IAMWARFACE/ONE LAST DAY/DRALLION hit Worthing, The Factory LIVE!

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

IAMWARFACE, ONE LAST DAY and DRALLION: The Factory Live 04/02/2023.

It was time for Independent Venue Week and its 10^th Year anniversary and The Factory Live had pulled in three top notch rock outfits to celebrate! The team at The Factory Live were so up for this one. They also run a regular editorial series on local music venues and is always worth a read. Nice job on that guys.

OK so it was damn cold and frosty as the crowd started to arrive. It looked to be a night with lots of hair, tats, eyeshadow/liner and yep some loud banging tunes. We were all ready for this. This review will run in reverse order. The smaller images – click to enlarge!

Standby For Action!

IAMWARFACE

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

IAMWARFACE is a Nu-Rock Band. They formed up in Brighton in 2016 by singer/producer Matt Warneford. The name is a cunning metaphor for his own original style of bombastic high-energy groove based electro-rock, which has been affectionately branded “Rocktronica” by none other than legendary Virgin Radio host Eddy Temple Morris. The aim of IAMWARFACE has always been to create a new, edgier kind of rock sound, echoing the rebellious creativity of the early 90s and punk danger of the 70s. They still have that touch.

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

A new guitarist has joined the line up, and a damn fine addition to the band he turned out to be! Awesome playing! They are a phenomenal live proposition and tonight they fly out of the traps all guns blazing.

Slightly stripped back tonight to a four piece, I can confirm the sound is a tight as ***k. It loud, its fast, its gorgeous,  damn – it’s IAMWARFACE!. We had the fabulous Matt on vocals, Eric: Bass, Henning: Drums and recent recruit Nino: Guitar.

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The set opened to a large crowd with Dark Blue, and what should have been the Bond song To Die For. Perfect start.

This is an outfit you need to see! IAMWARFACE will serve you up an interesting mix up of musical combinations. The sense of angst from Matt is sewn together with some wickedly dirty guitar riffs and a heart stopping bass and percussion. The songs are catchy, damn catchy. The superb vocals on top produce a unique sound and experience.

They are never the same, they are always evolving and growing. Matt and his band deserve that bigger stage. I hope 2023 brings IAMWARFACE the success they so rightly deserve. Did you know that the band have supported Gary Numan on tour in the past?

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

We were taken into the  Black Room and Say My Name from the album Year Of The Dragon. All delivered on point as Matt always seems to notch it up as the set progresses. He swirls, he glares, he smiles as he pours on his vocals. A couple of time he came out into the crowd to sing, interact and just dance to the tunes from his band. He really is one of the most enigmatic and engaging front men around at the moment and he loves his crowd. Once he is in the crowd the persona changed. This was an exciting set of original songs, no covers! IAMWARFACE will always deliver a set that will have the audience talking about it for days after. They are that good.

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Take The Shot and Severance were up and this was followed by a stunningly delivered You Don’t Love Me Anymore. This gives Matt the chance to unleash scales and ranges not fully utilised on some of the other material. Well done Matt, that was a set highlight for me, it was full of emotion and power.

A shout to Nino and his class prowess as lead guitar, damn he put on a show. He and Eric would bounce of each other on the stage firing up, lock in Henning on drums and the power that Matt and his band produce is solid as hell!

Vampire was started up, but Matt closed that one down early and we had the magnificent Red Queen, into Bleed Out and finishing with an immense mix of Trigons.

Tonight IAMWARFACE has been gritty, at times slightly unhinged, it is wonderful thing to see and hear. Every song performed tonight is infectious, and even those uninitiated to the band’s work, of which there were few, were enjoying the music and firing choruses back to the band!

Their set was what can only be described as an all out assault. What a set. If you had arrived at The Factory frozen then these are the guys to warm you up! Always a joy to see them buckle up, plug in and belt it out for nearly 60 minutes to a pretty large appreciative crowd. Matt knows how to work a crowd. Front to back every single person at The Factory Live was held tightly in the palm of the IAMWARFACE hand.

The set ended to a huge cheer from the crowd. Well deserved. As Trigons vanished into a mix off feedback, Matt collapsed onto the floor. Me, I blame the massive furry coat he was wearing!

IAMWARFACE: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

IAMWARFACE have their HQ on the WWW here – drop in now!
IAMWARFACE are on FaceBook here.

ONE LAST DAY.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Next up was ONE LAST DAY. They are a Berkshire Hard Rock band feat ex-members of Bad Solution, Ghost in the Static, Dark Karma Soul & Silvatone.  I haven’t heard of any of those bands before, but I guess they were based around Berkshire. These guys are used to headlining their gigs, so it was great to see them at The Factory Live.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Slightly calmer than the first band One Last Day took to the stage, after I gave Gareth a set of Fender ear defenders! Good lord! We were in for another fired up set. An intro heralded the first song of the set No Chemical.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

“As darkness takes my soul, I feel myself slip into a hole” takes us into a track from the last album This Bottle Got Me. Opening with some heavy distorted guitars, the drums come kicking in. Then Alex brings in the vocals. He seemed to be having a blast up there.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

We had vocals, two guitars and a drum kit. No bass player tonight. No matter these guys put up a rocking wall of sound. The album lists Alex Willox: Vocals, Gareth Stapleton: Guitars and BV’s, John Harmsworth: Lead Guitar and BV’s, Bob Brockwell: Bass and Adrian Osman: Drums.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Clearly the band already have a kick ass repertoire of stunning tracks. And they did quite a few tracks from the last album, Chapter One – The End Is The Beginning, and others for us, the lucky ones who had a ticket for this event. I am not sure if the band realised how well their music was going down. The crowd was loving it.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The joyously loud guitar riff sparked up Holding Onto Nothing, the drums and staccato vocal pattern nailed us to the floor as Gareth pulled off some great poses, he also ventured into the crowd to plant some awesome guitar work. They take the crunch and pace of rock and metal and inject it into a completely different unique style and genre. It’s that mix of styles that makes them so enticing.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Guitars and a kicking rhythm from the drum kit at the back the corner welded together in a wall of buzzing guitars.  This was loud, fast and a great set to fire up the crowd. These guys were second on tonight, but that didn’t matter they delivered what mattered – great rock music.

Every electric, valve frying sound is perfectly nailed down into place with the chugging heaviest riffs I have heard in a while and inspired guitar breakdowns reigned supreme.  Credit to the fabulous drum section of this outfit. No bass player to work with it must have been tricky. There were more melodic sections, including If You Could See me Now, and these were also particularly well played and delivered. “Thanks for all the memories”. Perfect.

Back to a riff laden Not Ready To Die to close the set. The guitars lashed our ears and Alex fired up some great vocals. This one was a highlight for me. It is damn near perfect, great tune, great guitars and a hypnotic drum fill. Loved that one. Thanks guys for the signed CD, love the album. Great to have seen you nail down the album tracks live. The 2 x XL T Shirt was a must have, and I hope it shrinks a bit in the wash. Thanks for the chat and laugh after the set. Appreciated it. Great set, you nailed it down tight.

ONE LAST DAY: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

One Last Day are on Facebook, go check these guys out and catch them live!

DRALLION

photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

First up was a fine outfit, DRALLION who are based in Bournemouth. The most recent line up I could find was from their Spotify page and is as follows: Vocals: James ‘Boof’ Watts, Lead Guitars: Mark Potter, Rhythm Guitars: Max Beardmore, Keyboards: Matt Smith, Bass: Sam ‘Beardy’ Beardmore and at the back Drums: Andy Golding.

DRALLION: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Have listen on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/drallionband. Drallion are a progressive metalcore band who have recently released their debut album, New Machine. These guys were on first, and had a shorter set, but hell what a set!

DRALLION: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The Set: Bloodshot / New Machine / Song For A Fall / Iron Shogun / Remission / Killing Sun

What did we get? The band stepped out into the smoke laden stage at The Factory Live. Opening up with Bloodshot.Screaming guitar feedback, drums pounding and then they opened it up! Damn this was loud and took me back to when I last met up with Loz and While She Sleeps. Then the growling vocals stopped to allow the chorus to come in.

This was a band that grab you by the throat and pull you in. It’s a familiar thrash / goth metal sound, but under that layer they are so much more. These are damn fine banging tunes. The gut ripping instrumentation and assault of attacking riffs and soaring, or searing solo playing. We seemed to lose a guitarist half way through the set. Not sure why.

Song For A Fall, started with the most gentle of keys entry, and then Drallion opened up. Damn this was loud, but the tune behind is so powerful. The vocals and soaring choruses are so in your face they will knock you off your feet! Back to some fine keyboards as the song closed. This outfit rock and after Counting Days and Death Remains, Drallion are way up there! My new fave metal band? Oh yes! I just wish they had copies of their new album at this gig, I would have clawed myself a copy of New Machine.

DRALLION: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The set made up of songs that each ran for about 5 minutes, until we hit the last song of the ferocious set. DRALLION showed their teeth tonight and blew me away. We got the set highlight for me, the killer song that is Killing Sun running for nearly 8 minutes. This was almost a thrash metal opera, made up of the most aggressive guitar playing you will hear, then the glorious almost Ozzy sounding vocals and keyboard arrangements would burst free.

DRALLION: photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The pace slowed and some solid chugging guitars and drums as James hit us with the growl vocals. The guitar playing is some of the best I have seen done live in a long time, and I have seen a few bands! As the track progressed the keys broke through giving a glorious depth and colour, it was so good I went a said “wow” to the keyboard player, Matt. Amongst the guitars and pounding drums this almost symphonic or cathedral style and sound really was amazing to hear, it was an amazing mix.

A metal equivalent at last to Bohemian Rhapsody! It’s a life-affirming joy to behold that is particularly infectious! This set is a testament to their impeccable song writing ability and performance skills. Those massive crushing vocals were complimented by a varied symphony of guitar tones, kept together tightly by a consistently top rhythm section. Don’t forget the keys either!

Nice guys and a must see live if you love it loud!

Drallion have their space on FaceBook here!

Tonight three mega – huge bands, they gave us everything, each deserving the headline slot. The joy of forgetting all your troubles for a short while when you are at a gig, and singing along, playing that air guitar or a spot of headbanging is special. And, thanks to the local venues such as The Factory Live, you really can’t ask for a better evening than that.

The Factory Live:

One of my favourite live music venues. The Factory Live is tucked away in Worthing. It is a great venue. A great team running the place, the staff were approachable, friendly and helpful. The venue is pretty large and well ventilated with a nice large bar area and outside seating and tables. The venue, The Factory Live, is located at Unit 9A, Ivy Arch Road in Worthing.

The Factory Live are on the WWW here

Music Venue Trust

‘Own Our Venues’ was launched by Music Venue Trust in June 2022 and is the first step in a long term campaign to take control of the freeholds of music venue premises and bring them under a protected status of benevolent ownership.

https://www.musicvenuetrust.com/

And Finally…

Thanks to:

IAMWARFACE, THE LAST DAY and DRALLION – you all rocked! Great to meet you.
The Factory Live

Words and photos by Ian Bourn.

We work hard with the artists, the venues and the crowd to bring you the best photos and reviews across the area. Keep Music LIVE! Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Please note all original images / video are copyright, please do not copy. If any of the featured artists/promoters/venues want copies of the images – or more if available – please just get in touch.

All original pictures / video – copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2023.

Got an event coming up? Need some gig photography, promo shots, previews or reviews? – please get in touch! See you down the front – come and say “hi!”