Entertainment
Young local bands a focus of Undercover Festival
As the popular Undercover Festival (now in its 13th year) makes its debut at Battlesbridge, South Essex on 26th & 27th September, organiser Mick Moriarty decided to make young local bands a focus of the event.
“Young punk influenced bands are coming to the fore even more now, and I see a very vibrant young scene with a purpose. I know a cracking band when I see one, and there are a plenty appearing in South Essex! The Meffs (Southend) and Bilk (Chelmsford) are currently making huge strides, and coming up behind them, there’s a lot of young talent, just bursting to get out there” he explains.
Undercover Festival’s early days were at Bisley in Surrey. Mick says “When I decided to move Undercover Festival to South Essex, I found a venue that is quirky, outside the box, and with camping, just what I was looking for to get the Bisley feel of Undercover Festival back. Once I got the date for the festival sorted, I wanted to include a couple of local bands, and I was blown away by the rich vein of local bands coming up strong behind The Meffs and Bilk. I’m so pleased to have several of them playing for us at Undercover Festival 26th & 27th September.”
Amongst the bigger names appearing at the festival (Skids, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Subhumans, Menace, Popes Of Chillitown, Dakka Skanks, Eastfield, Codename Colin, East Town Pirates) the following young local bands will share the stage: “Dharma Hounds are a band that I am excited to bring to Undercover and I love their new release ‘Blokes‘” enthuses Mick. “You look at a band and say yeah, they have something, that’s what I see with Dharma Hounds.”
“Another band playing who have a great ‘can do’ attitude, which I love, is Destroy The Idols. I am getting more and more into them as I listen to their tracks; a shame they are on first at the festival, but someone has to; and I always say start it strong.”
“Rat Hole impressed a LOT of people at Rebellion Festival last year with their cheeky punk songs and hilarious banter, and I had many folk saying ‘Mick – you have to book them!’ A few weeks later, I made the decision to confirm the venue for the festival, and booking Rat Hole fell exactly into place.
“Monumental are a talented mod/indie revival band with original songs influenced by 60’s mod, through to the mod revival of the 70’s, and the Britpop era of the 90’s. I thought I’d add them to the line up as something different. They are REALLY good, and have much more of an edge than just a mod thing”
“Hinge are a band that I really like the look of, a no messing, straight up, beer bottle clinking, four-piece punk band from Billericay. They are influenced by 90’s skate punk, with a cracking sound. There will be several other excellent bands from Essex playing, a tad older, but I reckon the five above are excellent, and will show everyone travelling to South Essex for Undercover Festival what a happening local punk scene it has – make sure you check them all out!”
Tickets (£79) include camping, showers, parking and novel attractions found at no other UK festival, such as a museum, record shops and vintage sellers. An on-site guest house and campervan access are also available. Merchandise stalls, a reasonably-priced festival bar and food stands will also be on-site. The Showground (Battlesbridge Antiques Centre, Battlesbridge, SS11 7RF) is easily accessible by road, rail and bus.
A limited number of tickets are available online from Gigantic or in-person at Undercover gigs (Guildford), Intense Records (Chelmsford), Fives Record Shop (Leigh On Sea), Sounds of the Suburbs Records (Ruislip) and Dirt (Norwich).
While Undercover Festival is hitting the road after a run at Guildford’s The Suburbs at the Holroyd, the venue remains home to Undercover’s regular gigs, with at least 20 booked in for 2025.
