Words and Photos: @lightninrosemedia
We found ourselves at the highest village in Scotland for this one, Wanlockhead, which surprisingly, isn’t up North like you might expect. It’s in the Scottish Borders just past Biggar, in a beautiful little village with old mines at it’s heart. However, from the 23rd-25th June, it was transformed into the mecca of metal music, with the Wanlockhead Inn hosting all the action.
Being a metalhead, I’m not quite sure how I’d never come across this festival before, but it’s the Brain child of a wonderful man called Dave Ritchie, who is passionate about bringing this small, unique and independent festival to rock, metal and blues music fans, every year. Dave and his amazing team manage to book some of metal and rock’s best emerging bands, as well as some of the more seasoned ones, and bring them to this tiny town in the middle of what seemed like nowhere, to rock out for a whole weekend of fun, music and all the hair metal you could want!
Arriving, we could barely see due to an impending mist that had ascended on the village, but we were 1531ft above sea level, so basically in the clouds at this point. We parked up on a steep hill and walked down to the opening of the Inn, where we were greeted by Dave and his team who basically held this position all weekend to make sure they greeted every festival goer and band that came through.
Once we had our tent pitched (not easy when it was blowing a hooley) we got ready and went straight over to catch some of the first bands on day one. The drinks and food were on a token system, which were purchased easily from a lovely lady at a table just outside the door of the Inn. There was a big white marquee situated outside with a stage, which is where most of the music took place over the three days.
Everyone was so friendly and all just there to have a good wholesome time. I’ve never felt this safe at a festival before, and there was not one single bit of drama or trouble the whole weekend.
Friday
We had missed the first few bands due to wrestling a tent, but opening proceedings were the aptly named Wild Fire band from Scotland who we heard in the distance absolutely rocking the stage and it sounded like the crowd were loving it. They were followed by heavy metal band Rattlesnakes from Nottingham, Bunny and the Bad Men an alternative rock group from the Trossachs and female fronted heavy metal five-piece Wailing Banshee.
We arrived just as Aberdeenshire five-piece Bad Actress took to the stage in all their long haired, tight trouser glory, and boy did they bring the party! Hitting you right in the face with their Mötley Crüe inspired stage presence and riffs fresh from the hay day of Glam Metal, their set was full of high kicking energy and all the metal joy you would want at this sort of festival.
Favourites from the day were Neon Fields who fell victim to some unfortunate sound issues (which they later explained had left them quite disappointed) but soldiered through and quite honestly still gave the crowd all their industrial, synth magic and well throughout tunes. The trio from Bristol consisting of singer Ed Barrett, Luke Russe on Drums and Synth/Guitarist Piers Ward, rocked out regardless, I saw smiles all round throughout their set…
Zac and The New Men, an alt pop-rock band from Wales had the tent absolutely jumping when they came on and left vibrations reverbing around the site long after they had left…their energy was infectious and frontman Zac knew exactly how to work the audience, giving them guitar fuelled Melody’s and 70’s powerhouse vocals to boot, a band I’d happily go see again.
Other notable performances came from Saffron Gorman who provided powerful metal vocals and familiar metal riffs that felt like a warm hug from your slightly eccentric auntie, you know, the cool one. While seasoned pros, Shiraz Lane brought all the hard hitting old school rock ‘n’ roll you’d expect to see at Wildfire, they really stood out in terms of their on stage performance. They knew exactly what they were doing, what the people wanted, and damn well gave it to them, by the bucket load!
Finishing off the day perfectly with strong, in your face rock, were Scarborough formed band, This House We Built. The band are made up of four musicians who all bring their unique individual influences and talents, to combine into what you would otherwise think is a supergroup, if you didn’t know any better. Vocalist/Guitarist Scott Wardell brings a voice that is just made for this genre and hopefully some day arenas, as it carries the room through every song. He wasn’t the only one showing off their vocal talents though, as backing came from Guitarist Andy and Drummer Chris who also kept up the momentum and bloody great anthems with their riffs and heavy drums, which helped transport me right back to the early noughties when American Nu-Metal was at its prime. Bass player Wayne married it all together, and I couldn’t believe I had never seen this band play before! Their sound, really is the perfect mix of nostalgia and modern alt rock that definitely wouldn’t go amiss amongst America’s greats.
They did a cover of John Farnham’s ‘You’re the Voice’ which had everybody bouncing and singing along, the roof most definitely blew off during their set. I for one, can’t wait to see what this band does next and what the scene has in store for them, as they deserve greatness!
The after party came in the form of a DJ set from Wildfire Festival and main stage sponsors Scotland Rocks Radio, who had everyone moshing and partying into the wee small hours!
Qulture Magazine 
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