The first thing that becomes apparent when you set foot in Rotterdam; the home of Left of the Dial festival, is that there’s a statue of a dwarf with a buttplug right by the ticket collection office. The second is that it’s very, very wet – unfortunate at the best of times, but this is how things go when you’re running a festival in the Netherlands at the end of October. And thirdly – there’s a lot of walking: on day one I hit 31k steps, and that was just the start – not counting the moshing that was about to come.
A quick primer on left of the dial for what’s to come: it’s a DIY festival highlighting some of the best up and coming bands in the industry ranging from hardcore Canadian outfits to folk bands taking place in venues ranging from arcades to churches and boats. No other festival is quite like Left of the Dial in the sheer range of locations that it provides – you get to walk all over Rotterdam and really explore the city in the way that few other festivals can. It’s like a scavenger hunt in the making: can you find the next big band before they break out? Can you get the hot gossip over all your mates? Such was the gauntlet thrown down for us when we started in V11; a stationary boat – for the Scottish band Soapbox.
They’re a firecracker of a band explosive right from the heart of Glasgow and have a whole record of bangers. Private Public Transport was an ode to the uselessness of the UK public transport system outside of London – the witty humour of frontman Tom Rowan gets a laugh from the audience when he explains that their public transport is good here anyway. The pit is frantic, heavy, and pure fun to get involved in from the off – the band owe their influences to Amyl and the Sniffers, IDLES and Viagra Boys having cut their teeth supporting Press Club at The 100 Club (another punk outfit I love) – and that’s a winning combination with me. As festival openers go the streak continues and the crowd are lively and here for a good time. Side note: do not try to mosh with Rowan, you will be twatted away from him in the pit and end up going absolutely flying. They are born ready for the bigger stage.
After that it was a run over to Zac Lawerence; frontman of Deadletter, who captivates the audience in a beautifully entrancing Theatre Rotterdam with a record that whisper carefully, might be better than anything he’s made with Deadletter. His storytelling is fantastic – able to transfer a script of a song to page with the essence of someone ripped straight from the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. Hotel Hamburg was perfect character building and scenery-making – and the laid back yet effortless charm of his music meant seeing him again for the second time was pretty much essential. Beware of Pity has quietly risen to become one of the best albums of the year – and to see much of it live was spiritually healing.
From there it was over to see Maddie Ashman, an experimental indie pop folk artist who was vibing with the spiritual nature of the environment around her and the unique venue of a gothic church background that provided her home. The church setting always allows for a beautiful backdrop and the folk setting of Ashman was something magical – haunting and spiritual, a natural follow-on from Lawrence. The Live debut of I Hate Goodbyes was marvellous, and to see the artist practicing her form was the real showcase of an emerging talent at work.
Day Two of Left of the Dial
Day two had better weather, if not for long – and was my most packed of the festival in terms of the lineup. The double header of Coilguns and Piss was my main draw – my two most anticipated acts of the whole festival; and as promised, Coilguns delivered the sound and the fury performing Odd Love to a crowd of born moshers – frontman Louis Jucker delivers a tour-de-force of a performance, snatching a phone out of a camper’s hand and confiscating it for much of the set: this is a show to mosh to and the high tempo energy delivers. It’s raw chaos of pissed off punk and noise-rock blended – a real scrappy show. I tried to get into their set on the Saturday but it was packed long before I got there – no wonder considering how great and how high tempo their music is. This feels more optimistic, positive and combative than past entries: and a real delight.
This is the second review that I’ve written that praised Piss as the best of the festival after their excellent opening slot at Future Days in Birmingham and they showed that they are a real band of the moment: giving a trigger warning before they come on and I’m running out of superlatives for their show. Emerging from the underground everyone at Left of the Dial that I spoke to said they were among their favourite acts that they saw and their music has resonated so quickly leaves it impossible to resist. Much of what I’ve said remains unchanged from Future Days – their energy is raw, powerful – frontwoman Tay Zantingh is capable of blending emotions between script and stage perfectly. “Interior. Nightime,” she declares – “A girl likes on her back in the dark staring at the – cut. Sorry. I Can do better.” For a moment you think it’s a mistake; but it becomes clear this is the performance: as much theatre as it is hardcore mosh music, and this being the Netherlands the Dutch make it hardcore mosh music – but it’s important that when Piss slow down the audience stops in awe. It strikes a chord with the crowd at every turn: it’s like nothing I’ve seen live this year and I’ve seen a hundred shows. Drawing from a name that sounds funny and very much anti-band-name they’re capable of turning it into something raw and powerful – and their set works all the better for it.
It’s also worth shouting out the heavy Belgian band Bloed that I saw deliver a stellar set early in the day at Club Centraal; full of screamo vocals and a violent, high-tempo energy that would’ve delivered a pit had it been later or in a more hardcore orientated crowd. The sibling project of Toon, Turr and Fieke Soete is high energy, explosive and loud – capable of delivering a raw sound that can only be experienced live. Also a delight: noise rock band Servo from France, who brought the house down with songs designed to be played as loud as possible. Working through much of their set from the album Monsters gave them a chance to establish themselves as one of my favourite – and probably just behind Coilguns and Piss, my third favourite of the whole festival – bands from the weekend. Not bad for one day.
I was unable to make 3L3D3P’s recent show in London so that meant returning to Club Centraal pretty much a certainty for her set. It was my most travelled venue so I really enjoyed seeing something new in it – a fun techno electronic vibe where mid set she walked through the crowd asking everyone in the pit if they were okay one-by-one, the time and dedication to do that makes it become part of the performance and gives it the raw energy needed to sustain it. The chaos of raw punk-electro really suits her status of one of the pioneers of an incoming genre, shaping it right at the front of its cause. A return to London for a club night feels essential for the LA Native – I’d love to see her alt-rave techno skills at work in a dedicated scene.
Day Three of Left of the Dial
Day three of Left of the Dial was another torrential downpour of a festival – even worse than all before it; but the most fun. Early shows for Magda and Bruise Control on the boat were punctuated by the offering of free alcohol to both the guests and the bands; which Bruise Control took full advantage of. Bruise Control brought stormers of shows to the likes of 2,000 Trees and Magda tour the house down with frontman/bassist forced into just vocals due to his injury. Their sound rivals Mount Kimbie at times, raw and powerful – rich and vocal-driven chaos. Bruise Control’s high tempo energy of their EP paved the way for a delight of a set – real raw energy the kind only mavericks who thought fuck it; let’s put on a show could do – they came to play loud and were fantastic. Their records are straightforward and they strike themselves out as a chaotic force in the genre Jim Taylor’s ferocious lyrics delivery really left a mark.
I took a quick pitstop from the festival’s torrential rain to explore Rotterdam on the Saturday and ended up catching Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere – which wasn’t great; but it meant that I could catch Truthpaste’s first show of the day – which very much was, having last seen them supporting Blood Wizard at Sebright Arms, getting to watch them go through their inspired cover of Kelis’ Milkshake added a touch of humour to their well-choreographed set, the multi-instrumentalists navigating their pop framework with experimental art that comes from experience – feeling unpredictable just as well-planned. Their debut single – See You Around, is a corker – a coming of age anthem for the young band that allows them to reflect on their journeys of friendship and love – the synth feels towering and blended with brilliant guitar; it’s a real outpouring of energy from the creatives who continue to inspire.
To the surprise of nobody I was unable to get into Coilguns’ second show after their barnstorming first one in a larger venue went down incredibly well; which meant killing time before the next act: Ninush, playing her first ever festival set in this form inside a towering Church; the atmospheric sound system adding real quality to her stage presence; her solo project devolving out from Black Country, New Road and very similar inspirit to the talented Windmill graduates. Paradijskerk was a tailor- made venue for Nina Lam – whose experimental electronics had the crowd cheering for her rendition of The End – hauntingly appropriate for a church – “I will always be waiting; I won’t move till you make me, in the back I will wait” – and made sure she’d be a permanent fixture on many festivals to come.
The double header of Ninush and Computer proved to be one of the most contrasting sounds of the festival – going from the intimate nature of Ninush to the powerful; angry energy of Computer proved impossible to resist and the pit proved equally chaotic to be lured into. It becomes clear between Computer and Piss that Canadian post punk bands are having a moment – the Vancouver act deliver as much fury as their compatriots with a cathartic show that really has to be seen to be swept up in their energy. They’re billed as for fans of Black Country, New Road – so in hindsight, putting them after Ninush was appropriate – and they match the chaotic outfit of their inspirations’ earlier records. Their new album Station on the Hill allowed them to get their teeth into a variety of live sets; and they were quickly the talk of the town: few bands that day were more packed than Computer. But it made their energy more vibrant and bursting; and they soaked in the adoration of the crowd – few bands in their scene feel as high energy with the tempo as Computer and they’re instantly a name to watch: the seven piece expansion of the band drifting into saxophone, synths and percussion that is a delight to watch on stage.
The last two acts I caught half and half of were half of RIP Magic and Thistle – with RIP Magic delivering in a unique setting of an arcade that showed the experimental nature of Left of the Dial’s venues – you could play at a rigged Pacman or Tetris in between sets if you really wanted to. RIP Magic we’d caught once before at End of the Road and their recapturing of the 2000s swag and sleaze was effortless fun, scathingly brilliant with electronic Reznor-esque vocals. Thistle were abrasive, fast and high-tempo energy – and the crowd was one of the more packed of the night.
This was where Left of the Dial ended for me – navigating the entire scene proved incredibly daunting on my first time out – but now I feel like I know my way around Rotterdam really well? Everyone there was super friendly, welcoming – determined to make it the best experience possible; bands always friendly to interact with you regardless of where you saw them – either walking around, on the Eurostar or just after the set. My three favourite acts of the festival were undoubtedly, Piss, Coilguns and Computer, but it was hard not to overlook the sheer variety of music on offer.
Learn more about Left of the Dial at the festival’s official website.
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