For the second show in our series of events in The Mezz at Gisburn Forest Hub, we welcome BIKINI BODY and, all the way from LA, BEN KATZMAN.

In partnership with SeekOut Festival, The Hungry Pine and Forestry England. With huge thanks to PRS Foundation and the Early Career Promoter Fund for helping make it happen. 

BIKINI BODY

Bikini Body are your favourite DJ’s favourite punk band. They’ve released two records with Optimo Music, whose support helped shape their current trajectory and a sound that’s dancier than punk and punkier than dance.

Drawing on ESG, Liquid Liquid, Warmduscher and Squid, their sound pairs percussive grooves with a confrontational vocal style rooted in The Slits, Bush Tetras and X-Ray Spex.

Recent activity includes a 13-date UK co-headline tour with a sold-out London show, a packed-out headline set at The Windmill, Brixton, and festival appearances at Manchester Psych Fest, Hidden Door and Watching Trees. Airplay has followed across BBC Radio 6 Music, Radio 1, KEXP and NTS.

The band have just completed 10 new tracks at PRAH Studios in Margate. The new material leans even deeper into the sound they’ve been honing live; rhythmic, confrontational and built for both the dance floor and the DIY basement.

BEN KATZMAN

Ben Katzman is a vibrant, multifaceted musician who treats music not just as entertainment, but as transformation. A fan-favorite finalist on Survivor, Ben has carved out a singular lane as a solo metal artist whose mission goes far beyond the stage: to use sound, art, and his signature SHREDDING as tools to process emotion, spark empowerment, and help build the reality we actually want to live in. 

His music is a high-voltage fusion of metal, punk, rock, and pop packed with face-melting riffs, massive hooks, and lyrics that turn vulnerability into power. For Ben, shredding isn’t just a guitar technique; it’s a release valve, a celebration, and a call to action. Each solo becomes a way to metabolize chaos, channel joy, confront fear, and invite audiences to do the same. His songs celebrate empowerment, nostalgia, and the beautifully weird corners of modern culture, creating communal spaces where catharsis and connection collide.