Barbarian Hermit / Under / Bodach / Shred Dibnah @ Rebellion, Manchester, 3rd August 2024

After a relative gig drought, for me at least, of some twenty-three days, I was finally back watching some live music at one of my favourite venues in Manchester, Rebellion. With the release of their new album the day before and having had the pleasure of reviewing it for The Sleeping Shaman, I was excited to see Barbarian Hermit for the first time.

The show was helped by having a cracking lineup of support bands, with fellow APF Records bandmates Under, alongside Rotherham’s own Bodach, and one of the best bands I’ve discovered this year, Shred Dibnah. Huge thanks goes to Danny at Riffolution Promotions for putting on, what ended up being, another cracking night of live music.

I’m sat here typing this as I’m wearing my newly acquired Shred Dibnah t-shirt, and following on from seeing them in Chester earlier this year at the North West Doom Fest, I was excited to see them again, smoke and all!

The trio take the stage with no airs and graces, just a cheery ‘hello, we are gonna play some songs for ya’ thanks for coming down’ from guitarist and vocalist David. With a big intro and a massive bass sound from Jonathan that makes the floor shake, they begin with Fierce Morgan. A subtle cymbal intro from Wizard beckons in Desert Eye as they look to be enjoying themselves on stage with the wonderful chimney stack in memory of Fred, billowing out smoke at every opportunity.

Chimneygeddon heralds chaos on stage, more smoke, more fast riffs, more heavy bass and with a ‘it’s hot up here, are you all hydrated?’ we are treated to a song all about Toyota Prius drivers, with the marvellous Middle Lane Moron, which is just epic. ‘We’ve got two more left, it’s tough at the bottom’ quips David before the heaviness of Steeplechrist kicks in, with lovely guitar work mixing well with the slow and heavy parts. As the applause get louder, we finally get Golden Age Of Steam which bounces along, as heads are bopping in the crowd. As the applause dies, we get a ‘secret song’, Faction In The Traction which lasts all of 1 second, and off they go in a puff of smoke.

With loud sirens and flashing lights, Laurie Allport and Tom Jones, aka Bodach, turn the volume level up a few more notches and begin their onslaught. With the twin neck twelve string on top and six string on the bottom, it’s impressive playing from guitarist and vocalist Laurie, as they launch into Meet Your Maker bathed in blue light with the drums being battered by Tom.

‘We are Bodach from Rotherham, home of the paedophiles’ smiles Laurie as the fast as fuck Yellow Claw is played at some pace. Their sound is heavy, and they have a sitar sample being played in the background, which I’d love to see incorporated into a lead intro to a song at some point as it compliments their sound well. Gremlin Bender begins with lots of work on the twelve string guitar, which gives a really unique sound, then the drums kick in and the duo explode into life.

This is their second visit to Manchester, their first a few months earlier when I saw them supporting Morass Of Molasses and they play my favourite song once again, the wonderfully titled Eaten Alive by Fucking Crabs from their Heretic Electric album. It’s a brilliant song, not because of the catchy title, but it’s fast and heavy and great fun to watch live. ‘We haven’t got any t-shirts, but we’ve got some new patches at the back’ says Laurie before they end with the loud and abrasive Ruiner and their mix of slow, fast and heavy songs comes to an end. I’ll be back for their next trip to Manchester, or I might pay another visit to The Bridge Inn at Rotherham to watch them on their home turf at some point.

Next up on the bill were Under, a trio from Stockport, and the only band I didn’t know much about. Their music is very hard to pigeonhole, as it’s centred around doom and sludge, but they go off on many tangents whilst playing, with avant-garde sounds and elements of prog and psych.

They begin with Malcontent, which sees vocals shared between Matt Franklin on bass and Andy Preece on drums, it has lots of tempo changes and when they need added vocal power, guitarist Simon Mayo joins in. The riffs are excellent while the song is different and exciting at the same time. The flashing lights adds to the tension of their explosiveness and experimental sound.

‘We are really happy to be here, aren’t we?’ says Andy in a really sarcastic tone, ‘Do you get it, do you get it?’ yes, we do, as they play the manic sounding Happy with more vocal volleyball and a heavy bass sound. They play a new song called Residual Desmond (thanks to Andy for talking to me afterwards and giving me that song title) and it’s got a stunningly heavy intro before the madness kicks in.

They end their set with Traitor’s Gate, which sounded bass heavy and accompanied by enjoyable pedal work from Simon on guitar as the sounds he was producing were just manic, giving a disjointed yet enjoyable feel to the song. They leave the stage to huge applause.

Finally, we’ve arrived. The Barbarian Hermit Mean Sugar launch party was about to begin in full flow. Bathed in soft lighting and egged on by a decent size crowd of family, friends, punters and several glamorous looking ladies at the front, the five-piece saunter onto stage and hit us with the title track. With vocalist Si Scarlett looking happy prowling the stage and Rob Sutcliffe’s six string bass piercing the soul, the party atmosphere is alive and well in Manchester.

Stranger Than Fiction gets the crowds going again, with the red lights adding tension to the mid-section riffs. ‘U having a good night’ asks Si, ‘we’ll get on and play a few more’ as the short Out Come The Boasts is played right before the excellent Who Put 50p In You? The song flowed so well, and the crowd were buzzing. A quick snare change is met with chants of ‘we want Gaz’ or something like that from the front row of ladies, whilst we are informed by Si that ‘we rehearse music but don’t rehearse this bit, Rob has got a twenty-minute comedy sketch whist we wait for Gaz’.

Thankfully, we were spared the comedy as they rip into Deadbolt. ‘No old songs tonight, as we are stingy’ but the crowd don’t seem to care as the slap bass proved equally impressive. ‘I see you’ve met Gaz’s fanclub’ references Si to the glamorous ladies, ‘our gigs are usually less fun than this!’. The wonderful Heal The Tyrant is next, a slower yet powerful song, with a dreamy guitar solo which flows into the serene opening of Kick Up The Dust. It feels a strangely emotive song and when the heavy riff kicks in, the crowd respond in kind with their own slow sort of dancing.

The fantastically groovy Stitched Up gets the crowd going again, even the drunken bloke next to me who looks quizzically in my direction several times as I write some notes, before he saunters off somewhere else, and we are then informed that this is the last album song of the night, and to look out for a video soon, as Rob declares Battle Of Kompromat, the best cut on the album. It’s another dynamic and potent song and there’s an explosion of flying hair across the venue.

After a brief blackout, they return to the stage to play two older songs, Burn and Widowmaker which ends the set perfectly, with the heavy riffs booming through the PA and everybody heads for home, the beer garden or the next pub, with smiles on their faces. Barbarian Hermit are back with a vengeance, so look out for more dates in the future, and get a ticket to see them, you won’t be disappointed.

Barbarian Hermit

Under

Bodach

Shred Dibnah

Scribed by: Matthew Williams
Photos by: Lee Edwards