Rabidfest 2023: Breaking Down The Bands #1: Gutlocker!

If feels like yesterday that the blood, sweat and spilled beers were being mopped up from the floor at The Bullingdon in Oxford after another successful incarnation of Rabidfest took place and yet here we are again talking about the 2023 edition. Why so soon we hear you cry? Well the answer to that is simple. It’s the fifth anniversary of the two day spectacular and so the organizers have gone early with their first wave of bands announcing seven, one for each of the deadly sins…

Ward XVI
Mortishead
Tribe Of Ghosts
Gutlocker
Imperium
From Her Ashes
Draconian Reign

Gutlocker, Gutlocker, wherefore art thou Gutlocker?! The Wokingham Groove Metal quartet made their name with cuts like “Welcome To F***town” from their debut EP “Cry Havoc” and were described by Weaponry frontman Al Bristow as “Poundland Pantera” upon these very pages as he reviewed a live set from them around that release. They’ve since gone from strength to strength as the headliners of the final show we saw pre-pandemic during which their cover of “Deeper Underground” by Jamiroquai from the 2003 Godzilla soundtrack becoming a Metalized shout-along anthem. That was just a stepping stone and post-pandemic they’ve quite literally put their heads down and charged headlong into traffic with a bottle of JD in one hand and a cigar in the other. Their debut full length album “To Be Alive” was recorded with producer Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve, Conjurer, Funeral For A Friend) and saw them reach new heights, punching above their weight and knocking out the opposition, earning a well deserved 8.5/10 in review by yours truly upon these very pages.  They got in as many shows as humanly possible at the tail end of 2022, including a run with Sore Teeth. We caught them at the Facebar in Reading and they reduced the venue to rubble. The building inspectors are checking The Bullingdon to see if structural reinforcements required as we speak…

We’re once again a Media Partner of Rabidfest this year alongside Red Death Media, Moomin Merchandise, Metalplanetmusic, Moshville Times, GraphicsFix, Unearthed Music and main stage sponsor Devolution Magazine. The Festival is all for charity with profits going to the The Sophie Lancaster Foundation!

Rabidfest will take place at The Bullingdon in Oxford over the weekend of thr 4th and 5th November 2023. They’re not available as yet, but when they are:

Get your tickets here -> https://www.rabidfest.co.uk

Get your merch here -> https://shop.rabidfest.co.uk