Rebellion in Manchester is located in the popular area of Deansgate Locks, with tram and train station situated near by. This increasingly popular venue recently had a full makeover and looks great. We had the great pleasure of seeing Footprints In The Custard here as they release their brand new album A New Low. The queue snaked around the corner of the venue and continued to grow before the doors even opened, the atmosphere brewing was electric! We love it when when the venue is very busy this early on as people can watch all the bands playing. One thing that always makes a local gig great is all the local banter, many were having a giggle that if Footprints In The Custard wasn’t on tonight they would be at Spice Girls.
The first band of the night was Mad Spanner, this thrash, punk and comedic metal band were set to kick this night off with a huge bang. The band who are made up of lead singer/bass player Michael Randall, Dan Ashley on guitar and Ben Codd as “rhythm bulldozer” come onto the stage and Michael tells the crowd with a laugh “That’s a lot of eyeballs”. This band are definitely ones to watch, their energy on stage is captivating, the crowd are on side very quickly cheering them after every song. The line-up tonight makes this gig great night for crowd participation. If you see this band due to play at a venue near you go check them out. They are amazing! As they leave the stage they tell us they will see us later in the pit for the bands to come.
Up next is horror inspired rock band Novacrow. This Liverpool band come on stage to a huge crowd who cheer and roar. They are made up of lead singer Kitty, Joynx on guitar/additional vocals, Frederico on bass/additional vocals and Valerio on drums. As the first song kicks in we hear much heavier sounds than the first band, huge growling vocals from both Joynx and Frederico. Kitty’s vocals are a mix of deep growls and great harmonies. After the first song Kitty looks into the crowd, with hands outstretched saying “my beautiful babies” to a huge cheer from the crowd. At one point during the set Kitty jumps into the crowd and is surrounded by people loving this band. As the set continues on, their best cover (in my opinion) is of The Bee Gees iconic song ‘Tragedy’. Before the song starts, Kitty addresses the crowd by saying “Even if you don’t know the words make them up” and the song kicks in. So many people are singing along by this point. The whole band owns the stage with Frederico standing on the monitors, playing while laying on his back, then skipping up and down the stage while playing. It will not be long before this band headline! Catch these guys if you can, it is a show not to be missed!
The Main support for the night was Raised By Owls, a very popular band in Manchester especially tonight. The band is famous for having inflatables available for people to sign and to mosh with at the gig. Tonight was no exception. Within seconds of the first song starting there as a pit that took over the entire dance floor area, with people holding their inflatables in the air and even giving them to the band! Lead vocals Sam Fowler asked everyone if they were having a good time to give a thumbs up, I have never seen so many thumbs in the air at any one time, it was such a great thing to witness. The band is also known for their very short grindcore style songs which came thick and fast mixed in with other tracks. During one of their longer tracks I look at the pit and spot lead vocalist from Mad Spanner Michael in the pit! For this very popular Darbyshire band they did something I never thought I would see at a heavy metal night… a wall of death that would settle the great British debate, how you pronounce scone. If you are not familiar with the wall of death, it is where the crowd is cut in half and as the music builds up, the crowd from both sides runs at the other side. This created another huge mosh pit that never seemed to stop until the song finished. Just when you think you have seen it all, the 90’s came back to us with Mr Blobby coming out! Mr Blobby went on stage and was introduced as our new overlord which everyone cheered at. Mr Blobby was then crowd surfed, carried, and put on the shoulders of one fan!
The nostalgia was over, the band became very solemn about a friend they had lost, which was Barry Chuckle, and that he would have wanted a circle pit to happen, and it did! If you think you know what Raised By Owls are going to do next, you have no idea! They gave out a prize for the best mosher which was a VHS of Ricky Martin, the fan that won this dived off the stage into the crowd around him. As the band closed the set they said “We have played Manchester a fair few times and this has been the best night they have played”. I have said it a lot about all the bands tonight but they are not to be missed. Even if the music is not to your tastes as it is very heavy, but just the show they put on and the laughs you will have are worth it!
Onto the band, whose night it is, Manchester’s own comedy metal band Footprints In The Custard. They describe themselves pretty well saying “We have Russ vocals/ginger, Ian on Bass/Production/Questionable hygiene, Whitty on Guitar/Eloquence, Ross on 2nd guitar/Children’s Clothing and on Drums/memes is Sladen”. Just by reading this so far you can get an idea of what type of band Footprints are.
As the band comes on stage, they are rocking glowing shoes, and LED green skirts and looking ready to party. Russ says he is so happy that so many people turned up to celebrate the album launch. Every song the crowd is singing back and having the time of their lives! The band brings out a tray of tequila shots for all the band members to take, this leads into the song ‘Tequila Nips’. With every song a new pit starts and seems to engulf everyone who is there. During ‘Wasted’ Russ was in the crowd pretending to be sick, which was funny at the same time being gross! As the night continued the venue seemed to gain more and more people, coming in from the streets. At one point Mr Blobby came back out and had a fight with The Pickle Weasel in the middle of a pit before the crowd engulfed them both. During this I spotted a man running around in his pants loving the music. I did not see one face that was not smiling, laughing or nodding along to the tracks. It was such a happy, yet brutal set that you just get caught up in the music.
Footprints In The Custard’s new album A New Low is out now to stream, download and physical copies from the bands Bandcamp. If party metal is your thing, and you love music that makes you feel warm and happy go buy this album and see them live! It is something you will not forget any time soon.
A massive thank you to Rebellion and Badgerfest Productions for such an amazing night, also a massive well done to all bands who performed.
