REVIEW

Get Together festival returned to Sheffield on a sun-soaked Saturday afternoon in May, this time with an all-new home. After two hugely successful years at the students’ union, the festival spread its wings to Kelham Island for an all-dayer that boasted some of the best up-and-coming bands from around the country, as well as a headline set from noughties indie darlings Friendly Fires. Sounds spot on, right? Exposed web editor Ash Birch headed down to find out…

Last year’s edition of Get Together was one of my personal highlights of a packed Sheffield summer festival season. The likes of Confidence Man, Squid and The Blinders tore up the Octagon and Foundry stages, so, when the announcement came that for their third instalment they would be changing things up and heading down to Kelham Island, I was more than a little intrigued to see how it would work.

This had always been the plan, apparently, as taking it to Kelham affords them more scope to host more stages, and therefore put on more acts. It also gives organisers the opportunity to increase the line-up of food vendors with a sort of a mini-Peddler, as well as allowing artist Corbin Shaw to run wild, plastering witty and poignant slogans all over the area.

How did it work, then? Well, the main stage was in Peddler’s warehouse, which was also where wristband collection could be found. The wristbands got you into the six participating venues: Peddler, Yellow Arch, The Antiques Emporium (next door to Yellow Arch), Alder, Neepsend Social Club and Heist. A bumper cast of bands were billed across the six stages, and all you were left to do was figure out an itinerary and make the short trips between each venue to catch your faves or, as was often the case for me, discover something new.

It’s worth noting that, with the move, there seems to be more of a focus on up-and-coming acts and fewer household names (except for maybe Friendly Fires and CMAT) are on the line-up, which, in its own way, made it even more exciting. There were a lot of bands on the line-up that I would be seeing for the first time, and it will be interesting to see if this continues in the coming years.

The union-defying Mickey Callisto kicked off proceedings at 1pm with his first of a few shows throughout the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it in time for this one, but I’m reliably informed he opened the show ‘like it was Live Aid ‘85’, despite the early start! Missing him the first time around wasn’t too much of a disaster, as the sky-blue boiler suited singer was seemingly everywhere all day, and even made a cameo in the set of the first act I did manage to catch, Anthony Szmierek.

Callisto added backing vocals to Szmierek’s indie/ hip-hop closer, a cover of Sugababes’ ‘Overload’. Prior to Callisto’s appearance, Antony primed the early-comers with a Mike Skinner-tinged set of originals, including standout track ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Fallacy’.

Following Anthony, it was a short hop to Yellow Arch for Butch Kassidy. The West Ealing five-piece are a far cry from indie hip-hop! Leaning more on metal acts for their epic sound, they blast out massive walls of distortion, utilising a mastery of minimalism and dynamics Stuart Braithwaite would be proud to tuck under his kilt for safe keeping.

Next up, back to Peddler for H. Hawkline and a lovely looking tape deck and standout pair of red socks, before heading to Neepsend Social for one of my highlights of the day, Drastic Automatic. A Sheffield-three piece who I’m ashamed to say weren’t on my radar.

A deafeningly chaotic punk set sees lead singer and guitarist Sean bleeding from his fingers all over the scratch plate of a borrowed Telecaster (he broke his in the first song), before a crowd-pleasing cover of Basement Jaxx’s ‘Where’s Your Head At’ lifts the corrugated roof off the faux working men’s club. They’re playing Sidney and Matilda on 24th June. Hard recommend.

It’s then back to Yellow Arch for KEG, the latest post-punk ‘next big thing’ in the vein of Yard Act, but this time with brass. The kids at the front go nuts for the angular riffs and it’s obvious why the Brighton sevenpiece are so heavily tipped.

At this point it was time to think about refuelling with some dancing carbs, and with more vendors than Mickey Callisto can fit sets into the day, we’re spoilt for choice. The Peddler courtyard hosts New Yorkshire Pizza, banging bratwurst from Get Wurst, Turksish flavours from Mor-Mor and Sri Lankan street food from Colombo, as well as vegan ice cream (perfect for a Sunny Sheff day) from Lick. the tuesday club tuesday 6th june

Over the road at Alder, V or V’s Grillhouse has set up camp in the courtyard and you’ve got Slap and Pickle and Gravy Train slinging their menus in their respective homes of Heist and Neepsend Social. After scranning the jackfruit kottu from Colombo and a jaffa cake ice cream from Lick, it’s over to Heist for Divorce. The stage at Heist has been set up so that bands are playing in front of the stills and it makes an impressively shiny backdrop for the alt-country grunge of Divorce.

Speaking of alt country, next up was main support CMAT and undoubtedly the earworm of the day. Firstly, performancewise CMAT absolutely stole the show. The Irish singersongwriter is eminently watchable, very funny and just a whole lot of fun.

Following CMAT, we finished with Sister Wives in Alder, which was a fitting way to close out what had been an incredibly successful day for gig-goers and the festival’s organisers. Kelham was buzzing and needs this sort of event to continue to make the area thrive. Grafters bar, who hosted the pop-up record shop and acoustic sets through the day, told us they’d had a record day in terms of takings, and that can only help the area in what are still difficult circumstances post-pandemic. We can’t wait to see how Get Together evolves again next year.

summer carnival: flowdan|conducta

aziza|k.o.g|franz von

£13/15, Doors 4:00pm, 18+ tuesday 13 june 2023 squid

‘o monolith’ album launch

£14.50, Doors 7:00pm wednesday 14 june 2023 mcfly album launch show

£15.50, Doors 7:30pm saturday 1 july 2023 mystery jets

£17, Doors 7:30pm thursday 5 oct 2023 pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs

£17.50, Doors 7:30pm friday 6 oct 2023 nation of language

£20, Doors 7:30pm saturday 21 oct 2023 the bluetones

£25, Doors 6:30pm wednesday 25 oct 2023 the dust coda

£14, Doors 7:00pm friday 27 oct 2023 from the jam

“all mod cons”

£32.50, Doors 7:00pm friday 3 nov 2023 flash & the darkniss

£20, Doors 7pm friday 10 nov 2023 peace

£17.50, Doors 7:00pm saturday 11 nov 2023 untold orchestra presents a history of beyonce

£12/£14, Doors 7:00pm saturday 18 nov 2023 the pigeon Detectives

£20, Doors 6:30pm sunday 19 nov 2023 skerryvore

£24.00, Doors 7:00pm saturday 25 nov 2023 smoove & turrell + solar love society

£18, Doors 7:00pm thursday 30 nov 2023 starsailor

£24.50, Doors 7:00pm all shows open to the public (14+ unless stated otherwise) tickets available from foundrysu.com box office: 0114 222 8777 friday 1 dec 2023 the view

£24.00, Doors 6:30pm saturday 2 dec 2023 definitely oasis vs the complete stone roses

£17.50, Doors 7pm saturday 16 dec 2023 slade

£32.50, Doors 7:00pm foundry, sheffield students’ union western bank, s10 2tg foundrysu.com - foundry@sheffield.ac.uk

@foundrysheffield scan for tickets

Ahead of their scheduled landing at Pax in the Park next month, we caught up with Zpor, front-creature of interplanetary cosmic dross purveyors HENGE, to discuss the band’s latest sonic transmissions and what we earthlings can expect from their Sheffield visit.

Hello Zpor! How are you doing today?

Greetings human. I feel especially buoyant today. For today is the day we release a new album on your planet: Alpha Test 4.

Your music combines elements of various genres, including rock, electronica and psychedelia. How do you approach blending these different styles to create a unique HENGE sound?

Oh, dear human, we bring you music from other worlds. Thus, any similarities to the Earth genres that you mention is merely coincidental.

Your new album, Alpha Test 4, is out now. What sets this record apart from other albums released across the galaxies? This record is a unique interplanetary collaboration. The group known as HENGE is comprised of four lifeforms, each creature is of a different species with their own particular background and creative impulse. I am from Agricular in Cosmos Redshift 7. From a young age I was swaddled in the musical traditions of my people; surrounded by the ancient Agriculan artform we call ‘Cosmic Dross’. Another band member, Brother Goo, is from Venus. He is the lone survivor of a catastrophic climate apocalypse on his planet and we found that violent bass frequencies had a therapeutic effect on his nervous system. Our drummer, Nom, is from Xylanthia in the Sirius Star System. He is primarily a water-dwelling creature; a many-tentacled being, whose amphibious rhythms are known to incite much dancing. The newest member of our crew is a human being known as Grok. His aptitude for wild synthesis is a huge asset to our mission. Though many interplanetary musical collaborations exist across the galaxy, we are unaware of any other records that have been made with this particular combination of species.

How do you approach the songwriting process as a band? Do you have any specific rituals, methods or cosmic technologies you employ?

Yes, our method is to play. When I say ‘play’ I refer to the following definition:

“Play – verb: to employ oneself in diversion, amusement or recreation.”

Or to put it another way – fun.

How do you handle creative differences or conflicts within the band? Are there any strategies you employ to maintain a harmonious working dynamic?

Actually, though it has never occurred to me before, we have never had any musical conflict within the band. We are so enamoured with each other’s creative suggestions that any creative differences are a source of wonder rather than conflict. And, now that we have spent seven years and made multiple records together, our four minds are as one harmonious, utterly synchronised multi-mind.

You’ll be joining our friends at Pax in the Park for a headline show. For those who’ve not witnessed a HENGE show in the flesh, how would you describe it?

A HENGE sonic transmission is unlike any conventional musical performance that exists on Earth. One key difference is that we use a mixture of telepathic waves and sound waves at our gatherings. These two different wave types coalesce together in a spiral pattern (similar in appearance to the double helix of DNA). Once absorbed, this has the effect of stimulating euphoria in the human central nervous system. In this way, we intend to catalyse joy in the hearts of the citizens of Sheffield on 21st July.

Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals and aspirations for HENGE?

We have observed that here on Earth, seriousness levels have reached a dangerous peak. This is accompanied by an epidemic of sadness which is spreading at an alarming rate. And so, our mission is to reach as many humans as possible with our sonic joy-beams. These therapeutic soundwaves are known to provide lasting relief from the negative impact of seriousness.

HENGE will perform live at Pax in the Park which takes place 21st-23rd July at Heeley People’s Park. The festival’s organisers are attempting to raise £10k towards keeping the event free for all and, if you are able, you can chip in to help get them there by visiting gofundme.com/f/ freepaxpark.