THE FACTORY LIVE + HAMMERDOWN PRESENTS
PRAYING MANTIS + GYPSY’S KISS + TBA
The Factory Live have partnered with Hammerdown Festival to present a series of concerts celebrating the greatest New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands - all original, all raising the roof of this intimate venue live in Worthing.
Praying Mantis are one of the NWOBHM movement's most loved bands. Forming way back in London in 1973, Praying Mantis have since released 12 studio albums over the last 50 years, including the most recent, 2024's Defiance, an excellent celebration of their career. The band charted in 1981 with their beloved debut album, 'Time Tells No Lies', and have gone on to have an epic career.
The band have played support slots with metal gods Iron Maiden, and even featured Maiden stalwarts at different times, with both Clive Burr and the late great Paul Di'Anno joining the legendary Troy brothers for different eras. The latest rendition of the band has been stable since 2013, with Dutch born John Cuijpers and Hans in't Zandt featuring on the past 4 albums. alongside the legendary Troy Brothers.
Gypsy's Kiss are famed for being the band at the "top of the Iron Maiden family tree", with this being the first band Steve Harris ever lent his capable songwriting skills to. They played a number of shows across the capital at the mythical Cart & Horses and The Bridge House in Canning Town, before Steve went on to form Iron Maiden. Original guitarist and vocalist David Smith decided in 2018 to bring back Gypsy's Kiss, to play songs from those early days that Maiden fans across the globe had heard rumours of, but have never been able to listen to. Since then, with an experienced lineup behind him, David and the band have gone on to record and perform all of the songs written back in the mid 70s, including 'Influence', the first song Steve Harris ever played live, and brand new compositions celebrating the heritage of music from that period.