Swn’s behind us for another year, but that nasty case of Festival Back (it’s real, I’ve got it as I write) will have to be withstood for another weekend.  As well as this noisy gubbins in Bristol, Loose have lined up a top alldayer (well, long evening) of ramshackle noise-pop with a loose (hey!) Hallowe’en theme.

Headliners SCREAMING FEMALES are doomed (hey!) by virtue of the voice and, yes, gender of guitarist/vocalist Melissa Paternoster to a life of comparisons with Sleater-Kinney.  There are far worse things, of course, and their big-rock riffs and classic SST solos (Huskers, Dinosaur etc) do kind of sound like super-accessible Dig Me Out era SK played with the Crazy Horse-style heaviosity of that band circa The Woods.  Their fourth album ‘Castle Talk’ is just out on local New Brunswick, NJ label Don Giovanni; it’s good stuff, and by all accounts they do it better live. 

BEARSUIT are a different beast these days, reshaped by several line-up changes and adding a glittery, discofied edge to the frantic, shouty indiepop clatter they’re fondly remembered for.  Hopefully they still bring the hits, because they’re great.  THREATMANTICS, meanwhile, are on career-best form; this writer has seen them twice in two weeks and they’re utterly reinvigorated.  Heddwyn and Taliesin’s vocals intertwine and battle each other at different stages, and there’s far more weight to the sound with a full rhythm section behind them.  The new songs have wormed their way in amongst selected favourites to become familiar in their own right.

Late and massively welcome additions are BRANDYMAN, fresh from slaying the big room at Clwb on Friday at Swn.  The Actor Gareth Pierce may or may not return on drums; if not, their jazz drummer pal will continue, adding an occasional flourish to the wall of Jesus Lizard riffage and Gates’ delicious monologues.  They may not be long for this world, so savour them.  Among Brothers and Goodtime Boys man ALEX COMANA plays too, offering material from the solo EP that Barely Regal will issue in the new year.  Finally, Fran Dimech, seen latterly playing trumpet for the School, will present an appropriately spooky edition of her WORD SALAD which should be a delight.  There’ll be DJ sets from, amongst others, your Joy Collective Hot Boyz.  There’ll be scary movies, sweets and all manner of other spooky ephemera.  It’s a fiver.  What more do you want?  BLOOD?