Reviews

Coming across as something like the baby brother of the Greenman Chaos Weekend or Full Boar's Hogwash, Mudstock 2008 took place at Pleinmont on Saturday 12 July and featured ten bands playing alongside 'mud racing' and the customary burnouts.

Andy of The EJs

First on stage were a new metal band by the name of Iced Corpse. Having only practiced once, "last Tuesday" they said, and with their tongues firmly in their cheeks their sense of disorganised chaos really sat well with the theme of the day and brought a smile to the faces of those in attendance.

The sense of rapidly escalating pandemonium continued next as the EJs took to the stage with their unique take on punk rock which continued to make many smile despite the band putting in far from their best performance.

Your Mum

The punk rock continued, if in a slightly different vein, with Your Mum. With the question hanging in my mind of 'have this band ever played a good gig?' they proceeded to put in one of their worst yet, but none the less seemed to draw a decent crowd and, if nothing else, kept the smiles going.

With the arrival of The Escape Fall to the stage things took a turn for the better as they delivered a fantastically tight performance despite the inclusion of new material and older covers. Their high energy performance also drew in a reasonable crowd though this band always seem out of place thanks to their poppier rock tendencies.

Any thoughts of pop music were hastily dispatched next by the one-off return of Iron Cobra. With a style of metal filled with groove this band are perfect for a summer event and really provided a fantastic show today that got many headbanging along. 'Dead Man's Hand' and 'Parody of Actual Events' seem to me to have a real 'lost classic' status to them and it is a shame to see Iron Cobra go their separate ways.

The Bionightmares

The Bionightmares seem to get tighter and more cohesive with every show and with their style of horror punk morphing into heavier and more gothy areas they are something unique on Guernsey's music scene and well worth a look if you are a fan of the more theatrical notions of bands like Alice Cooper.

There was more groove based metal on display next in the form of Brutus Stonefist who put in one of their best performances to date as all the band seemed much more relaxed on stage, which bodes well for their upcoming recording sessions.

Pikey of 2 Minutes 2 Late

The crowd seemed to have grown exponentially in anticipation of Stratosfear whose big indie sound, with a hint of classic punk, gained a huge reaction and started the night's first real pit. Playing more originals than usual did not seem to cause any problems and at the end of the set the crowd still wanted more.

More pop-punk was on offer next in the form of 2 Minutes 2 Late who continued to keep the atmosphere in good spirits with their fun blend of covers and originals, although they were at points slightly overshadowed by the spectacular burnouts taking place outside.

Liam of Beetlejuice with stage invaders

Finally, after a slight delay, the night's official entertainment closed with Beetlejuice. Despite a near-permanent stage invasion the band played on and brought a truly chaotic end to the night with their own special take on punk rock, and with an encore of The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop, accompanied on stage by a large number of the crowd, Beetlejuice's performance seemed to sum up the spirit of Mudstock – a chaotic but fun day where everyone could get involved in one way or another.