At Left of the Dial festival in Rotterdam I grabbed the opportunity to learn a little more about some of the bands I saw for the first time.
Manchester’s Bruise Control created mayhem in Rotown on the Friday night. The 4-piece punk rock outfit played to a packed room who responded accordingly. Indeed lead singer Jim Taylor was almost hauled off the stage a couple of times due to over-zealous crowd members! They were the perfect end to the first day with their hardcore indie rock.
Please describe Bruise Control in 5 words.
Niall (guitar) – Turbo-indie-garage-punk-pop
Had you played outside your home country before Left of the Dial?
Jim (vocals) – Yeah we’ve played a few places already, mainly a few cities in Germany so far. We have played Naalwijk in Holland before too at our friends bar, that was so good! But we have plenty more to come too, we love it over in mainland Europe, so we hope to come back many times for sure.
Please describe your Left of the Dial experience.
Ru (bass) – Left of the Dial was so much fun from start to finish! From the moment we got there we were well looked after, all of the staff were so friendly and helpful, and the city was buzzing. I finally got to watch my friends in Wax Head and the room was heaving and the crowd didn’t stop moving for their entire set. I’ve only really seen reactions like that to bands with huge followings in the UK. Plus it was amazing to watch the psychedelia of Van Houten in Arminius, a literal church, with it’s huge echoey sound, what a match made in heaven. We were really grateful to have been given a slot in Rotown right before the after-party so we were keen to put on a good show. The crowd gave us such a warm reception and we ended up playing one of our best sets ever. Unfortunately our second set got cancelled for circumstances outside our control but it’s just made us even more keen to return. We couldn’t stay for the whole festival as we had a show in Bristol the next day but I’ll definitely be coming back to watch the whole festival in future because everywhere you went had great vibes!
Please describe Left of the Dial in 3 words.
Tommy (drums) – Loud fun friendsfest
What has been the most bizarre source of inspiration for your creativity?
Niall – There’s loads of our songs that’ll start off a jokes, like trying to do a pastiche of another band or genre, that we end up just really liking. I remember sending over a demo for ‘No More’ to the guys, saying “we can’t do this, this is a total CLOWNS song, but I’d thought I’d share it for a laugh” – we had it nailed in practice the next day. Once an idea goes through the filter of all four members it’ll sound like bruise, which is great ‘cus an idea can come from anywhere that way.
Tommy – Angry promoters leaving us abusive voice notes! We really channelled this rage and used it to write some absolute pumpers! Also Greggs cos we just all love eating there.
What is the last music you listened to?
Jim – At the minute I am switching between Meryl Steek‘s newest album (which is a banger!!), Split System an incredible Australian band, Mannequin Pussy and Amyl and the Sniffer‘s latest album, also a banger!
Anything on your wishlist and/or already scheduled for 2025 we need to know about?
Tommy – We got an Australian tour coming up in February which is gonna be our first time over there! Super excited for that! We have will be having lots of festivals announcements for next summer too so keep those eyes peeled
For more information on Bruise Control please check their facebook and instagram.