Mad About Rock

  Hammerdown Festival returns to Brighton, UK, on Saturday, July 19th, and Sunday, July 20th, 2025, for two days of diverse rock and metal. We caught up with the festival director, Harry White, to learn more about the festival's origins, the 2025 edition, and its future. So, going back to the beginning, how did you come to form Hammerdown Festival in 2014 and what inspired you to do this? Is it something you always planned on doing? I had seen the big festival lineups like Download, Sonisphere and Bloodstock, and it all looked amazing. Not only did you get to basically go on a camping holiday for a week, but you also got excellent value for money… rather than spending £60 seeing your favourite band with 2 supports, you could spend £200 and see 30 or 40 bands! One year at Download, I pushed myself to see as many bands as possible. I saw 52! You can’t beat that. So for me, it seemed like the dream way to see all my favourite bands in one place. I’d always used online templates to “ma...

  Hammerdown Festival formed in 2014, and ran from 2015-2018 years before the covid pandemic. In 2022 the festival re-established itself, working over the next few years with names such as InMe, Skarlett Riot, South Of Salem, Esoterica, Thecityisours, Fort Hope and many more. After a successful year at Brighton's legendary Concorde 2 in 2024, the Hammerdown team decided to scale things up even further, moving the event to the 850 capacity Chalk, with a second stage opening for the first time, downstairs in brand new venue Dust. Hammerdown has always prided itself on providing new, up and coming bands the opportunities to play on bigger stages alongside more established artists. For 2025, Hammerdown has brought NWOBHM legends Tygers Of Pan Tang and Demon to Brighton, alongside established contemporary bands like The Raven Age and Dream State. As well as this, the festival hosts other top talent such as Fort Hope, Raised By Owls, The Five Hundred, In Search Of Sun, Neonfly and more, ...

  The 8th Hammerdown Festival heads to Chalk in Brighton for it’s biggest ever event. This time, it also features a second stage, downstairs in new venue Dust. Founded in 2014, Hammerdown Festival has welcomed the likes of Acres, Fort Hope, Thecityisours, Esoterica, InMe, South Of Salem and many more over the years, providing a platform for local emerging grassroots artists to join these national touring acts on stage. This year, The Raven Age, Dream State, and NWOBHM legends Demon and Tygers Of Pan Tang all head to Hammerdown. Managing Director Harry White said “For 2025, we’re hugely excited to be adding a second stage. It’s been a goal of ours for many years to welcome even more grass roots talent to Hammerdown via the edition of another stage, and the 2 venues we’re working with are state of the art.” Harry’s team also worked through hundreds of applications from bands to play the festival. A judging panel featuring Luke Keast of Esoterica, Adam Leader of In Search Of Sun, and ...

  Hammerdown Festival, based in Brighton, UK, was already boasting an impressive line-up, and today, they have announced four more bands! First up, the awesome NeonFly , who has spent the best part of the last decade playing on some of Europe's biggest festival stages to enormous crowds. Their huge alternative metal sound and unique stage presence will set the stage alight before Demon & Tygers Of Pan Tang close out the evening. Brighton's very own The Hellfire Club is Joining them on the main stage, who have been rocking the local clubs and building a name for themselves. Their soaring vocals and quality guitar solos are perfect for a festival setting. Cardiff's finest: Eulogy , who's recent singles have earned them radio play all over the world, and who's latest music video stunned us all. They start their set in style, and continue it all the way through. Finally, opening up proceedings on the main stage, another Brighton-based band, Chvpters . Some fantast...

  Powerful metal crew, SYPHA, continue to rise, the band have just released their explosive new EP, Borderland, and a visualiser video for the track, 'The Afterparty'. Check out the video, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPVR9YYBEKw Listen to the band at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qhtPZDJPAMfEoMSQk1dlJ Brighton hard-hitters, SYPHA, have their own unique edge and styling. Formed in 2022, the band take from heavyweight heroes such as Avenged Sevenfold, Deftones, and Bring Me The Horizon, but also merge the craft and hookability of Blink182, Halestorm, and Marmozets. The band’s base is definitely growing with their debut video, World’s End, notching up over 55,000 views on YouTube alone, and their last video, Limbo, is also on course for similar success. It’s also been on the live scene where the rising riff merchants have shone, with a flourishing fanbase brought about by both a successful series of shows throughout Southern England and also making it to the grand...