Four Of The Best Bands I Saw At Camden Rocks Festival

Last weekend I headed to Camden to the annual Camden Rocks Festival. It had been a few years since I last went but I absolutely love the concept the festival as it’s across a large number of locations in Camden from large well known venues such as Koko and The Electric Ballroom through to smaller pubs like The Dublin Castle and The Devonshire Arms. Not only do you have the chance to see so much music as there’s around 20 different stages but it also gives you a chance to experience new venues that you may have never been to before.

Best laid plans at Camden Rocks don’t always work out as sometimes venues can get busy pretty early or you may get stuck in a sea of people making the walk between venues a little longer than usual but it didn’t stop me seeing some fantastic music. Check out the best four bands I saw during the day.

The Faim

I’m going to start with my absolute favourite and that’s Australian four-piece The Faim. I first saw them a month or so back when they supported Lower Than Atlantis and I have been just a little bit obsessed with them since then. Musically I find them to be a cross between Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco which is the biggest compliment in the world from me. Their music is insanely catchy and you’ll probably feel like you know it even if you’ve never heard it before. With just three tracks out on Spotify they’ve done incredibly well for themselves in such a short space of time and I guarantee they’re going to be huge.

Mallory Knox

I’ve been a huge Mallory Knox fan for years but since frontman Mikey’s departure last year I’m going to be honest I wasn’t sure of the future of the band so when they were announced for Camden Rocks I knew I needed to see them. The Koko was absolutely packed, presumably with people just like me keen to see what the now four-piece sounded like and I was so impressed. Sam has taken on the whole ‘front man’ situation so well and vocally he sounds like he was born for it. The new tracks sounded mature and really catchy but the old tracks still packed the same punch that they always, it was so good to hear tracks like ‘Beggars’ and ‘Lighthouse’ again.

Press To Meco

This band hold a special place in my heart as the first time I went to Download Festival as a guest they were one of my interviews and we did an interview during a rain and hail storm. We did reconnect a few years later to do it properly but the first one is just something I’ll never forget. I hadn’t seen the guys live for quite a while but they’ve really come a long way and matured in their sound. I always forget that there’s just three people on stage as their sound is always so big, made even more impact considering all three of the guys sing. Dingwalls was pretty rammed considering it was about 4pm during the day and it really reminded me that I need to listen to their new album.

Twin Atlantic

Considering the fact that I didn’t see Twin’s full set at Slam Dunk I thought it only right to change that at Camden Rocks and the guys did a fantastic job playing just before Koko headliner’s Maximo Park. Strangely enough one of the first times I saw Twin Atlantic was at the Koko back in 2012 so it was a nice full circle to come back here. Although we weren’t right down on the floor the atmosphere carried around the whole venue and tracks like ‘Make A Beast Of Yourself’ and ‘Brothers And Sisters’ sounded absolutely huge and it was so much fun to have a proper sing-a-long.