Thekla, Bristol | Friday 21st August 2026
Bristol is about to get darker, louder and considerably more unhinged as Mechanical Animal prepares to take over Thekla on Friday 21st August 2026.
Presented by Doppelgäng3r, the alternative tribute spectacular will bring together four huge celebrations of industrial metal, goth and nu-metal for one massive night aboard Bristol’s legendary floating venue.
Featuring tributes to Marilyn Manson, Korn, Nine Inch Nails and Deftones, this is essentially a beautifully chaotic trip back to the era of baggy jeans, questionable eyeliner, spiked collars and CD wallets stuffed with albums your parents definitely did not approve of.
Tidy.
🔥 Four Bands. Four Alternative Icons. One Boat.
Mechanical Animal promises an evening stacked with crushing riffs, industrial beats, brooding atmospheres and enough early-2000s nostalgia to make your wallet chain start rattling on its own.
Here is who will be bringing the chaos to Thekla.
🎭 Spouky Kids – Marilyn Manson Tribute
Billing themselves as the UK’s ultimate Marilyn Manson tribute, Spouky Kids will bring the theatrical darkness, industrial stomp and shock-rock energy associated with Manson’s most famous live performances.
Fans can expect a set drawing from a catalogue packed with confrontational anthems, eerie atmospheres and massive alternative dancefloor favourites.
From the sinister swagger of the classic material to the heavier industrial tracks that helped define an era, Spouky Kids look set to deliver a performance designed to be heard, seen and possibly feared.
🌽 Korn Again – Korn Tribute
Few bands did more to shape the sound of late-1990s heavy music than Korn, and Korn Again will be representing those downtuned grooves in Bristol.
Described as the only UK Korn tribute endorsed by the original band, Korn Again recreate the raw aggression, bouncing riffs and emotionally charged atmosphere that turned Korn into one of nu-metal’s defining acts.
Expect plenty of heads to start moving when those unmistakable basslines and guitar grooves begin rumbling through Thekla.
Whether you discovered Korn through Follow the Leader, Issues, Life Is Peachy or their self-titled debut, this set should offer plenty of opportunities to shout along and lose whatever dignity you arrived with.
⚙️ NIN UK – Nine Inch Nails Tribute
Representing the industrial side of the evening will be NIN UK, described as the UK’s first and only Nine Inch Nails tribute.
Nine Inch Nails helped transform industrial music into something enormous, dangerous and emotionally devastating. Their music combines electronic textures, distorted guitars, pounding rhythms and an intensity that still sounds completely unique.
Recreating that atmosphere is no small task, but NIN UK aim to bring the darkness, tension and sonic punishment of the original band’s catalogue to the stage.
Expect mechanical rhythms, uneasy electronics and songs built to turn an intimate venue into a sweaty industrial bunker.
🐎 Deaftones – Deftones Tribute
Completing the line-up are Deaftones, performing fan favourites from classic Deftones albums including:
- White Pony
- Around the Fur
- Diamond Eyes
Deftones have always existed in their own beautifully strange corner of heavy music, blending enormous riffs with dreamlike atmosphere, vulnerability and moments of complete sonic destruction.
That contrast should give the Mechanical Animal line-up another dimension, moving between crushing heaviness and the hazier, more melodic side of alternative metal.
Expect passionate singalongs, atmospheric breakdowns and at least one moment where everyone closes their eyes and pretends they are starring in an extremely moody music video.
🚢 Heavy Music Aboard Thekla
Mechanical Animal will take place at Thekla, one of Bristol’s most distinctive and best-loved music venues.
Moored in Bristol Harbour, the converted cargo ship has become an essential part of the city’s live music scene. Its dark, intimate surroundings make it an especially suitable location for a night celebrating industrial metal, goth and nu-metal.
There is something wonderfully appropriate about hearing downtuned guitars and sinister electronic beats inside a boat.
It is strange, atmospheric and just slightly ridiculous — which is exactly how the best alternative nights should feel.
🖤 A Celebration of an Alternative Generation
Mechanical Animal is more than a standard tribute show.
It is a celebration of bands that gave countless outsiders somewhere to belong.
Marilyn Manson brought controversy and theatricality. Korn turned pain and alienation into stadium-sized grooves. Nine Inch Nails pushed industrial music into the mainstream without sanding down its darker edges. Deftones showed that heaviness could be brutal, beautiful and deeply emotional at the same time.
Together, those four names represent a massive part of alternative music history.
Their influence can still be heard across modern metal, industrial rock, goth, metalcore and alternative music today. Younger generations continue to discover their records, while long-time fans remain just as obsessed as they were when the albums first landed.
Mechanical Animal brings all of those worlds together for one gloriously dark night in Bristol.
📅 Mechanical Animal Event Details
Event: Mechanical Animal
Venue: Thekla, Bristol
Date: Friday 21st August 2026
Featuring:
- Spouky Kids – Marilyn Manson tribute
- Korn Again – Korn tribute
- NIN UK – Nine Inch Nails tribute
- Deaftones – Deftones tribute
Tickets are available through Doppelgäng3r.
🤘 The Riff Report Verdict
This line-up is basically an alternative teenager’s bedroom wall brought to life.
You have the theatrical menace of Marilyn Manson, the bouncing heaviness of Korn, the industrial fury of Nine Inch Nails and the dreamy brutality of Deftones — all squeezed onto one bill aboard one of Britain’s coolest venues.
For fans of industrial, goth and nu-metal, Mechanical Animal looks set to deliver a proper night of nostalgia without feeling like a museum piece.
These songs still hit hard. The riffs still sound enormous. The black clothing still refuses to go out of fashion.
So gather your fellow freaks, dig out the eyeliner and prepare to board Thekla for a night of crushing guitars, dark atmosphere and unapologetic alternative chaos.
Bristol, you have been warned. Mechanical Animal is coming. 🎸🔥
Which tribute are you most excited to see? Let us know in the comments.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud.
