Dark Mills Festival 2010

It's that time again. Dark Mills Festival returns to Merton Abbey Mills. An early start was in order so that Toni, Gemima and I could get there in time to see the first bands as the event started at 11. Train and tube were the order of the day.

En route:



On arrival:


As with last year there were LOTS of bands on so here's a very brief synopsis:

A TERRIBLE SPLENDOUR
A TERRIBLE SPLENDOUR offer us Soft Cell electronica and were really good. The tunes were very danceable and they had a very visual show. It's just a shame that there were so few people there to see them.







See all the A TERRIBLE SPLENDOUR pics here: 040910ATerribleSplendourDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/aterriblesplendour


HOT BEDS
Femme metal style albeit with one guitarist, a singer and backing tracks with shades of Nightwish in places. Something lost in translation due to the low volume due to the sound curfew. Singer had a really good voice although she should drop the awkward rock poses and find her own groove. Great songs though especially Boys!!







See all the HOT BEDS pics here: 040910HotBedsDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Mysace here: www.myspace.com/hotbeds


KATJA VON KASSEL
Sultry voiced Diva KATJA VON KASSEL turned in a burlesque style performance. Think smoky French bars and Marlene Dietrich and you'll be in the right place. She had a very visual performance with some wonderful songs. I thought it most fitting to finish on a song called Lili Marlene.






Check her out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/katjamusic


LIPSTICK AND DENIAL
LIPSTICK AND DENIAL were simply fabulous. What we had here was a camp pop show of the highest order and they (and I ) was absolutely loving it. It's so nice to see a band that is slightly out of the ordinary that just makes you go WOW! One of my favourite Madonna songs, La Isla Bonita, was given a makeover (including a brief excerpt of Dragostea Din Tei [the Numa Numa song to the uneducated] which just made me laugh due to Sam torturing me with it over the years). They even managed to throw in a wonderful rendition of Fame! Awesome stuff!!!











See all the LIPSTICK AND DENIAL pics here: 040910LipstickAndDenialDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/lipstickanddenial


SHH
Operatic electronic power pop. Diana has a beautiful voice and pulled some wonderful moves although Daniel the keyboard player needs to smile! They were great fun to watch and would really suit playing in a small club. What was funny was that Diana was dressed completely inappropriately for 2pm in Colliers Wood, can't think why all the cameras suddenly came out and so much interest was shown LOL!






See all the SHH pics here: 040910SHHDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/shhsounds


CALATRILLOZ
Prior to Lipstick And Denial I was given a Calatrilloz t-shirt by their drummer Luca for Gemima as she loves the band. Needless to say she was delighted and wore it for the rest of the day!

Although it was an acoustic set this year CALATRILLOZ were as theatrical and dramatic (and bouncy) as ever.








See all the CALATRILLOZ pics here: 040910CalatrillozDarkMillsFestval2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/calatrilloz


ROME BURNS
Awesome acoustic goth. Quite off the wall lyrical content with some really clever humour. They seemed to be having great fun performing.






See all the ROME BURNS pics here: 040910RomeBurnsDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/romeburns


JOHNNY NORMAL
Electronica and very Numan-esque. No photos as I had taken some time out to wander about although I could still hear the music. They did two awesome covers of Adam & The Ants songs, Cartrouble and Beat My Guest which made me smile muchly!

Check them out here: www.myspace.com/johnnynormalmusic


CRYOGENICA
What can I say about these guys that hasn't already been said on numerous occasion by me? CRYOGENICA were good as ever, nice to see them playing here and being able to play in front of lots of potential new fans.






See all the CRYOGENICA pics here: 040910CryogenicaDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/cryogenicamusic


JOE BLACK
Fucking hilarious! NUFF SAID!
A vaudeville comedy routine and fabulously rude!
Great covers of the Britney Spears classic Baby One More Time (complete with audience Still Believe chants) and then finished off with Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.
In his own words, "I have been Joe Black and I have been inappropriately rude because there are children present!"






See all the Joe Black pics here: 040910JoeBlackDarkMillsFestival2010

Check him out on Myspace: www.myspace.com/misterjoeblack


DIVA SUICIDE
Bouncy emo rock. Full of energy and getting the full benefit of the sound curfew having been lifted.






See all the DIVA SUICIDE pics here: http://picasaweb.google.com/k.t.glitz/040910DivaSuicideDarkMillsFestival2010

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/divasuicide


MALEFICENT
A couple of new songs on display tonight didn't really make them sound more than ordinary tonight. Not sure what was wrong as they are a great band but weren't playing to their full potential. Their cover of Nick Cave's Where The Wild Roses Grow redeemed them, just! No pics as we were listening to them from the Italian restaurant next to the stage.

Check them out on Myspace here: www.myspace.com/maleficentband

Was nice to see Robin there even though we didn't really get a chance for a proper catch up.

It was another great Dark Mills success so hopefully they'll be back next year. We did leave before the last two acts but only because we were all a little tired and achy. It was over two days this year which was a brave move and I think they should have taken a few of the better known bands from today into tomorrow.