And their grungy rock’n’roll on the breakfast menu is just what the doc ordered. Pearl Jam-esque vocals served on a bed of roaring guitars and pounding drums, their sound is as infectious as it is rocking, proving you don’t have to play high up the bill to write yourself into festival folklore.
Eccentric Swedish surf punks Quit Your Day Job are up next. Who knows what’s in the backstage water, but these guys are sky high on it. A ton of noisy, insane songs about day centres, pissing on pandas, and the love song ‘Sperm Are Germs’ impress the slowly waking crowd, especially when stirred with their onstage energy.
Encouraging the dwindling crowd to simultaneously plead: ‘Hey come to the Napster tent’ doesn’t quite work for New York quartet Diamond Nights, but for a while it seems their brand of radio friendly rock might. All hair and guitar strings, the band roll into their set attempting to woo the crowd with melodic indie rock stylings. They’ve got all the right hooks, the beats, and the talent to sit pretty in the Americana rock genre, and at another festival they may have been loved - but at Download they were merely appreciated.
First things first, Crucified Barbara are gorgeous! Four Swedish girls with instruments is enough to send our male contingent into fantasy land, but as soon as they start it's time to talk riffs and rock. With a sound heavily influenced by the ‘90’s heavy rock movement these girls raise the level in the Napster tent and the crowds pile in to get a glimpe of the sultry sirens and a taste of their metalic bite. These queens of noise are the first to get a proper audience and they fucking rock.
Panic Cell may be on a mission to drill themselves into the forefront of UK metal, but these guys refuse to give in to modern pretty boy genre trends, instead taking their cues from the past masters. Old school metal with melody, aggression and noise from the start, it's pure testosterone power. Signature track 'Save Me' screams likes an ambulance having a heart attack, showing that this band deserve bigger and if they don’t get there it'll be a travesty.
Having supported The Darkness it’s no wonder The Answer take their influences from Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy. When not ripping off almost every classic hair metal riff, they offer little in the way of original material. Makes you wonder how dull the question must have been if this is the answer……
