East Noise Attack Fest that was held on on March 17 with the participation of 13 Bulgarian bands carried with it some kind of interest even because of the fact Sofia-based guys don’t get the chance to see and listen to Varna bands every day. The towns of Rousse and Asenovgrad participated with one group each, and Sofia was represented by Empty Face and Death Squad.
All other packs, as we hinted, had travelled from Varna for this fest, promoted by Area 51 Booking on a terrain near the Vitosha mountain. And this terrain could be described like “that community centre that is located I don’t know where” – I haven’t heard of another show held there so far.
However, once having stepped across the threshold of the Neofit Bozveli Library Hall, the environment got familiar for all of us, the regular hardcore/punk show attendants. All in all – versicoloured and well mixed.
The fest started on time, at 3:30 p.m., with the opening act One Faith. The audience was still getting into mood, and as a whole One Faith’s songs took up the noisy sounding that would form the most part of the night.
After a short break for changing equipment and setting up, the next band followed – G.O.T.C. from Varna, who at once get into one’s head with the rapid double drumming and their brutal music in general. That was the way the festival flowed as a whole – with smooth changes of the bands, giving an oportunity for everyone around to have a rest. This time could also be spent in looking at the merchandise stand and maybe ending with CDs or clothes purchase.
The next four-piece loosened a little bit the tension with its slightly careless and punky music. A-Moral from Varna was a name that I heard for the first time, although their ranks featured the bassist and the drummer of Crowfish.
Outrage, next in turn, are a known name, having taken part in splits with Indignity and Vendetta (R.I.P.), songs from which they performed. However, they also didn’t succeed in provoking considerable crowd moving.
Crowfish seemed to fail achieving that effect, too, regardless of the charismatic presence of their frontman Chavdar Manoltchev. Their melodic and romantic punk rock, however, is definitely worth paying attention to – an indicator for that are the several European tours and a cotnract with a German label for their previous releases.
Empty Face don’t have a contract like that yet, because they haven’t any records except for a self-made EP, “Face The Emptiness”, full of youth enthusiastic punk. The colourful trio performed new songs, as well as old ones.
Next in line were Another Day – an interesting band incorporating typical hardcore alongside complicated guitar riffs and momentary emotional inclinations in the vocals – angry in general.
Maniacal Pictures directed the performance thread back to the melodic punk rock – a vivid line that was later taken up by Spot with a cool opening beat. The guys from Russe are a band with a possitive message in general, regardless the angrier sounding of their latest album, “Waiting for the Inevitable”. Their presense on stage was dynamic. Exciting times are ahead of these guys in the near future – at the end of the month they set off for European tour, too.
The “bunch of the night”, if I could afford such a metaphor, were Plastic Bo. from Asenovgrad, who could only lift up your mood with their energy and ska-like music, nothing less. Cheerful lyrics helped for that, too, and the tattooed twins behind the drums and the bass attracted attention. Several times during the breaks the vocalist/guitarist mentioned he was not hearing anything out of the monitors. Complaints similar to that were addressed by other groups as well, and I, as a listener, can express my displeasure of the frequencies that bursted into my ear channels, too, but that’s a negative topic to go into details. It’s much more pleasant to talk, for instance, about the dances during the cover Jump Around” by the legendary House of Pain.
The other Sofia guys, Death Squad, put back the brutal sound on the agenda and – with the help of two guitarists and two vocalists – caused even more wild reactions from the fans. At one time they even took up the starting moments of the classic “Raining Blood” by the giants Slayer.
High motions continued with the performance of Indignity – another respected name from Varna from the dawn of Bulgaria’s hardcore. Lyrics in Bulgarian and a strong presence of frontman Itzo – these are some of the things that we could remember their performance with. The coming up on stage of Tania from Fight to Win for backing vocal duties won attraction for sure, too.
East Noise Attack festival was closed by Cold Breath from Varna. Having behind them two records with fervent hardcore with a considerable amount of metal and direct lyrics in Bulgarian, it’s definitely better not to ignore them. Infectious is the symbiosis between the two vocals and the way they take their angry outbursts in turns. Anyway, I’ve witnessed more eager performances by them…
As a conclusion it could be said that, regardless of the uncommon place, bad sound and poor lights, this festival brought pleasant moments for about 100-200 persons. Another issue is that with Bulgaria entering the European Union it should be compulsory to try catching up higher sound standars.
Text & photos: Simeon Petkov