even open, which was lame, so they were then promised a later slot at the 'VIP' stage. Watching them play, I keep thinking of Captain Planet, with each different band member combining elements of their other bands' sounds to create something heroic.

Having now lost the paper with the line-up on it, I find myself back at the Rough Trade/Beat stage watching what I think is an aged Bo Ningen, but boy am I mistaken. I'm watching the krautrock stalwart and veteran boundary-pusher Damo Suzuki who is joined on-stage by (from what I can see) Yuki Tsujii and Kohhei Matsuda of Bo Ningen, Kenichi Iwasa of Chrome Hoof, Xaviers and Neo Soft and Thomas Cohen of S.C.U.M. I'm greeted by a warm and embracing barrage of noise and leave feeling all warm and fuzzy – especially inside the ol' ears.

In the search for more beer, I stumble across a three-piece garage-rock ensemble consisting of three handsome northern gentlemen. I think these guys are called French Kissing or Kaiser Chiefs or something like that. Anyway, there's about five people at the start of this set, but it creeps towards double figures by the time they batter through their last song. Must be the drummer: he's going at it like a chimp on speed.

Continuing my search for beer, I sliver through the the Artrocker stage for a bit of Warm Brains who are playing with a new drummer and making one or two mistakes, but I guess that is rock and roll for you.

Vitamin Water break

Feeling a little worse for wear by now, I decide to replenish my lost nutrients with a sip of refreshing vitamin water that they’re handing out in the back stage. After a quick couple of sips, I suddenly find myself wandering around the twilight of the festival with the Ravonettes playing somewhere in the middle distance. I also realise that I need more beer.

Whisky

The press beer has run out, and I have to resort to some third-party tactics. Luckily someone hands me a glass of whisky, and even if it is from another man's cup, it's still whisky. With the haze lifting and sobriety beckoning, I clock Black Lips milling around on stage getting ready to rock the show. Those sips are doing the trick, and even if I’m being shoved head-first into the rectum of some dude who's crowd-surfing in his Weezer top I find myself going mental to the infectious garage rock.

After all that pushing and shoving, we’re quickly ushered out of the venue by a group of yellow vested security people. Six beers and a day of crazy bands have definitely taken their toll. I'm just glad I still have some amazingly tangy vitamin water left.

For more info, or to see what they've got in store for 1-2-3-4 Fest 2011, keep checking their website.

Oh, and keep an eye on our festivals page too.

Johny Chhetri