I arrived at the venue earlier than planned, as I work on the outskirts of Exeter, there seemed little point in trekking back home and then back out again for another 30 minute journey to the city. Upon arrival, I was told that Joe Talbot had cancelled his DJ set due to illness, owing to the amount of self quarantining going on with this so called ‘Corona Virus’, it was to be expected, hope you get well soon Joe!

That left me with a decision to make, do I bail out, get home and have an early night or do I stay behind and watch some of Devon’s finest bands? Let’s weigh up the pros and cons;

• Live music or sat at the kitchen table punching out some promo features for bands

• Having a bit of a boogie vs listening to my wife laugh along to ‘Celebrity Ice Truckers 999 Born Every Minute on Ice’ on the telly box

• Chat to bands about what they’ve been up to recently and use the content on my next radio show (airing on March 20th from 7pm on Soundart Radio 102.5FM)

I think you get the gist, so I decided to hang around at The Phoenix, order some food and a pint and let the time roll by until the bands were ready to do their thang.

I met Davey Growler from local punk band Spitting Blood at the venue, he was in good spirits and was just off to indulge in a bit of honey and lemon action to prepare his throat and vocal cords for the beating he was going to administer to them a little later on in the evening.

As I mentioned earlier, I had arranged to chat to 3 bands ahead of tonight’s performance and use the content on my radio show and the nice folk at The Phoenix (Dettie Ellerby - Marketing Manager) had kindly allowed me to use a meeting room upstairs which was warm, cosy and quiet, which is a far cry from shouting at each other stood beside a speaker side of stage!

The lineup for tonight’s entertainment consisted of;

Not so Righteous - Exeter based punk-pop/post-hardcore quintet

Sweet Teef - Chaotic and cathartic grunge punk trio from Exeter

Tourists - Torbay based shoe-gaze/synth-pop/punk quintet

Spitting Blood - Exeter based angry punk poet quintet

I think the bands were impressed as I led them, one by one to my suite, okay, it was a meeting room but for all intents and purposes for the evening, it was my ‘media suite’. Once I had shooed the groupies away and cleaned up the ‘dancing dust’, we got comfy and hit record and the information flooded out of them like a tea bag with millions of perforations.

Davey Growler was on top form, we chatted, laughed, poked fun at the government and just how difficult they’ve now made it for bands to tour outside of the UK, yep, I think we pretty much covered the whole lot. Sweet Teef told me of their love for grunge music and how they wanted to emulate this in their sound. It was great chatting to Tourists as it had been over 2 years since we last met and since they’d been on a hiatus for 2 years, I think it was pretty much as if we were starting over with a fresh canvas to paint on. All of the interviews will be airing on my March 20th radio show, you’ll be receiving a few reminders leading up to the date so you shouldn’t forget to mark it on your life planners!

Before long, it was time to join the throng in the main auditorium as the musical entertainment was about to kick off.

Opening up the showcase was Exeter based pop/punk 5 piece NOT SO RIGHTEOUS who delivered a solid performance which made me question why I’d never heard of these guys before. Both guitarists were great to watch and their output certainly made me stand up and take notice. The back line did a great job of keeping the foundation steady and the front man did a tremendous job of belting out some fabulous ‘scream’ vocals as well as adapting to sing more melancholy numbers when called upon. I’ll definitely be watching out for these on future listings and strongly suggest that you do the same.

Following these chaps were the aforementioned SWEET TEEF who hit the stage to a rapturous reception, it seemed from the get go that they had bought their own coach load of fans with them and after witnessing their performance for 10 minutes, one could see how they had amassed a loyal following, they were off the scale! The highlight of the set for e came from their new single ‘Yammy’ which will be getting an airing on my March radio show, it sounded immense, some really deep grunge laden riffs and a baseline so solid, it made your hair curl!

I was mildly concerned for the next act, whilst I had no doubt in my mind that they could easily please the room with their blend of 80’s synth-pop-punk-shoegaze-ness, I had a nagging feeling that the audience were a lot more ‘hardcore’ and maybe wouldn’t appreciate their music as much as previous acts. After a few bars of the opening number, Torquay based quintet TOURISTS had nothing to be concerned about…..the room absolutely loved it! After a 2 year hiatus, where they spent time deciding on the sound that they had been yearning for after so many years, it was clear to see that they had managed this and man, did they sound GOOD? You betcha ass they did! Their new tracks ‘Align’ and ’Smokescreen’ (released on the night of the show) shone like the brightest star in the sky, I can’t put my finger on it exactly but it just seemed like everyone was tuned into each other in a way that I have not seen a band behave in a long time. Granted, the band have been around a while but it’s always a pleasure to see 5 members looking like and sounding like they are having a great time on the stage. Chatting to the afterwards, they all agreed that it was an immense performance and I urge you to check out their new material mentioned above and join the queue to purchase their album which is set for an Autumn 2020 release, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

After a short break, it was time for the headline act, a band so good, they required no fanfare to almost fill the main room at The Phoenix. SPITTING BLOOD was a whirlwind of energy (no surprises there), chaotic comments flowed from his mouth like an over excited teenager trying to impress his date. He welcomed the room, thanked everyone for coming and wished Joe Talbot a speedy recovery prior to launching into a set that consisted of about 15 songs that rattled around the room like the rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun. If Nigel Farage is the leader of the ‘Brexit Party’, then Davey Growler and his cohorts are definitely the leaders of the ‘Brexshit Party’, the voice of the people, the creatives, the workers, the doers…..you get the gist. Songs like ‘Gamble Gamble’ and ‘Road Rage’ were delivered with boundless energy, the mosh pit grew and became more ferocious as their set wore on and by the time they played their latest hit ‘Brexshit’, the place was on fire. Tonight was the last show for their current lead guitarist and after an emotional moment where the room expressed their love for him, they went on to play their final track which brought the house down. 

Okay, it was a shame that Joe Talbot wasn’t there to entertain us with his eclectic mix of music but rest assured that the marketing team at The Phoenix will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that they get him back in the near future. All in all, it was a great night, I managed to chat to 3 incredible bands, take a ton of photos and secured my place at Attitude Festival which will be taking place in Bristol in June, the lineup is already looking OFF THE SCALE so please support that if you can.

I’d like to thank Dettie and the crew at The Phoenix for looking after me as well as they do every time I attend a show there, the bands for performing and the audience who made it such a kick ass night!

Words and Pictures by Steve Muscutt

For FULL photo galleries of all bands, please click the respective link below;

Not So Righteous

Sweet Teef

Tourists

Spitting Blood