Drunken Monkey Rock Festival 2023.

This year’s event, in memory of Ian Downton and supporting the Air Ambulance service, returned with another great mix of new and veteran bands. With the multi-stage setup, Drunken Monkey brings us original acts, alongside some of the very best crowd pleasing cover and tribute bands.

After the 2022 heat wave with melting roads, heatstroke and a desperate need for shade, this year brought a true Glastonbury like experience, with the full gamut of British weather. Sunday proved the most challenging with sunshine suddenly turning to torrential rain that at times threatened to electrocute the performers and drown the photographers, as high winds dumped buckets of water off the stage roof and over the PA gear.

But the show went on and a massive shout out goes to the organisers and stewards and volunteers who made this one the most fun, relaxed and entertaining festivals around.

The Blue Lena Band

The Blue Lena are a rock band based around the songwriting partnership of former High Treason vocalist Peter Yeomans and guitarist Nick Singleton. With their first live outing at last year’s Drunken Monkey they returned in 2023 with an even more extended line up, adding keyboard player Matt Raynor, and a refined sound.

Whilst previously the overwhelming influence seemed to be Fleetwood Mac, with beautiful vocal harmonies between Fi Channon, Richie Yeates and Peter, their new sound has grittier a blues and Southern Rock edge, which was a truly enjoyable way to open this year’s main stage.

We are looking forward to their first album, which is due out soon.

Fort Royal

Friday afternoon on the Tower Stage bought the welcome return of Fort Royal, with their bouncy energetic rock. This Worcestershire based five piece, have been away from touring for several years, with their absence also coinciding with a band name change. Fans of the band will remember them as Ronin UK with several excellent CDs and a very promising run to the final of the 2016 Metal to the Masses competition.

The guys return to the stage in 2023 with the same energy and fun as before, and hopefully will quickly re-establish their fan base, under the new name. Front man Kit delivers some thought provoking lyrics complimented with rich and layered, blues based tunes.

The sparse crowd was more a reflection on the festival audience preferring old Sabbath tunes, on the main stage, to new music, but they missed a treat as the band gave the attentive audience their high energy best.

Fort Royal are a welcome return to the Worcestershire rock scene and we look forward to some new music from them soon.

7 Year War

This young band are going from strength to strength and it is clear that they are continuing to mature. Not just in the sense that some of them are now old enough to shave, but musically the last 12 months has seen a great improvement in musicianship and stage craft.

Last year they opened the Breaking Bands Festival with a handful of covers, but already the signs of promise were there as they went on to impress the Drunken Monkey 22 festival crowd with 3 appearances. 2023 gave them a well-deserved headline slot on the Tower Stage.

As the sun went down their music was accompanied with an atmospheric light show and dry ice. Surely the stadium rock dream of all schoolboy musicians.

Frontman and bassist Tom Ball exuded confidence, engaging with the audience to orchestrate mad mosh pits and was relaxed enough to crack a smile between songs.

Guitarist Cass wielded the axe like a master, but what can we expect from a lad whose first step onto this very stage was already 4 years ago at the tender age of 12!. Ollie is more focussed on his guitar work and is a super versatile musician that keeps the heavy riffs coming. Finally drummer Si pounds the skins expertly, and is not shy about encouraging the crowd, undoubtedly a fan of Lars. Despite going head to head with the excellent Soul Stripper, who had the lion’s share of the audience on the man stage, with superb AC/DC covers, 7 Year War pulled in a decent and enthusiastically headbanging crowd.

The set was primarily Sepultura and Metallica but the new single ‘Baby Killer’ shows that their original material is going to be excellent and well on a par with their metal heroes.

With a few original pieces like this it will not be long before 7 Year War will be getting a slot at Bloodstock. Catch these future metal stars when you can.

Tygers of Pan Tang

After many years of trying, Drunken Monkey finally get Tygers of Pan Tang to headline. With original guitarist Robb Weir we get a link to the beginnings of this NWOBHM band and a time when they had hits in the charts and the great John Sykes on guitar. Disputes with the record label forced them to disband and, despite a brief re-use of the name in the mid-eighties, it was not until Robb Weir recognised in 1999 how much the Tygers were missed that the band properly reformed with Craig Ellis on drums and Jack Meille on vocals forming the core band we see today.

With a classic NOWOBHM sound of twin guitars and bass, the Tygers show that they have still got it. With a great stage entrance, great hair, vocals and very appreciative and enthusiastic crowd, the Saturday night audience (having endured some miserable rain) are genuinely excited. Despite the cold mid-summer evening we get some high energy bluesy rock with a classic 80s rock sound. Not content to re-hash old styles though, their latest track ‘Edge of the World’ off their new album ‘Bloodlines’ has a more modern and technical rock sound, possibly thanks to the twiddling guitar virtuosity of Francesco Marras, a new member to the lineup, providing fresher influences.

Phon

Phon returned to the Tower stage after last year’s great performance. 2022 gave us a sweltering heat wave but this year we are dodging torrential rain with bassist Jack choosing to play in a clear plastic poncho. Lead singer and guitarist Ollie was obviously much taken by playing last year’s set in a floral frock, to deal with the heat, and this year sports a kilt with a nod to last year’s unusual attire and excellent performance.

Phon bring a high energy set with the edgy lyrics and twangy distorted guitars reminiscent of the Violent Femmes. Ollie has a superb vocal range whilst Jack’s bass lines are reminiscent of Flea of the Chili Peppers. Rich on drums provides the heavy grooves underlying it all, and was probably glad to be on the back line sheltered from the rain. For a band only formed in 2021 these guys have a great set of original heavy music and are a band to catch live.

Chug

Chug are a fun two piece rock duo of guitar and drums, not to be confused with the Cheltenham Ukulele Group, hailing from Cheltenham themselves. Whilst Chug is a three piece, only the guitarist and drummer made it to this gig. However, a missing band member did not deter this very versatile pair. Showing off their musical influences with covers of Foo Fighters, Metallica, Nu Metal and punk today we got a preview of a couple of great original tracks that are being prepared for their upcoming EP.

Baron Greenback

With Hawaiian shirts brightening the stage, this great four-piece, formed in 2009, avoid them being marginalised to a single style and bring us funky bass lines, great vocals and metal power chords with the very atmospheric reverberating bass lines driving away the rain to bring out the sun.

Trident Waters

This superb blues rock three piece from North London (and the world) got a well-deserved outing on the Saturday afternoon main stage. With some of the finest original blues rock, these guys gave us some power riffs, with smile along, sing along and dance along tracks. A follow-up album to last year’s excellent Opus Armada is well overdue.

Today they battled the elements and survived. On and off torrential rain drove the audience in and out of the beer tent and threw literal bucketful’s of water onto the stage. Tarpaulins were rushed out mid-set to cover the PA gear and reduce the very literal risk of electrocution. Undaunted, Trident Waters played on and blew away the clouds with their up-beat sunshine rock and roll.

The Offshore

Dropping the moniker Joe Wheldon for 2023, but not Joe himself, this original Worcestershire five piece entertained the crowd with a mix of covers and original tracks.

The Offshore bring great vocals together with rhythmic modern rock and a wealth of influences from Pearl Jam and Chilli Peppers through to hints of Ska.

This is an energetic and entertaining band with some great original tracks, such as 2020’s upbeat and bouncy ‘What a Shame’ and the upcoming single ‘Molecules’ showcases Joe’s wonderful vocal range that belies his appearance as a ‘Kaleb Cooper’ style farmer from the Cotswolds.

Chevy Chase Stole My Wife

With the quirkiest name and raucous 2 minute punk songs, these were perhaps the most fun find of the weekend. As the sun came out on the final day this unique band hit the stage in a blaze of pink hair, a set of original tunes and were fresh from a successful set at Glastonbury.

Chevy Chase Stole My Wife describe themselves as “an alternative and surreal UK band. If you like your rock catchy, or you like your pop dirty, and appreciate love songs for inanimate objects, the ‘Chasers are your new best friends.’”

They entertained with an upbeat set of fast paced punky tunes full of rock guitar riffs, mad jumping around and sudden abrupt ends. A great fun band with the potential for some potty mouthed rants, the Chasers’ lyrics are well worth digging into with some serious messaging. With a back catalogue of EPs going back to 2013 they have plenty of material to choose from, including tracks such as ‘Give us a Smile’ and ‘All the Handsome Men are Dead’. Be sure to catch this band in performance when you can.

Honourable Mentions

The Westlands

If you like your rock to have a country edge then The Westlands are well worth tracking down. Normally a five piece, The Westlands put on a great show despite a missing guitarist and both singers suffering from colds.

The Westlands brought some great original ‘Black Country’ rock tunes to the stage with wonderful vocal harmonies and plenty of fun banter. With a new album on the way and health restored, be sure to listen out for tracks such as ‘Country Life for Me’, ‘Whiskey Chaser’ and ‘Hits me Hard’.

Jiksaw

This young four piece from Worcestershire brought some superb soaring guitar work with both emotional blues licks and overdriven metal riffs, to the stage. The bass work was excellent, with great grooves and rhythm combined with fabulous vocal harmonies that are reminiscent of a heavier version of Fleetwood Mac. This young band brought a great mix of accessible and catchy rock to the stage. Check out the video ‘Feed me Lies’ for a sense of what they have to offer then catch them live.

Dhampyres

With the award for scariest makeup and best dramatic rock performance of the festival this band are reminiscent of Sisters of Mercy with a more metal edge. Their new album, out later in the year, should be one for fans of Goth Industrial music.