Blackbyrd

After almost drying off in our tents following Saturday night’s moist ending (in more ways than one for yours truly following the awesome Saxon) Battle Of The Bands winners and local boys Blackbyrd open up a Sunday full of rock and rain showers with their brand of southern/classic rock, their line up featuring former Funeral for a Friend guitarist Darran Smith. They certainly have a good batch of songs and in Phil Lye who has given up guitar to concentrate on leading the band live they have a tremendous vocalist as demonstrated on songs such as ‘Far Away from Here’ and the song that won them their spot on today’s line up ‘Day of Reckoning’. There could be something in this package and apparently “the ‘Byrd is the word” so keep a listen out for them. - Uber Rock

Day 2 started off in a similar vein. Sunshine followed by bouts of intermittent monsoons. Again day 2 was kicked off by a band voted on by listeners to a Facebook & Twitter/YouTube Battle of the Bands competition. Blackbyrd, hail from just down the road, and it must be something in the water, as singer Phil possesses a great set of pipes, much better than the songs you can find on their site, with their voted song, ‘Day Of Reckoning’ the stand out track of their set and a nice sing-a-long from the fans to get the crowd warmed up. Apparently Phil has ditched the guitar to concentrate on his singing, and by the sound of him, its bloody well worked a treat. One to look out for methinks in the future - Rock Reviews

This Ep has some real quality from the vocals right through the band it has some classic riffs, solid bass lines and some really good drum beats. By the end of the Ep I was wanting more it has it all and it has some really catchy lyrics by the end of the Ep I had my foot tapping, my head nodding and I was singing along to the every song - Metal Shock

Great vocals and all the music is locked into place. Wales is producing some class rock bands at the moment and Blackbyrd are right up there with them - Absolute Radio

Great vocals and all the music is locked into place. Wales is producing some class rock bands at the moment and Blackbyrd are right up there with them - Absolute Radio

Well so far so good for today, no emo/scremo to depress me.

Next band to hit the stage were the highly anticipated Dead Against the Rest, I am ashamed to say I have never seen the band before.

I overheard a person in the crowd telling his mate they sound like "Dave Lee Roth meets The Sex Pistols with a little Depeche Mode thrown in for luck". So I was intrigued to find out what all the hype was about.

So on to the small stage come these five figures, they reminded me of some miss match from the Hells Angels and 80's glam rock.

As the first track kicked in I realised that this band are something special indeed.
Passion, Aggression, Visually stunning and most of all humorous.

The vocalist slid across the stage like the bastard son of Michael Jackson, whilst the rest of the band threw themselves around in world winds of energy.

Didn't catch many of the song tiles but my highlight was "Big Love" which would suit any Stadium Rock band. In addition a short rendition of "Holy Diver" went down a storm.

On their web site it claims "your new favourite band", and I can only agree with that quote. Dead Against The Rest are one of the best unsigned bands I have seen in the last ten years, I hope some one picks them up because they need the freedom of a large stage, then they will be unstoppable.

95/100
- Kreative Sounds Magazine

this band is super kick ass!

They're definately busting out rad rock n roll in a time when, honestly, good rock n roll is hard to find. there's almost passable punk all over, death metals pretty fucking big and crap music is just way too common and popular.

good to hear people still know how to dial in a jcm 800 and sing as opposed to whine or scream/growl. hearing true lead playing, which i really miss, is exciting.

fuckin A... - Fuzz