Your Neighbour The Liar, Carson Wells, Crossings and Pipedream @ The Fok Up, Wolverhampton.
The Fok Up is a lock up on the outskirts of the city centre that acts as both a practice space for several Wolverhampton bands and a DIY venue for underground emo and punk gigs.
I've been a regular attendant to the Fok Up for a couple of months, drawn in by the laid back atmosphere that comes with a group of people coming together for the sole purpose of hanging out and listening to bands. Originally put on in a practice space no bigger than a prison cell, they recently moved to a larger space.
One of the great things about the Fok Up, and the way it runs itself, is the complete lack of structure. Bands can get up and play as and when they please; the headlining band could open with a half hour set, and the opening band could finish up with 3 or 4 songs they'd prepared.
First to take to the stage were Crossings, an emo band from Lincoln. Combining quick rhythms and twinkly guitar riffs to create a bouncy sound really set the matinee off to a great start with a decent set that spanned the majority of their back-catalogue of songs. A great band with a great optimistic sound and attitude. They even let me have a t shirt for £1 and a hug. For fans of Nai Harvest, Empire! Empire!, Dads and The World Is A Beautiful Place. http://crossings.bandcamp.com/
Crossings were followed by the supposedly-headlining act, Your Neighbour The Liar, a Scottish emo band harking from Edinburgh. Playing downbeat songs, similar to those of Dowsing, American Football, and other Midwest-emo bands, they injected a lot of passion and energy into their performance which feels left out of their recorded music. Either way, a great band with a lot of energy who definitely followed on well and really upped the ante in terms of energy. For fans of Snowing, Dowsing and Joie De Vivre. http://yntl.bandcamp.com
Carson Wells played the penultimate set of the afternoon, another Scottish band, playing a raucous set of fast, urgent, emotional hardcore. With a fusion of sore throats, crashing drum beats and intricate guitar rhythms, they have a loud, fast and desperate sounding style of hardcore punk which just took my breath away. Despite all three of them having incredibly sore throats from an 8-day tour, they nonetheless played their set with a huge amount of passion and determination. For fans of Human Hands, Single Mothers and The Ghost Of A Thousand. http://carsonwells.bandcamp.com/
Finally, Pipedream took to the stage. A Cardiff-based emo/rock band, they had come down on short notice to take the place of another band who had dropped out. Up until this point, the sets had just been increasing in energy and Pipedream's style of music was a lot more mellow and it seemed hard for them to follow an act such as Carson Wells, either way I'm a big fan of the Welsh boys and they were the one band I was really looking forward to seeing. They played a fantastic set with some great energetic gems such as 'Shell' and closed the afternoon off well. For fans of Jimmy Eat World, Dowsing, Saves The Day. http://pipedreamcc.bandcamp.com
