Bristol’s Attitude Festival is rapidly becoming one of those events where you eagerly await the lineup announcement each year, knowing that there will be at least one band on there that you’ve never heard of before and end up really loving.
This is, after all, the event that showcased a then-largely-unknown Bob Vylan in 2021, and Kid Kapichi in 2022. Those two are rocking main stages at big festivals now. Plus, they booked Glasgow band Snash last year, who this author maintains to remain the best punk band on the planet.
This year’s edition brought a wealth of fascinating talent, but the one that really caught my ear was a band taking the 6:10pm slot in the basement, Witch Hook.
Formed in late 2021, initially as a two-piece, the band’s early singles, such as ‘Fairy Tale’ and ‘Carnival’, were fun goth-rock tracks. Perhaps a little cheesy, but definitely well-constructed.
It was their 2024 debut EP, ‘Laboratory’, though, that really started to show their potential to progress beyond that. ‘Mr Formaldehyde’ was a swooning near-six-minute epic, filled with clever effects and tender vocals, while the punkier tracks, like ‘Doctor, Doctor’, had a proper hard-edge and some forceful riffage.
The band subsequently went through a lineup change, adding drummer Stix and bassist Jake alongside original vocalist Dott, and this seems to have only served to continue their artistic development.
Tonight we see clear evidence of this. Recent single, ‘Withdrawal Symptoms’, the first written by the new three-piece line-up, is certainly their most accomplished to date, and it sounds even better live.
It is a sign of their growing confidence that in spite of the large audience and the prestigious occasion, the band choose to introduce a lot of their new material tonight rather than rely on old staples. ‘Mr Formaldehyde’, for example, doesn’t make the cut for tonight’s setlist.
This confidence is, it turns out, well-founded. Judging by the first listens of forthcoming releases, ‘Missing Teeth’ and ‘Grim Reaper’, the next EP is going to be very special. There’s a lot going on here. Dott infuses some really clever, intricate guitar tricks to go alongside the rip-roaring power chords, and Jake and Stix are perfect, powerful accompaniments. As a collective, it is just a very accomplished, polished performance.
The overall effect is hugely impressive. Sometimes a varied festival crowd can be a hard one to please, but the Exchange basement is full to the rafters for this, and everyone is engrossed by their set. One would imagine they have gained a lot of new fans tonight.
They play a headline show at Bristol’s Rough Trade on the 2nd December. Highly recommended.
https://dice.fm/event/rym7m5-witch-hook-2nd-dec-rough-trade-bristol-bristol-tickets
