Review: Misery Loves Company – ‘Safe, fun and uplifting’

The people of Misery Loves Company have a distinct presence in Bristol, not because of the array of hair colours and eyeliner styles, although that is a feature, but because of the community.

The guy with skull boots gives a knowing look to the girl with electric-green hair, the kids with matching leg warmers find each other on the bus in, the person with their hands stuffed into their pockets is encouraged in by the person strutting across the pavements.

The people of misery loves are identifiable by their love of music and their desire to share that with others.

Gürl kicked off the day for me, grinning before their set starts despite their title as an ‘anti-pop group’.

Their song Gucci Honey Dirty Money features early on in their set, a song labeled as outrageous but that captures the mood of the room, a song about being told you aren’t ready too many times before taking control and finally bursting out.

It’s a heavy track with a wall of guitar fizzing behind powerfully screamed vocals, an immensely cool way to start the day.

The festival then wanders its way into Rough Trade just to be hit with the hot pink haired punk whirlwind that is Bex.

Only 20 years old and already a self made riot-grrrl icon, she has recently erupted onto the punk scene with a force that few other artists have.

She’s the epitome of punk, wearing hand made clothes and writing her own songs, and being a genuinely lovely person off stage. Her songs are, as she says “kinda angry, kinda feminist, kinds rock, kinda metal” and have that old school punk sound, mixing the antagonistic chaos of x-ray specs with the fast-paced intensity of bratmobile.

The lyrics that wrap around the distorted chords and plowing drums are powerful, Slave to the Grind attacking the capitalist machine, Tiptoe ripping into a man who followed her backstage after a gig. She could easily be a headliner, and the day’s only just started.

After this, there’s a mid-day run of metal, proper metal in the littler venues.

This might, for anyone not familiar with Bristol’s metal scene, seem like a mistake; who is realistically going to join a mosh pit at 3 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon?

The answer is everyone going to see Pengshui and Raiders.

After a little encouragement, or screams of “Where’s the pit!?” from Pengshui’s frontman Illaman, the festival is transported into a spiralling madness of depending scales and shredding chords.

The mood for Raiders in The Lanes is simular, but it’s an oddly wholesome set for a metal-screamo band, focused very heavily on mental health.

Frontman Sean Smith writes about his experience with an eating disorder and constantly checks on the audience throughout. If it ever gets too loud or overwhelming, the lanes had a quiet area, outside in the fresh air with purely acoustic music.

It didn’t seem to follow a specific schedule, guitars blending into harmonicas into lyrics but it doesn’t seem to matter.

The space is mostly populated by the beanie wearing goers of misery loves, perhaps more used to acoustic indie gigs- it’s good to know that Misery Loves Company has space for all.

The headliners begin their sets relatively early on in the evening, drawing most people into SWX. It’s a large venue with everything that you want ‘headliners’ to have: barriers, massive sound systems, space to dance.

It’s a vibrant atmosphere even before Witch Fever come on.

When they do, their set is a thrilling ride, from very grung-y songs at the start, slowing towards the middle of their set and building up to thumping baselines with siren like vocals looming over the top.

For their final song, 12, vocalist Amy Walpole decends into the audience, catapulting from person to person. The lyrics are stuffed full of an anger that leaves emotions buzzing around the room long after the band had left.

The Xcerts were on next, bringing a more indie feel to the festival. They were more Fountains of Wayne than hardcore metal but no less bouncy for it.

They have scream-able choruses and blast energy through every song they have, ending with Feels Like Falling in Love from their, clearly beloved, album Hold On to Your Heart. A perfect three minute rock tune.

The penultimate band are Yonaka, and they fulfill their duty as headliners flawlessly. Every song is immense fun with guitar solos every five minutes and expressive dancing from the band members.

They play, as shouted by the audience “banger after banger” from punk anthems like Punchbag to the immensely empowering Seize the Power.

Long after they left the stage the chorus “I just wanna be a rockstar baby” is spinning around the lights of SWX.

The night ends on Twin Atlantic who sway the festival goers back to reality. Their songs have big chords and hand-swaying choruses- a lovely end to a perfect day.

Despite the fact that Misery Loves Company only ran from the hours of 12:30 until 22:30, only ran on the 30th September and only ran in Bristol, it never truly stops.

The leg-warmer bus people may be friends for life, the kid with their hands stuffed in their pockets might do some strutting every now and then, someone may discover a new love for music.

It’s essential that these types of festivals continue, the festivals that make music safe and fun and uplifting, so go and support the artists that you love, dance with the people you love and spend time simply enjoying music.

Main photo:  Danielle van Acker

Read next:

• New multi-venue music festival set to launch this September
• Mental health and alt-rock go hand-in-hand at this brand new festival
• Review: Alexander O’Neal, Central Warehouse – ‘A chance to see a legend’

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