Live Review : Call Of The Wild Festival on June 1st 2025

Sunday is an early start too, but the weather is not on our side today. The sunshine is gone, the clouds are lowering and it’s not only windy but bloody cold to boot! Oh well, hoody and a woolly hat it is to see the day started by Spyder Byte.

What a way to start as well, a bit of glam in the morning to get the blood pumping! The songs are catchy and fun, and the bass player goes all out for the style with spiky hairsprayed pink-tipped hair and all the guyliner. The set passed by in a bit of a whirl of scarves, harmonies  and whoa-oh choruses, with the standout track ‘Black Velvet Love’ borrowing a touch of the riff from Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’ during the bridge. They certainly blew the early morning cobwebs away.  

As I mention in the review of this year’s Trailblazers acts, if a band goes down well on that stage they are likely to be asked back to play on the main stage in subsequent years and this is the case for Deadfire. Having stunned the audience into submission with their fiery brand of trad metal they now bring it, blinking a little, into the bright lights of main stage status. Apart from the Spongebob Squarepants interlude (you had to be there!) they are straight ahead no frills heavy rock, classic and timeless, old school and brutal. These rather dour Scotsmen belie their severe looks and really get their heads down and party, much to the delight of the crowd. They finish with a cover of Motörhead ‘Ace of Spades’ because that song epitomises what their music is all about.    

We change pace again for Bobbie Dazzle with her dazzle band. In her various bios she describes them as 70s Glam but to me they are a little more mellow than that. 70s East Coast Americana in the style of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is closer to the mark, well it is until she gets a flute out anyway! There’s some decent guitar work and the keyboard player has a rather splendid falsetto so the vocal harmonies are pretty good. Bobbie (real name Sian) doesn’t have the most powerful of voices but she can hold a tune, and if you like your rock in the AOR style this is definitely a band to check out. 

HARSH are another band promoted from the Trailblazer stage and these boys are proper glam metal. From their sparkly jackets, skinny jeans and pointy-toed boots they bring a fresh sound to what can sometimes be an old and rather stale genre. They are from France, a country not really renowned for churning out decent rock acts, and they are determined to make a good impression. This means that as well as a set that ties together influences from early Aerosmith to AC/DC they bring out a giant bottle of Jack Daniels which they share not only with each other but also with most of the front row on the barrier. Way to make friends and influence people guys!

They are currently working on a new album and offer ‘Don’t Mess With Me’ as a taster. Menacing it isn’t, it’s about as dangerous as being mauled by an especially licky puppy. Instead it’s energetic, enthusiastic and easy on the ear. They chuck in a cover of Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac’ (older readers will remember it from the Flashdance soundtrack) and do a bit of guitar duelling before leaving the stage to a roar of approval that is curiously high-pitched until you realise that most of the front of the crowd is made up of women. Can’t imagine why so many females would be wanting to be close to this bunch of good-looking young men….ahem….. 

We only covered Norway’s Suicide Bombers last week so I’m pleased to report that they can hold their own on a big stage as well as in a sweaty club. They still offer harsh and uncompromising sleaze punk with more than a hint of Motörhead to it, but the bigger stage gives them chance to incorporate more movement. They also seem to be a touch more melodic, but without losing any aggression.    

Due to stage clashes with the Trailblazers I only catch a little of Brave Rival, the award-nominated blues rockers whose mission seems to be to bring a new lease of life to what can sometimes be a rather glum and plodding genre. Frontwoman Lindsey Bonnick has a powerful voice with good range, and although she has better dress sense she reminds me a little of Deborah Bonham. The songs are powerful, the performance is good and hopefully I can catch a full show of theirs soon and elaborate further on the glimpse of potential that I did manage to see. 

Marisa and The Moths also have a powerful female lead vocalist, but their sound is much more alternative/indie in style. First song ‘Needy’ gives a nod to Radiohead, and it seems that whatever the tempo of the music the lyrics explore the darker side of life. Mental health, trauma and sexuality feature heavily in a set that varies between dark blues and a more grungy style. Occasionally the vocals edge into Siouxsie territory, ever so slightly but deliberately off-key, pushing them into a minor key range which brings a touch of pathos and sadness to what is otherwise quite an upbeat song. They describe their most recent album as a therapy session and if that therapy is along the lines of primal scream that makes perfect sense.    

We went to watch Continental Lovers very recently too, and at first I think they have got a new guitarist in the less-than-a-week since last seeing them but actually it’s just the usual bloke Ben but with his hair down and a funky hat on. Weird how a change of headgear can make so much difference to your appearance eh? The set is very similar to the one we saw last week and I still appreciate their no fucks given attitude and cocky personas as well as the bouncy music and spirited playing. In daylight and on a bigger stage they are engaging and fun, and manage to pull the crowd closer as the set draws on.  

Next we get the second reunion of the weekend. Knock Out Kaine also bothered the undercard of several major tours and festivals up until around six or seven years ago when yet again life got in the way. Bassist Lee recently made the hard decision to give up playing in bands (he also plays guitar in Hells Ditch) and touring to concentrate on his family and career, so after much discussion the ex-members decided to get the original band back for one last time. If you’re going out you need to do it in a blaze of glory, right?

Anyhow back in the day they were a whirlwind of good hair, catchy songs and look-at-me attitude and despite limited rehearsal time it was a joy to see that they still had “it”. They were the ultimate party band, so of course their swansong appearance had to be one hell of a party. Their own classic songs ‘16 Grams of Heart Attack’, ‘Little Ctystal’ and ‘Backstreet Romeo’ rubbed shoulders with a cover of Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and rolled together into a riot of fun, laughter and, by the end, some tears too.

The songs are still the same slightly glam, slightly sleazy, catchy potential anthems and singer Dean Foxx is still an ego on legs but the songs have the chops to overcome everything, and it’s truly joyous to hear them even if it is for the very last time. ‘Coming Home’ is still a big fat hairy ballad, and final song ‘Time’ sees the band in tears, the crowd in tears and some truly intimate scenes of love and brotherhood up on the stage. So that’s it, never again, but what a way to go, they absolutely smashed it.  

After a brief rest to catch our breath we continue the party with Trench Dogs. Again we went along to see them on the previous Tuesday so for a full review have a look at that, but in the meantime they now have more room to prance and preen which can only be a good thing. The setlist is more or less the same as the previous week, and has the same uptempo beat and happy demeanour.

Singer Andi is delighted to see the Australian flag hanging from a fence just off to the side, and this energises him even more than you would imagine was possible. He’s everywhere, big hair bouncing, cowboy boots tapping, voice never failing. They still bring to mind early Dogs D’Amour but they have also matured into their own sound a lot more these days. Final song ‘Homesick Parade’ sees the stage invaded by both the Continental Lovers and the Suicide Bombers (and, for reasons known only to herself, Brooke from Muddibrooke) to yell the chorus and lift the mood. The three bands have been touring together for a couple of weeks and this riotous ending brings fitting closure for all of them as they prepare to go in their different directions.  

Despite the cloudy start the sun finally emerges just in time to set behind the trees again, providing a stunning backdrop for Michael Monroe and his band to close out the weekend. The set starts on a high with ‘Dead Jail Or Rock & Roll’ and Michael is already on the barrier communing with his fans. That’s kind of what he is all about – despite having been the frontman for one of the most influential albeit short-lived bands of the early 80s Michael has never lost sight of the love and respect his fanbase gives him, and he feeds off their adoration as the night goes on.

While his band has changed a fair bit over the years the current iteration (Sami Yaffa, Rich Jones, Steve Conte and Karl Rockfist) seems to have stabilised into a tight unit that work together to provide the musical background that allows Michael to express his genius. Make no mistake, this man is a genius. The original punk rocker, Michael can turn his hand to any genre of music but in the end it all comes back to the connection he makes with his crowds.

The setlist covers all periods from his past, with songs from Hanoi Rocks and Demolition 23 rubbing shoulders with at least one tune from each of his solo albums. He climbs the PA during a pumped-up version of Hanoi Rocks’ ‘Motorvatin’  and our hearts are in our mouths as he executes a perfectly balanced jump down. Steve Conte, native New Yorker, joins him to sit at the front of the stage for ‘The Ballad Of The Lower East Side’, but only after Michael has, as is his wont, climbed the stage rigging so he can get a better view of the field and shout out to any passing audience members that catch his eye from up there.

On his last visit to the UK he was celebrating the “Two Steps From The Move” album and playing every song from it but tonight’s set is much more eclectic. We get ‘78’, the song he collaborated with Ginger Wildheart on when he briefly joined the band, we get ‘Last Train To Tokyo’, and a total of 19 songs are presented for our listening pleasure. Throughout it all Michael banters with the crowd, only stopping to play his saxophone or harmonica, and dons a variety of hats to fit with the theme of the current song. Michael is the ultimate showman, he knows exactly what we want to see and he makes sure that this is exactly what we get.

All to soon it’s time for ‘Up Around The Bend’, the song that propelled Hanoi to MTV notoriety just before the tragedy that took drummer Razzle from them and split the band up, and the lights are going up because it’s over. Michael may be getting older but he has lost none of his fizz, none of his talent, none of his charm. He can even still do the splits! As the lights dim for the final time and we make our way back to the campsites it’s easy to muse that Michael is an unstoppable force in his chosen field, and long may he continue to be so. 

So that’s it, another Call of the Wild has passed and to my ears it’s been one of the best ever. A handful of bands (including mighty thrashers Onslaught) have already been announced for next year and earlybird tickets are on sale now at a bargain price. I suggest that you snap them up now, because this friendly little festival is firmly cementing itself in the hearts and minds of the rock community and surely everyone wants to be a part of that? Same time, same place next year then – see you there! 

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Michael Monroe + Trench Dogs + Knock Out Kaine + Continental Lovers + Marisa and The Moths + Brave Rival + Suicide Bombers + HARSH + Bobbie Dazzle + Deadfire + Spyder Byte