On Saturday the 16th of April Stockton was buzzing at its core, music enthusiast and promoters from all over the country had made their way up to Teesside for a jam-rammed day of live music in every place that had space for a stage, a.k.a. Stockton Calling. It was as if a zoo had opened all of its cages, freeing musicians and music-lovers alike to wreak havoc on the town. Riffs and electro beats were pouring from buildings on all corners and that was only during the first few soundchecks! Let’s highlight some of our favourites of the inner-city all-dayer.
First on at brand new venue Sticky’s were Newcastle alternative rock trio Ten Eighty Trees who must have had a good dose of caffeine before they got up on that stage because it went wild. Frontman Nathan knows how to entertain and if his guitar would have been wired, he’d have ended up in quite the knot after their set. The venue was decently crowded for 2pm on a Saturday and Ten Eighty Trees made sure to win over every single heart that was lucky enough to watch their set!
Straight after and still buzzing from Ten Eighty Trees’ set we ended up at NE Volume Bar where an incredibly infectious feel good indie disco was happening. We were lucky enough to catch most of Southern-based trio Pattern Pusher‘s set with one of our favourites on their set list being new single ‘Holding On’!
We continued with a band that previously impressed with single ‘Doorway Conversation’, and must admit we were curious and slightly nervous to finally see Headshrinkers play The Storytellers live. With a lively and rocking set they confirmed we can safely promise they’ll be making it big this and the years to come, with frontman Garran living his best life and performing his best dance moves. Next single ‘Monocle’ is due for release on the 22nd of April, and will be followed by an EP in June!
Next up was wonky pop outfit Moa Moa at ARC 2 who left us flabbergasted and impressed. Their eccentric pop sound is very much underrated and the venue should have been much fuller than it was. Sadly they had to compete with The Shambolics who were playing at ARC 1 and despite their sound being rather generic, that seems to be the sound the public wants to hear. We, on the other hand, were incredibly grateful for the little bird that told us to check out Moa Moa, and the fantastic promoter that made space for their high energy and funky alternative pop songs (we’re looking at you, The Kids Are Solid Gold!).
We went from high to higher with next on our schedule the fantastically peculiar Walt Disco. Extravagant, anything but shy, powerful and very energetic, the band truly lifted the mood of the entire crowd at The Georgian Theatre! Next up was a very necessary breather to catch our breath and get ready for the headliners of the festival, we sat down for a comforting and relaxed indie feel good set driven by the powerful vocals of Finn Forster at NE Volume Bar.
Due to a car breaking down we were lucky enough to catch Coco And The Lost who squeezed in a set later than planned and ahead of headliners Rats at The Storytellers. Their giggles and sweet yet powerful pop sound worked infectious and gave us that bit of energy we needed to be able to cross the finish line. The young band from Brighton certainly have a lot going for them!
We watched headliners The Mysterines at brand new venue The Social Room and caught a few songs from Bob Vylan‘s very explosive set, and we missed plenty of other bands that would have been worth a mention, but sadly we weren’t able to cover them all. Hopefully we’ll be able to see these incredible talents again very soon now that we are slowly easing back into life as we know it! Find some of our favourite releases of above-mentioned artists in our Newest Releases playlist linked below.
musicforthemisfits.com 