In Review | Outbreak Fest IV

Shitty communication skills, mass spam attacks, and a fairly poor design set, but the kid has heart. Determined and unmoved in his goal to see his local industry grow and thrive, Lee Steele is continuously pushing himself to help further the spread of the South African metal industry.

Starting up an event and band management company XRepearX Events and Band Management, then opening a clothing label under the same title, Lee is set on uplifting his local community, all this while being the nicest guy you will probably ever meet. He also dabbles in band photography to and it’s rad to see how he’s always keen to expand his boundaries.

In the fourth instalment of his Outbreak Fest live shows, there’s a weird and wonderful mix of metal bands, leaning more towards the ‘core’ genre of metal (not that genre specification should ever really matter).

Arriving around 7pm I was rather disappointed to have missed Apart from Your Cliché who played an earlier set at 5pm even more so when some shitty unknown band had a 9pm slot but shout out to them for that. Seems the overall landscape of how bands are faired these days are changing compared to long before (because I’m a veteran and stuff).

The Kids Live It

Another really great act was Bombs and Issues. These cats are always amped to play shows and have been doing the rounds with a music video, mini SA tours and another music video shot on the night. Kids love them, they love playing, it was lovely.

The Kids Love Them

Having last tasted the ecstasy of a live show May 10^th, I was even more excited to see good friends Climate Control play. Their set always has a great set of passion, hair-raising vocals, and two-step breakdowns on offer and that’s what gets me going. Sadly, and it broke my heart, their set wasn’t near a hearty welcome back, instead they were met with an onslaught of technical difficulties; none of which was in their power to resolve. Nic, lead singer of the band, leans across the stage to whisper in my ear about how they’ve prepped a whole new live experience and programmed rig for the more electronic parts of their set and with the earthing of the venue not plus 1’ing Climate Control’s new musical venture it was evident that the band was hit hard and morale slightly low. But the champions that these boys are, they played a 100% committed to the cause show.

The Kids Sing It

Amidst the music, it was great to see many a familiar face both friendly and loving as that was what the order of the night seemed to be. But that’s what you can expect from a venue like Sundowners. You’re surrounded by love and good vibes and drunk teens and you leave feeling euphoric.