With less than a week to go before Rock the South kicks off, we bring you a round-up of what to expect from the sixth edition of the alternative music festival.
With over 30 acts spread over three days, two live music stages and a silent disco area, this year’s edition of Rock the South looks set to live up to its name, with an alt/indie/electro musicfest that brings together most of the current top names on the scene as well as some interesting international names.
The largest event of its kind held in the southern area of Malta
Now in its sixth edition, the festival is known for being the largest event of its kind held in the southern area of Malta. The event kicks off on Friday evening at 6.30pm with Ceera, Naangs and Beesqueeze headlining the first stage. The second stage will be dedicated to alternative rock and post-punk, starting with WakaTa together with Dusk, Cryptic Street and Spanish artist Lois. Although at the beginning of his solo career, Lois has already been featured on magazines like NME. The night closes off with a party by the Bass Culture crew and some proper bass groves.
Saturday sees the music starting once again at 6.30pm, with the first stage taken over by indie, pop and rock bands Massacre House Party, Canvas Wall and nosnow/noalps.
The second stage will be dedicated to Kingdoms of Dusk, Super Sponge Trio and The Ranch. Also back from Italy after being received particularly well on the local dance floor is Sdang. This year, the band will be accompanied by special guest Colin Edwin, which will undoubtedly get fans of the now-defunct, cult English rock band Porcupine Tree, for which Edwin was the bassist, extremely excited. Saturday closes with a set from Rock & Rave, spanning the top hits from the past 65 years.
The last day opens at 3pm with afternoon sessions by Lucy’s Last, Explicit, Jack’s Fusion and The Voyage. These will be joined by Jesper Ejrup and Nick Jones, from Denmark.
Later on, the first stage takes a more electronic and introspective feel with Oxygyn, Eyes to Argus, Crux –Official and Yews.
The second stage is dedicated to punk rock and metal, with Double Standard, Bila, Rage Against Society and Norm Rejection. Closing off the festival is Kill The Action, followed by a live set from LVX.
Silent disco sessions take place Friday and Saturday after 10pm and Sunday from 8pm. On the line-up this year are Trackage Scheme vs Sick of Ants, Rock The South Malta crew vs Dark Wave Malta and Hedon Crew vs Freedom Fighters. Some of the acts will be filmed by Balcony TV Genoa.
Rock the South takes place on April 21, 22 and 23 at Zion Reggae Bar, Marsascala. Tickets are available online.
www.rockthesouthmalta.com
https://shop.trackagescheme.com/event/rock-south-2017/
Some of this year’s highlights
Sdang
Originating in Italy, this duo is made up of Nicola Panteghini and Alessandro Pedretti, who teamed up for a musical project featuring math, post rock, prog digressions, stoner, grunge and metal. However, the duo say, their music is not a question of genre, fashion, style or even technique. Rather, they believe it’s all about the emotions that it creates and which transcends all labels. Their ethos? Sweat and passion. For the festival they will be joined by guitarist Colin Edwin, who will add the trademark intensity of Porcupine Tree to the mix.
Photo: Elisa Von BrockdorffCryptic Street
The all-female, alternative, post-punk band has been going strong since 2011, showcasing an ever-evolving style. Writing both in English and their native language, Maltese, the band’s lyrics delve into modern society, the vulnerability of love, lonelinessand the finite nature of human relationships. After winning the Best Newcomer Award at the Bay Music Awards in 2012, Stranger, the band’s first EP was released in 2015, and exhibits the development of the band over its first three years. The band toured Barcelona last year and are currently working on a new album and planning European tour dates.
Massacre House Party. Photo: Jasmina VulicMassacre House Party
The garage-surf-rock-indie outift is back! The trio certainly can’t claim a lack of experience: Sylvan Borg has fronted alternative indie band Sputnik Sweetheart on vocals and guitars and, later on, as bassist with Stilair; Aaron Sammut drumming with Ozzy Lino and Dolls for Idols and Samwel Mallia on guitars and bass with Juno and the Wolf. The three decided to join forces for reasons even unknown to them. All they want to do is create what is beautiful.
nosnow/noalps
A little bit punk, a little bit indie, a dash of ska and reggae and a whole lot of rock; that, along with a sprinkling of pop is essentially the recipe for the music that nosnow/noalps have been making for the past decade.nosnow/noalps recently celebrated their tenth year anniversary with a massive concert; it all started in 2007, when the band developed its versatile sound through a number of gigs before eventually releasing the debut EP, Just Rock the following year. In 2010, the band entered Temple Studios to record their debut album, RomantikPolitik with award-winning David Vella (of Beangrowers, Rammstein and Phillip Boa & the Voodoo Club fame) in charge of production. The album’s launch gig, in April 2011, was sold-out; more albums and gigs followed until, in 2013 the band moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, with an all-new line up, before eventually returning to their base in Malta. The summer of 2016 saw nosnow/noalps consolidate their growing popularity on the international circuit, playing a number of acclaimed festivals in Europe, among them Denmark’s annual Nakskov Festival and the Clear Mountain Festival in Italy.
The Ranch.The Ranch
Describing themselves as an uncouth, uncivilised and unsophisticated contemporary trio, the band hit the road for the first time in 2013, embarking on a four-week European tour, headlining 14 shows in five countries: the UK, Belgium, Holland, Lithuania and Poland. The lads are currently working on their second album with the new line-up, which is set to be released later this year.
Crux. Photo: PhiphotoCrux – Official
Veiled musicians, electronic wizardry and pulsating synth-pop. There is but one word linking all of these and that word is Crux. Formed sometime in 2014, Crux is one of the newer arrivals on the Maltese music scene, but behind the dark veils one finds some familiar faces with a wealth of experience and talent. Not so much a band but, rather, a musical collective brought together by a love for synthesised sounds, Crux’s music relies as much on the four-man formation that performs onstage as it does on the production team that comes to life in the studio. The end result is a seamless sound that all at once references the electronic vanguard of our time yet also evokes the spirit of those artists who pioneered the genre.