Gig Review: Outer Waves Festival - Invisible Wind Factory Liverpool - Saturday 24 to Sunday 25 May 2025

Words: Richie Yates, Photos: Adrian Wharton / Richie Yates

It’s a coming together of groups and tribes in Liverpool that has created this gig. The Quarry group, despite having shut down their venue recently, have transported their entire stage set up and PA to Make Liverpools large warehouse next to the Invisible Wind Factory (IWF) and are active hosting musicians throughout, the Wind Factory itself uses its smaller bar stage o the Saturday and then the larger full room on the Sunday. The throng of folk attending shuffle between the different locations and associated yard areas.

The festivals ambience reminds me of the superb WRONG Festival (also hosted in the same northern dock area) from a few years back with a sub culture, noise band take on psych and experimental music.

As with all these festivals there’s a lot going on so here’s a summary of what was seen some bands missed depending on arrival and leaving times.

Liminal Project are dark and shiny at the same time, they exude a cool musical presence, measured in what they do and producing a darkwave 80s embedded bleakness that kicks off with crafted guitar lines and metronomic drums that sharply define their sound. Their Motorik bleakness is lightened by bright vocals delivered melodically with a wistful tunefulness to their sound. Convincing and cool, emotions constrained musically but very much to the fore. Simultaneously from the dark side but with moments of pure light shimmering through.

First on the IWF bar stage is the experimental electronica of J0wday. The duo, vocalist talking to, screaming and whispering at the audience and a electronics person hitting up beats and experimental sounds. A convincing performance, charged with emotion and fascinating to experience.

Over at the Quarry/MAKE stage Transmission Towers are hitting solid danceable rhythms backed by whirling electronics and some great vocals. Its busy, fun, interesting and very easy to get dragged along with. The band appear to have a good time and it really is infectious with a funky understatement.

Jezebel, solo, in near dark with fleeting back projections illuminating occasionally is at the IWF Bar Stage. The sound is dripping in Berlin noise experimentation, there’s a rush of sonics and beats but there’s a gentler melodic core in there too. Ghostly and a fair bit mesmerising.

Also mesmerising are Thraa, a duo of guitars surrounded by amps and electronics producing a wall of drone noise and iron sound that is deep and slow. There are industrial leanings and clanking noises their stated influence SunO))) would be proud of but here wrapped around a core of some fragile melodies that fleetingly catch the ear before submerging into the darkness of their heavier sounds.

Hyperdawn over at the Quarry Stage are the new pop music for a dark and dangerous era. They are smooth, enchanting soulful vocals drifting over arhythmic beats and soft then not soft keys and today using multiple tape loop machines that require endless changing of fragile magnetic strips and careful building up of sounds. Carried out meticulously and producing a hypnotic set of night beats that could easily carry the listener through to morning. Chilled, relaxing but with one eye on the door, in case…

Ex-Easter Island Head are delayed by some sound engineering changes needed to accommodate their unusual equipment list. There are random drums, wires, keyboards and then the usual guitars and basses but these are lain down horizontally and strapped to stands. The bands use these persuasively to produce a huge variety of sounds and rhythms, Their music is different, soft and melodic for moments then a rush of beats. They use phones to sample singing and hold them up to microphones selectively to produce a greater musical effect. Bells are chimed in a round, small jagged rhythms and notes are multiplied into full tracks and this group keep their nerve and focus on the result they have envisioned.

Sunday starts for me with Newcastle’s SMOTE on the IWF main stage. Having just caught these at the Fuzz Club Festival in Eindhoven I’m seriously looking forward to them and there’s no let down. They start simply and build up, a concept thats explored over and a gain to great effect. Layers appear over staggered drums and solid bass lines until tracks explode in euphoric drone laden crescendos. Fascinating and constantly changing and always catching the ear with some variation.

Silverwingkiller a keyboard/vocals and drummer duo from Manchester are a high velocity, high impact outfit. Its a dystopian sound, screams over singing and harsh beats alongside the drums keep it all flowing forward. Emotional and real.

Back at the Quarry Stage there’s a bit of a surprise in Abstract Concrete. I stood watching a good but fairly conventional sounding almost rock band for a few minutes and then off they went. Their sound explodes into heavy prog sounds, complex and incredible drums from long term underground sounds drummer Charles Hayward of This Heat (amongst others) and some incredible musicianship from the band. They vary from quieter violin led moments to full on screaming alternative sounds with a turn of speed that looks effortless but shows their skill. I bought the Abstract Concrete Album.

Coughin’ Vicars burn into their first song Neu Realm. Its an aggressive track that attacks and proclaims the bands existence and musical agenda loudly. Some PA issues put a temporary hold on things but then they are off and running again. Its a whirlwind delivery of hurricane force songs, heavy and jagged, changes are sudden and a manic front person adds an element of physical and mental danger to the whole thing. Some amazing songs played by some amazing musicians. I already have bought two Coughin’ Vicars Albums.

In between the acid raves and industrial soundscapes Mandy, Indiana have it all under control. They deliver an odd beauty, like finding a pretty flower on the banks of an disused industrial canal or a smoggy sunset over factories. Aside from the broken drumbeats and whooshing sound effects there are som discordant then fantastic bits of guitar, it moves to sonically different shapes faster than you can keep ups with and they play with emotions with some fantastic charged vocals that can deliver pretty melodies on second then reach inside your soul the next with sharp knives of screams and shrieks. Draining to watch and you can’t help but become immersed in the experience they deliver.

Sly & the Family Drone set up in the round half way down the main IWF hall. There are drums galore, pieces of electronic gear and a violin. Its a jumble of equipment and their sound is the sound of riots. For me one of the stand out performances of the festival. It appears improvised around solid structures and keeps raising in intensity. Noise generators and drums underpin it all then sudden dropouts to allow the violin to take more than a bit part. A solid wall of noise at times but with highly controlled percussive sounds that keep increasing in intensity with everything joyously blurring together.

The stalwarts of the acid space rock genre, Gong, like their contemporaries Hawkwind have been going for a long time in many forms, since the late 60s they’ve explored more soundscapes and rhythmic structures than pretty much anyone. At their core they are jazz and rock and prog. They lost found Daevid Allen a a fair few years ago but his disembodied voice still takes an emotional part of their show. The current lineup had his blessing and deservedly so. To dwell on the its not Gong since Allens passing argument, it still resolutely is. Long term members and a front person who embodies rock star keeps it all sounding fresh and vital and relevant. To focus on what this lineup delivers its some amazingly talented musicianship, complete control of their musical delivery and moments that are pure bliss.

This festival with its later night rave ups and celebratory feel drew together many portions of Liverpools sonic underbelly, you never knew what was going to happen next at any point and that creativity unleashed itself in a blue of never less than fascinating noise and often outstanding creativity. Hopefully it will carry on next year. Liverpool and its lost tribes could do with this again.

Links

Gong:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100044177869204
Web: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artist/gong/
Bandcamp: https://gong2032.bandcamp.com/music

Sly & the Family Drone:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slythefamilydrone
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/Familydrone

Mandy, Indiana:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mandyindianaband

Abstract Concrete:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abstractconcrete.band
Bandcamp: https://abstract-concrete.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_abstract_concrete_

Coughin’ Vicars:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coughinvicars
Bandcamp: https://coughinvicars.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coughinvicars/

Silverwingkiller:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slvrwngkllr

SMOTE:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smote666/
Bandcamp: https://smote.bandcamp.com

Ex-Easter Island Head
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exeasterislandhead
Web: https://www.exeasterislandhead.com

Hyperdawn:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyperdawn.band
Bandcamp: https://hyperdawn.bandcamp.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hyperdawn_

Thraa:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thraaband/

Jezebel:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100004983255596