LIVE FROM THE PIT: Witch Fever, Shooting Daggers and Flesh Creep

The return of Witch Fever has been awaited for some time. With them being gone as long as they were, the announcement of their upcoming show in London was quite a shock to the system for fans and industry members alike - but it was a more than welcome one! The mighty Manchester(ish) band and their doomy brand of punk brought a five star supporting cast with them, made up of London's own Shooting Daggers in main support, as well as the Brummies in Flesh Creep opening things up at a sold out Blondies Brewery in North East London.

Whilst they may have had to come on a little late, the mighty Flesh Creep turned up and rocked on in a phenomenal demonstration of their hardcore-tainted punk. The powerful vocal display was on notably fine form during 'Turf War', with a well-deserved call out of JK Rowling and her ludicrous affixation on trans people and her mindlessly hateful attitude. Filled with raw guitar tone, booming bass, and aggressive drumming alike, the Birmingham crew are rapidly becoming a real staple of the scene and will certainly end up on much bigger stages if they continue playing such sensation sets.

Next up were one of the worst-kept secrets in the London hardcore scene, the fuzzed-out, punky hardcore act Shooting Daggers. The trio gave their all in a high-energy performance that was dedicated to women and queer people, and featured their ever-present chant of "Free, free Palestine!" late on in the set, during their run through of the title track from last years excellent debut album Love and Rage. With plenty of love from the crowd, they were as popular as you'd expect from a brilliant band playing a hometown show, and they'll not be far off headlining the venue at this rate!

As nine o'clock came and went, the mood in the room was getting more and more anxious and excited by the second - with everyone positively itching to see Witch Fever after their hiatus from performing. However, as the Manc's walked out onstage, there was barely a hint of nervousness apparent before they performed their latest single - and first in two years - 'Dead to Me!', like they'd been doing it every night for the entire duration of their time away. Lead vocalist Amy Walpole did remark that she was feeling a little bit stressed (although might've been a tad more colourful than this toned down paraphrasing), but you would've been hard pressed to point out any discernible symptom of that.

With a setlist consisting of their biggest and best, their newest and even unreleased, any of those in attendance would've been very happy with what we heard, and yet STILL the four-piece were not done! With track four coming as not only a new piece of music, but as an announcement of an upcoming album, due for release in October, as well as the title of said album, Fevereaten, they were gifting out music and news like it was going out of fashion. Every track was a moment to relish, with plenty of their stunning debut making it's way out of the Blondies Brewery speakers - of course 'Congregation' and 'Blessed Be Thy' were amongst the favourites, but every moment was hit with love from the deeply passionate audience on the night.

Selling out your comeback gig, announcing a new album, playing new songs, and sounding absolutely excellent? Maybe not something every artist can pull off, but for Witch Fever it's clearly all in a day's work. All three acts gave their all in three stellar sets, and walking into the mild evening air afterwards was nothing if not a shame, as the whole room could easily have gone for seconds of every course.

Words: Jake Longhurst

Photos: Claire Cabanac