Aberzine: Aberdeen's Music Scene Under The Microscope

Single review - The Wildcards - "Highland People"

2010-08-30T16:56:00.006Z

Fat Hippy Records

Reviewed by Lucky

The Wildcards – I don’t know anything about this band except that they are signed to Fat Hippy, and I like their name. That was reason enough for me to hand over £3 of my hard earned money to purchase this bastard at a practice at Captain Toms, quite a long time ago. In fact I think it’s taken me over two months to get round to reviewing this. Sorry for being so balls. Go read Flares & Seagulls instead, at least they update from time to time.

So, The Wildcards. Their Myspace page describes them as follows:

“BY FUSING HARD EDGY ROCK & FILTHY FUNK TOGETHER THE WILDCARDS HAVE A UNIQUE EXCITING SOUND THAT'S RAW, FUNKY , DARK & DIRTY!”

They list their influences as Led Zeppelin, Guns & Roses, The Who, Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, but that not really what I think of when I hear them, I think Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Verve, The Mooney Suzuki and just a hint of Kasabian. But hey, maybe I’m just listening wrong. The CD opens up with “Highland People” which clocks in at a mighty 5:16, and features a lot of reverby lead guitar, which is what gives them the BRMC sound. It gets a wee bit repetitive after a while, it has a similar bassline throughout and it doesn’t have much in the way of dynamics, but the choruses are big, loud, swaggering and dirty – play this bastard loud as fuck and you’ll get a pretty good feel for this band.

Following on from there is “Find A Way” which in terms of musical style doesn’t tread too far from the path set by the first track, but is a slightly faster number. The effects on the vocals are present again, as is the reverby lead guitar, but this track lacks a bit of the substance of the first track and is somewhat forgettable.

The third and final track is “Old Addictions” which is much more rocking affair than the first two tracks. It sounds like it’s being played with some real vigour and it packs quite a punch. The problem again with this track, as with the other two, is there’s just nothing memorable about it. It’s like chewing gum. At the time you’re chewing it you enjoy it just fine but as soon as you spit it out, the flavour’s gone instantly and you’re left feeling emptier than The Tunnels on a Tuesday night. This band are the musical equivalent of sea-monkeys.

“So what do they do?”
“They just swim around.”
“And what else do they do?”
“Nothing really. Eventually they just die and then you throw them out”.
“Oh right. Well that kept me entertained for about four seconds. Let’s go play some Xbox”.

No offence to The Wildcards. These songs are actually quite decent, they just don’t really go anywhere and they don’t stick in the memory. Imagine if the football team you support played an entire season and got 15 wins, 15 draws and 15 losses, scored 50 goals, let in 50 goals, and finishing the season completely slap bang in mid table. Recreate that feeling by listening to this CD.

Rating ***

www.myspace.com/thewildcardsband

Thoughts etc - Moshulu / Warehouse - A Eulogy.

2010-07-29T23:41:00.007Z

Written by Lucky
I was very sad to learn this week that Warehouse (formerly Moshulu) & Bassment have closed their doors for the last time. Moshulu played a huge part in my life throughout my 20s, firstly as a brilliant nightclub in the early 2000s, filling the void I thought would never be filled when the Palace shut down, and in the mid-late 2000s as a great venue for live music. It may have been a bit of a dive in its latter days as Moshulu, and it lost a lot of its identity after last years refurb and reopening as Warehouse, but one thing Moshulu always did well was book fantastic bands – bands that are too big for the Tunnels, too small for the Music Hall, and that the folks in charge of booking for The Lemon Tree had probably never heard of. (“CSS? No thanks. We’ve got this U2 tribute on here that night”).

When I was a young lad, we used to complain that were no decent mid-sized venues in Aberdeen, and us such, nobody good ever came up here to play. Very very occasionally you’d catch a Terrorvision or a Reef at The Lemon Tree, and that was as good as you were going to get. What a change there has been in that recently, as Moshulu seemed to get decent, well-known bands in there seemingly every week. Just a few of the excellent acts I’ve caught in Moshulu over the past five years, that you would have never seen playing in Aberdeen 10 years ago include The Misfits, Reel Big Fish, The Bloodhound Gang, InMe, Dropkick Murphys, Reverend & The Makers, and many others. And as for all the gigs I didn’t make it to, well how do The Datsuns, Jamie T, Boy Kill Boy, The Automatic, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Goldie Lookin’ Chain, Hundred Reasons, CSS, Hed P.E, Teenage Fanclub, Little Boots, Franz Ferdinand, Less Than Jake, Dirty Pretty Things, The Futureheads, The Damned, The Bluetones, Idlewild, and Funeral For A Friend grab you?

Those of you who are under 25, trust me – you’ve had it good. And for that you firstly have to thank James Bruce who was responsible for bringing many of those fantastic acts to the city, and Steven Milne who was responsible for the rest of them. Steven has recently taken on the role of Music Programmer at the Lemon Tree, so hopefully he can continue to bring acts of those calibre to Aberdeen, and also breathe some new life into the the Lemon Tree, which has been under-utilised for years. I’m lucky if I attend one gig a year at the Lemon Tree, comedy and theatre aside, musically it’s just been abysmal. But that’s a topic for another entry. Getting back to the subject at hand, in tribute to the best venue in the city, here are my top 3 Moshulu gigs that I’ve attended:

3: Graham Coxon – 16th October 2006.
The ex-Blur man played an absolute stormer while touring his album “Love Travels At Illegal Speeds”. Full on rocked the fuck out of the place, “People Of The Earth” and “Freaking Out” stick in the memory. The audience absolutely loved him, he left them hungry for more, then fucked it up by playing a bloated nine song encore, during which a large percentage of the audience politely shuffled towards the door and the staff switched on the lights!

2 – Hot Chip – 17th October 2006.
My first experience of Hot Chip live, I’ve seen them twice since then, and they’ve never come close to matching this gig. It was at the time when “Over And Over” was never off the radio and the place was packed to the rafters, everyone waving glowsticks and wearing glowing bracelets. The band were absolutely amazing, the atmosphere was buzzing, the entire place was dancing, the band all appeared to be completely into the music, and also somewhat er… “pharmacised”! The chap on the guitar was off in his own little world! They even snuck in a cheeky New Order cover. A virtually perfect gig.

1 – The Go! Team – 2nd March 2008.
After a less than sterling support slot from Screaming Tea Party, who genuinely hurt my ears with their stupid feedbacky noises, The Go! Team were the perfect foils, lead singer Ninja acting as a fantastic MC type, ensuring that nobody lost interest even though a lot of the songs were instrumental. The place just exploded when they came on and I’ve never seen a band so happy to be on stage, all smiles for the entire set, and Ninja thanked the crowd for making the gig a sell out. Musically they were note perfect, and the stage show only added to the bizarre stylings of the Go! Team, all 7 members switching instruments, sometimes even mid-song! They had two drum kits, and halfway through a song one of the drummers would leap out from behind the kit, pick up a trumpet, and one of the guitarists would jump on the drums, and so on. It seemed that by the end, every member had played every instrument! And Ninja was such a fantastic frontwoman, and a great focal point for the band. This is not only one of my favourite gigs to take place between the hallowed walls of Moshulu, but one of my favourites of all time.

I can only hope that someone with an interest in reopening the place as a venue (and deep pockets) gets their grubby hands on the lease to the old place, but if the mooted sound-proofing issues are to be believed and rear their ugly heads again, don’t be surprised to see the building put to a different use.

Adios Moshulu, old friend. Despite the sticky carpets, flooded toilets, lenghty bar-waiting times and lack of mobile phone signal, it’s been both an honour and a privelege.

Gig review – El Toro / The Cemetery Girls / Ghoulmore & The Graverockers @ Tunnels 1 – 23-Jul-2010

2010-07-27T17:01:00.015Z

Reviewed by Lucky.

Horrorpunk. It’s an acquired taste, but it certainly has a feverish cult following, and as someone who has attended various horrorpunk gigs over the years you do begin to recognise the same faces at all of them. The turnout at the Tunnels was, as usual, disappointing, but the few foolhardy souls who dragged themselves out of their tombs on this frightful Friday night to attend “A Midsummer’s Night Scream” were thirsty for blood… I’ve heard it said before that the Tunnels is like a graveyard but never before has it rung so true!

Opening up the night were a “Local Mystery Monster Band” – and I’m sure everyone assumed it would be some (re)incarnation of the mighty Karloff, dark lords of the Aberdeen horrorpunk scene, complete with stage props, ghoulish members and blood spurting from the stage. Well it wasn’t quite Karloff, but it was close. The mystery monster band turned out to be Ghoulmore & The Graverockers; Ghoulmore being Ash Ghoulmore, the devilocked, tattooed, former Karloff frontman; The Graverockers being Rob from Karloff on guitar; a chap called Dave playing a fucking sweet black upright double bass, and looking ice-cool with greased back hair and black shades; and finishing off the quartet was “Taff” on drums. The obvious point of reference for this band is Karloff, and while the songs covered similar topics, (“Jekyll & Hyde”, “Elvira” etc) the musical style was pretty far removed. Although the heavy punky riffs and the gang vocals were still there, and Ghoulmore still sings in a Danzig-y register, the songs felt more psychobilly than punk, probably due to the presence of the double bass. There’s less on-stage theatrics with this band as well, they let the music be the focal point rather than the zombie face paint and the fake blood spilling around. Musically I liked it, the songs were good, not too heavy, not too soft, an interesting blend of heavy guitar, plucked double bass, and occasional rock n’ roll riffs. The only mark against them was that Ghoulmore himself didn’t seem sure of a few of the songs and was reading the lyrics off the floor a few times. But we can forgive that. All in all, a fucking solid and confident debut by these guys and hopefully it will become a regular thing and not just a one-off.

Rating - ****

Following on from there were The Cemetery Girls from Glasgow. The stuff on their Myspace sounds good and the page does a good job of talking them up so I was hopeful for this lot. A 4-piece, they feature three black-clad young ladies on guitar, bass and vocals and a dude standing in on the drums until they find a suitable female. The lack of girls playing in bands is something I’ve long complained about, and with this lot I was hoping for a Riot Grrrl-style assault on the senses, crossed with a bit of cutesy horrorpop – imagine the sound of Bikini Kill eating Zombina and you’ve got an idea. But…. well… hmmm…. it didn’t quite go that way. Let me just start by saying that there’s a huge difference between a bad band, and a band that are still learning, and The Cemetery Girls definitely fall into the latter category. While they had some good catchy songs, their stage craft needs a bit of work. Going from left to right of the three ladies in front: Tina, the guitarist on the far left thrashed the fuck out of her guitar and really looked like she was 100% into it and has complete faith in the band. Elaine, the singer, at the beginning of the set looked really nervous, and for the first few songs kept her head down and sang into her chest, mumbled into the mic between songs and stayed firmly in her comfort zone while singing - although she did perk up a bit later on and she started to really go for it near the end. Jen, on bass on the far right looked terrified, stared at her fingers for the whole set and added backing vocals with absolutely zero confidence. Listen girls, you’re good. You have some really good songs and you all play your instruments well. Don’t be shy about strutting your stuff with a bit of confidence on stage because it will really add something to your performance. (Sorry for going a bit Louis Walsh there).

Rating - ***

Next up were the headline act, an all-male 4-piece from Liverpool known as El Toro. Featuring two members of the very popular Liverpool horrorpop band Zombina & The Skeletones, El Toro bring a sound that is somewhere between 60s garage rock and surf rock. Their songs are made up of mostly clean, echoey guitar riffs and fast surf rock lead guitar fills, with a lead singer howling lyrics about… well I’m still not sure actually but it sure as fuck sounded cool. Imagine the sound of the Cramps chasing The Shadows up a Californian highway in a souped up 1950’s Cadillac and then capturing them, butt-fucking them and bludgeoning them to death with surf-green Fender Stratocasters, and you’ll get the idea. I frighten myself sometimes with these descriptions. El Toro play their songs at a rate of knots, and while most of them feature some form of demented lyrics, the instrumentals do just fine on their own as well. These guys may dress like The Beach Boys, but they play like demons, guitarist Chris being the most eye-catching as his fingers move in a blur over the fretboard, knocking out fill after fill – faster than even his guitars can handle it would appear, as he broke two during this set. Special mention must also go to drummer Ben, who pulls ludicrous faces behind the kit and really really gets into what he’s doing. As it turns out El Toro provided the assault on the senses that I was hoping for from the The Cemetery Girls. A really outstanding set from a really unique band.

Rating - *****

www.myspace.com/eltoropileup

www.myspace.com/cemeterygirlsuk

Gig review - Annie Stevenson / Three Knots / In Atlanta @ Cafe Drummonds - 23-Jul-2010

2010-07-26T13:49:00.003Z

Exposure Clubnight

Reviewed by Gladstone

Well, this was a rather fun evening, from start to finish to be honest. I was on the door during the first two bands so I didn't have my attention fully on the stage, particularly when In Atlanta were playing due to the seemingly enormous number of people in attendance. After a flurry of customers, I kept looking over my shoulder expecting there to be absolutely no room left, but then to see that the place was only about half full. I'd be a rubbish doorman if a venue was actually to sell out...

Anyway, up first was my new favourite band In Atlanta. I honestly didn't get to hear enough of these guys, but what I did hear was, as ever, great. I'm sure at one point I heard them covering Katie Perry's "California Girls" but surely I was mistaken...

Rating: ****

Three Knots, hailing from Stonehaven have been having a lot of good things written / said about them recently, and christ it's justified. What a fucking great band. From start to finish, just absolutely pumping indie/electro tunes. What I saw / heard, I really enjoyed. I would thoroughly recommend you check out this band. They are vying for my "new favourite band" spot now! This is the first ever time I've seen a local band cheered back onstage for an encore after chants of "one more tune, one more tune...". Superb.

Rating: ****

Then it was Annie Stevenson, the confusingly named all male, 4-piece rock/pop/punk/indie band from Glasgow.

I was through the back, counting my coppers when they first came on, but it sounded good. After the first song, I heard the singer say "Hi, we're Annie Stevenson from Glasgow, and we play any requests." Someone shouted "Play Green Day". About 4 seconds later, Annie Stevenson belted out a magic version of "Basket Case" - ever the crowd pleasers! The next 30 minutes were weird but vastly enjoyable. The crowd had dispersed after Three Knots finished and Annie Stevenson decided to just have fun. A rocked up / punked up version of Runrig's "Loch Lomond" followed "Basket Case" and what was left of the crowd was absolutely loving it. Then a few originals, "Boydie" being a personal favourite of mine followed, and then a punked up version of "Teenage Kicks" complete with audience karaoke!! It really was a fantastic, fun-filled set, which left the punters who had stuck around absolutely delighted. It takes a good band to get that few people up and dancing to be honest. It's not easy - I've been there before, and Annie Stevenson pulled it off brilliantly. It's just a shame that the fairly sizable crowd that Three Knots brought with them didn't stick around.

Rating: ****

www.myspace.com/inatlantauk

www.myspace.com/threeknotsstonehaven

www.myspace.com/anniestevenson

Thoughts etc - A Midsummer Night's Scream!

2010-07-23T14:42:00.002Z

I was a little disappointed when the fantastic Zombina & The Skeletones pulled out of their gig at Tunnels tonight, however the re-jigged line-up more than makes up for it. Check this out, fiends...

El Toro - Surf / 60s garage rock featuring Doc Horror and Ben Durr of Zombina & The Skeletones.
El Toro on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Cemetry Girls - all female horror punk.The Cemetery Girls on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Plus a "local mystery monster band!" which I guess isn't that much of a secret any more since Rob Karloff posted this on Facebook:
"Featuring the debut of new zombie-stomp-rock super group Ghoulmore and the Graverockers! Featuring ex members of Korpse, Short Notice and KARLOFF."

Horrorpunk nights don't happen in Aberdeen that often so it's always a special occasion when they do. It promises to be a frightful evening....

Lucky

Thoughts etc - Shields Up!

2010-07-23T12:33:00.002Z

I had the pleasure of seeing the Edinburgh-based hardcore band Shields Up at Henry's Cellar Bar in Edinburgh last night (great wee venue by the way), and I was blown away by them. Very very raw, they play every song at blistering pace, throw themselves around the stage, into the walls, into each other, and they absolutely tore the place down last night. Lead singer James is a mainstay of the Aberdeen music scene, having previously played in Deadloss Superstar, Tar, Radio Lucifer and Christ knows how many others. And guess what? They just happen to be playing at the Moorings next Saturday, along with Chief (from Liverpool), my favourite local band Escape To Victory, and Shiner!

Get yourself down to this one, hardcore kids, because it has the potential to be a fucking blinder.

Have a listen, eh?

http://www.myspace.com/shieldsup

Lucky

(Short) Gig Review - Cobra Kai / Chaos Theory @ Tunnels - 10th-Jul-2010

2010-07-20T16:59:00.008Z

Reviewed by Lucky

The Tunnels was boasting a line-up of 7 bands for this little Saturday night shindig, and my band Cobra Kai were initially due to headline the whole affair, but due to issues facing various band members we ended up talking ourselves down a full 7 places on the bill and wound up opening instead. I managed to catch one of the other bands on the bill before having to head home, so better a partial review than no review, right?

First up were Cobra Kai, fronted by yours truly. I've never been keen on reviewing my own band so I'll keep it brief. We had a 7 song, 35 minute set planned, but due to drum stools breaking, guitars going awry and my insistence on terrible banter between songs we only managed to get through 5 of them before the end of the set and had to cut two songs out. No big deal, we ended on our stompalong, rock-out number "King Of The World" and went out with a bang. Surprisingly The Tunnels was actually quite packed at this point (though with seven bands on the bill it was probably just band members and Chaos Theory fans), and we seemed to go down quite well with the people who were there.

Following on from us were Chaos Theory, who had been amusing me throughout the afternoon with their infectious youthful enthusiasm. A 4-piece, they play a sort of cross between classic rock and pop punk. They don't do anything complicated, it's mostly four chord stuff, but it's fun and they really look like they enjoy themselves up there. Their singer in particular stands out, he has a a very powerful voice and exceptional range, and hits notes that Justin Hawkins can only dream of! Watching them kinda took me back to the scene of the early 2000s when pop punk was all the rage and every teenager worth their salt had a Stratocaster and a pop punk band - like the Gilman Streets and the Quiks of old, they were very energetic, enthusiastic, and fun - plus they brought a bevvy of teenage girls with them. Point Of Origin would be proud. Musically, most of their stuff was pretty simple and none of it really stuck in the mind, but there was one song in the set which really stood head and shoulders above the rest - and I can't remember the name of it. However I can tell you it was very stop/start, quiet/LOUD in that manner which former grunge kids like me hold in high regard. Hopefully someone can tell me the name of it as it was excellent and I'd like to hear it again.

I don't know what happened with the other 5 bands, so lets just assume they were all fantastic, and every had a great night, and every one in attendance got laid.

www.myspace.com/cobrakairock
www.myspace.com/chaostheorytrs
www.myspace.com/transmanta

Gig review - Gerry Jablonski & The Electric Band / Dirty Deeds / Moon Dogs @ New Deer Public Hall - 26-Jun-2010

2010-06-28T06:23:00.009Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

I can already tell that you're thinking "where the fuck is New Deer? And what kind of venue is New Deer Public Hall for a gig?".

Well, let me tell you this: New Deer Public Hall is a wonderful venue. New Deer (a small village in Aberdeenshire) isn't so wonderful, but it's where I grew up, and I love it... Both my band (The Underkills) and Lucky's band (Cobra Kai) have graced the stage at New Deer Public Hall in the past, and I think I speak for both of us when I say it's one of the most fun gigs we've played.

So, back to the matter at hand. First band of the proceedings is acoustic covers band Moon Dogs. From what I gather this was their first gig, and may well be their last (not because they were rubbish or anything - I think they were fudged together last minute to fill a slot by the promoter!). I was quite impressed by Moon Dogs actually. Two acoustic guitars, a flamboyant ageing frontman, who clearly loves Mick Jagger, and some really good versions of some classic rock tunes, such as Rolling Stones' "Symphony for the Devil" and "Jumping Jack Flash" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" (with guest female vocalist, with an absolutely stunning voice). Nothing out of the ordinary or boundary-pushing, but a great, chilled out way to start the evening.

Rating: ***

Next up is Dirty Deeds. I've seen Dirty Deeds a handful of times before, but they've got a new bassist and a new drummer since the last time I saw them, and a set full of different songs. What you get from Dirty Deeds is a bit of a throwback to classic 70s anthemic rock, with some amazing lead guitar, a hint of blues, and with the new bassist, some brilliant funky bass lines. The one criticism I have of Dirty Deeds is that there's nothing particularly memorable about their set - no real stand out tunes. It's solid, and very very tight from start to finish, and all three of them are very accomplished musicians. Frontman, Davey Munro can really play that guitar, and the bassist plays that 5-string mother like he's playing lead guitar at times, and throws in some funky slap-bass for good measure. It all works very well, and they're obviously very well rehearsed - I definitely enjoyed their set, but I'm struggling to remember any songs that stuck out, or anything in particular about their set that I loved, and I'm afraid I can't, apart from one song that the bassist played an amazing slap-bass line all the way through, which was really cool. Despite my earlier 70s anthemic rock comparison, I do remember thinking that they reminded me a bit of Gomez. Now, don't go to a Dirty Deeds gig and expect to hear anything along the lines of Gomez, but there was just something throughout that kept making me think of Gomez. It could have been that the bassist looks like he's just walked off stage from a Gomez gig, but there's definitely something muscially that hints towards Gomez, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Rating: ***

So, here I am, sitting in the New Deer Public Hall, looking for something memorable. By fuck do I get it. Gerry Jablonski & The Electric Band are absolutely incredible. And I mean incredible with a capital I N C R E D I B L E. If you get the chance to go and see this band. Do it. Do not ask questions. Do not pass go. Do not even put your y-fronts on if there's a risk you might miss any of their set. What a show of talent, musicianship, entertainment, you name it, it was there. Absolutely stunning. I'm afraid I can't name any songs, because I don't know what any of them are called, but every song was just mind-blowing. If you've never heard of Gerry Jablonski, you've probably never had anything to do with the Aberdeen Music Scene, as this guy is a veteran of the scene - I think he's 183 on his next birthday. I've seen Gerry Jablonski a couple of times playing acoustic sets and was blown away by that. What this guy does with an acoustic guitar is just brilliant. Just wait til you see him plug the fucker in. Jesus. The set starts with Gerry just ambling onto the stage, putting his guitar on and playing some really cool bluesy rock riff. The drummer joins him (I'll get to this guy further down the page - what a hero), and falls into line with a solid drumbeat, then the bassist (again - I'll get to this hero of a man later), and then the harmonica player (guess what - what a fucking hero!) joins in and from that moment on, the show doesn't stop for the next two and a half hours. Yes - two and a half hours of mind-blowing brilliant bluesy rock orgasm.

As I said above, Gerry Jablonski must be pushing 318 years old, but it really doesn't show. He throws himself around the stage like a proper frontman should - running from one side of the ample stage to the other whilst delivering brilliant note-perfect guitar solos, and he entertains the somewhat subdued crowd from start to finish with his crazy dancing - at times Gerry gets close to embarrassing Dad-at-a-wedding dancing, but he's such a cool fucker he can do whatever the fuck he wants in my book.

There are no words to describe how good the harmonica player in The Electric Band is. Oh my word - he is by far the best harmonica player I have ever heard/seen/thought of. Absolutely unbelievable. Every single note is delivered absolutely spot on, and compliments every other aspect of every song.

The bass player - the "Professor" as Gerry referred to him. I think he is a real life professor in some shape or form, but he is 300% a professor of bass playing. This guy is approximately 85,762 times better at playing bass than I am. To be better than me isn't difficult, but he's on a level that I honestly haven't seen from any other bass player ever. I've seen amazing bass players in bands whose bass lines don't work with the songs - you know, it's just a bit overcooked, but the Electric Band demands overcooked everything, so the Professor's basslines are absolutely perfect, and yet completely ridiculous at the same time.

When you look at the stage, your eyes are drawn to the sparkly pink drumkit at the back, and then there's this guy sitting behind them that just doesn't look like he's in a band. He could be a roady sent out to make sure the nuts are tightened or something, but he doesn't look cool enough to be in the Electric Band. Then you hear him playing. Holy. Shit. You don't quite notice how good he is during most of the set, but there was a massive bass solo at the end which was amazing, followed by the most ridiculous drum solo I have ever witnessed, which involved playing the floor tom with his feet, resting a drumstick on his leg, whilst hitting it with the other drumstick, individual solos on each cymbal, using both ends of his drumsticks, and both sides of his cymbals. 100% ridiculous. 700% amazing.

I said a little bit further up the review that the crowd was somewhat subdued. Well, they were - but only until a few songs into Gerry Jablonski's set. They got everyone up dancing, including a woman on crutches (I shit you not).

I can safely say that Gerry Jablonski & The Electric Band is the best act ever to grace the New Deer Public Hall stage - even better than Cobra Kai, and even better than The Underkills - and will probably never be surpassed.

The only downside to the proceedings was the attendance. New Deer isn't the biggest place, but at the same time, there's not much happens in New Deer. We managed to sell the place out last year, but then that's because I'm from New Deer and people have actually heard of The Underkills for that reason. There were also a few other things going on on the same night, which can kill a crowd locally, which is a real shame because the people who weren't there really missed out. Luckily, it didn't take anything away from the atmosphere once Gerry got everyone on their feet and dancing.

The standing ovation at the end was well and truly merited.

Rating: ****** (yes, that's 6 out of 5)

www.myspace.com/thegerryjablonski

www.myspace.com/dirtydeedsmusic

www.facebook.com/pages/The-Moon-Dogs/124742350880757

Gig review - The Hijacks / Cobra Kai / Daffy D @ Cellar 35 - 24-Jun-2010

2010-06-25T16:59:00.005Z

GFN Promotions

Reviewed by Lucius / Lucky

Lucius:
Technically this is only half of a gig review as I left after the second band because I'm shit. This was my first encounter with Cellar 35 and I was a little disturbed by just how small it was when I ventured downstairs. Knowing what was coming up I really didn't know how it was going to turn out. While chatting beforehand I had been rendered deaf by the barman putting on some tunes from a laptop, how the hell were my eardrums going to cope with the bands to follow?

First up was Daffy D. All I knew was that it was an acoustic solo set. First impressions were worrying. I always get a little scared when I'm in a room with someone strapping something on and here he was attaching a tambourine to his leg. Images of Dick Van Dyke were scurrying through my brain.

(I should mention at this point that I honestly think I was the only paying punter in the venue at this point, as everyone else seemed to be with a band.)

So Daffy D starts up and instantly I'm impressed. Great rapport with the crowd and genuinely good fun tunes. Although his insistence on trying to get us to sing along became a bit annoying as his choruses tended to be on the ridiculously fast side and were difficult to make out. The first part of audience participation was confusing. We had to shout out at the end if we thought the circumstances explained in the song were wrong or right. I listened intently to find a song bereft of lyrics. Well it had lyrics, but I had expected a story but instead was left disappointed. Oh and it was wrong by the way. Something about going to the gym with juice on your chin?

Daffy D finished off by getting audience members to play certain instruments (maraca type things, an African horn thing, coconuts and a squeaky horn). An interesting performance and I can honestly say that if I see his name on a poster again I would definitely see him again. Not someone you're going to see in a place like The Moorings but perfect for venues like Cellar35.

Verdict - ***and a half.
(He lost points coz he was giving out weird badges and telling people he was giving them to everyone so they wouldn't feel left out. And I didn't get one!)

Next up Cobra Kai, with dynamic frontman Lucky Rathen. Recognise the name? Yeah, he runs Aberzine. Will this be an unbiased review? Will I ever be allowed to write for Aberzine again? We shall see.

First up a 4 minute instrumental because they are “pretentious wankers”. Didn't this used to be a 7 minute instrumental? Anyway it's still a great opener. Sounds heavily influenced by Muse but I may be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. Shameless plugs for the new album, follow oh and plenty of the second EP, Some Thoughts Concerning Education are still available (possibly from OneUp, or see Lucky).

April Showers (great Bass work by Dr. Ron) and Bucket of Blood are up next. BoB has been going round my head for a week now and this helped to get it stuck in there further. Damn you Cobra Kai!!!

Lucky has a weird turn now and he starts singing some funk thing he can’t remember the name of. Turns out it was by Kanye West. He announced this during the intro of their next song. Anyone walking in at that point would have thought it was the weirdest cover version ever!

I forget what comes next as I have a terrible memory and usually I keep notes but I didn't know I was supposed to review the gig until this morning. Second last song is Sins Of The Flesh. This appears on their first EP, “The Perfect Plan” and is the first song written by Cobra Kai. This is usually a high point in the set but unfortunately the sound starts going weird. No sound guy to be seen and there is a buzzing and clicking noise. I think the sound guy was the dude in the red shirt but he seemed drunk. Oh well, just a slight glitch and at least it came close to the end and not right at the start.

Last tune and a little bit of audience participation here too. Not handing out of instruments like Daffy D, but instead the public can vote on what the last song will be. 3 choices, King Of The World, Pretty Little Angel Eyes (Lucky copying Zombina And The Skeletones!) or Call Me The Phantom. Phantom wins! This is great news for me as I love this mash up of Iron Maiden and Blondie. Not good news for Lucky as I know he wants to stop playing it! Tough shit Junior! LOL

Verdict - ****

Unusual setting for The Kai a little too cramped maybe, some sound issues, looking forward to the album release!

Some great crowd interaction tonight from CK and Daffy D. As mentioned there were 2 bands that came after this but I'm a lightweight and buggered off home.

Lucky: Well I guess I better take over from here.

The Hijacks are a 6-piece ska-punk band much in the vein of Less Than Jake. In fact there’s very little ska involved, it’s mostly just punk, but with brass. Their songs are pretty uniform, anthemic major-key punk rock played at breakneck speed. I can hear more than a touch of Rancid in their sound as well. By now the fairly sparse crowd in Cellar 35 has thinned even more, and only a handful of punters remain, but in the way that makes the Cellar that bit special, what’s left of the crowd line-up down at the front of the stage area, whooping and cheering and jumping around. All except me, who was struggling with recurrence of a neck injury, and was forced to sit at the back – not the best atmosphere for enjoying a lovely bit of ska.

Having never heard any the Hijacks before I can’t really pick out any song in particular as a favourite as I don’t know the names of any of them (though I could write a full review and just say “the crowd went wild when they played hits such as” and then just name some tracks off their MySpace, like the Evening Express do when touring bands come to the Music Hall). However on the whole I can say without doubt that they are a fun, exciting live band, full of energy and guaranteed to get you out of your seat (unless you’ve got a sore neck). The musicianship might have been slightly questionable at times, but that may have been down to the lack of a soundcheck for such a big band. Anyone, I’m not in a much of a position to criticise, I forgot how to play one our songs halfway through the fucker.

There’s a certain type of joy that only a good ska band can bring, the kind that makes you want to smile and dance around, no matter how shitty your day has been. The Hijacks definitely have that. If you like a bit of brass with your punk then go check these guys out on the 21st July at The Tunnels.

*** and a half.

www.myspace.com/itsdaffyd
www.myspace.com/cobrakairock
www.myspace.com/hijacksska

Gig review - Chas Hodges & His Band @ Lemon Tree 10-Jun-2010

2010-06-17T19:14:00.002Z

Reviewed by Lucky

Hands up if you automatically associate the names Chas & Dave with Tetley’s bitter, Eastenders, and “Knee’s Ahp Mavva Brahn”-style cockney singalongs? Yeah me too, and I’ve been listening to them for years. However during the first half of this show – a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis – Chas regales us with stories of his younger days, when he toured and recorded with the likes of Jerry Lee, Gene Vincent and Mike Berry & The Outlaws - not to mention jamming with a little band you may have heard of called The Beatles - and you soon realise that you’re very nearly in the presence of rock n’ roll royalty. Chas and his band tear through a few tracks from The Killer’s back catalogue, along with a few more from the rock n’ roll era, each one with a story connected to it, ably told by Chas himself, a born storyteller, looking confident and relaxed behind his electric piano. This is real toe-tapping stuff, boogie-woogie rock n roll piano and 12-bar bass, the kind of music which is wasted on an all-seater venue with no dancefloor. Not much makes me want to dance, but this does. Though much as I am enjoying it, this isn’t the real reason I bought the ticket, and I think the crowd share this sentiment, as they go absolutely wild when Chas and his band finish off the 30-minute first act with a raucous version of Chas & Dave’s 1981 hit “Rabbit”, to give us a taste of what is to come in the second act.

After a 20 minute interval, the second half sees the band come back out to play what is essentially a Chas n’ Dave Greatest Hits set. Of course, there is a rather obvious Dave-shaped hole both in the sound and on the stage where Chas’ musical partner of 35 years is conspicuous in his absence, but the man charged with taking his place - who incidentally, is Dave’s son, did a fine job filling in on the bass guitar, while the drummer – who incidentally, is Chas’ son – is equally adept at taking on Dave’s vocal parts. Straight off the bat, they launch into crowd favourites such as “Margate”, “London Girls”, and “That Old Piano” and soon they have the whole place swaying. The first half of the set is merely an entrée – this is the main course. Chas, as well as being an exceptional pianist, is an extremely likeable and entertaining host. Between songs he works the crowd like an old pro, telling stories of growing up in working class ‘Lahndahn’; him and Dave almost getting kicked off Top Of The Pops for using an old-fashioned Cockney swear-word (“cowson”, if you’re interested); not to mention posing for photos mid-song; shilling his new CD at every opportunity; and handling written requests from pissed Spurs fans who have found their way in; overfriendly women asking him to play their favourite tracks, and even one woman handing him a note asking if she could take his son home with her! The hits just keep on coming, “The Sideboard Song”, “Poor Old Mr Woogie”, “Gertcha”, “My Mechancoly Baby”, all sounding fantastic. Even the bloody awful “Snooker Loopy” gets an airing! To see us out, they play a fantastic version of “Ain’t No Pleasing You” which had folks dancing in the aisles, and then finished off with an encore of “Rabbit” just to send everyone home happy.

I never got to see Chas & Dave live, and sadly Dave announced his retirement from the business last year, so I probably never will. But, all things said and done, this was a still a wonderful gig, a night of really great music, fun times and amusing stories, and although it wasn’t the full Chas & Dave experience, it was a more than acceptable substitute. Chas easily has the musical skill and the charisma to carry this show on his own, and don’t let the lack of Dave put you off going, because you will definitely enjoy this.

“Yay!” of the night – Chas spending a good hour at the end of the show standing in the front talking to every single person who approached him, shaking hands, signing autographs, posing for photos and telling everyone “fanks for cahmin’ dahn!”. What a gent.

“Boo!” of the night – a few of my personal favourites missing from the set list. “In Sickness And In Health”, “Massage Parlour”, and “Mustn’t Grumble” to name but a few. Still, mustn’t grumble.

Verdict - *****

Some homeless looking bloke. With Chas Hodges.

www.chashodges.com

Gig Review - Fridge Magnets @ Club Snafu - 10-June-2010

2010-06-11T07:34:00.007Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

Thursday night gigs are generally a thing of the past for me now that I live out in the sticks and get up at an ungodly hour, and attending the Dirty Hearts Club gigs (which are probably my favourite gigs in Aberdeen) seems to happen about once, maybe twice a year if I'm lucky seeing as they start and finish so bloody late! These gigs should be on a Friday, sort it out Mr Snafu.

I was delighted with the timing of Fridge Magnets first Aberdeen gig - the small matter of The Underkills' frontman's stag weekend the following day meant I didn't have to get up before morning glory had set in. I was quite excited to see Fridge Magnets after checking out their Myspace page a couple of months ago.

So, back to the "action" - I managed to rope in The Underkills drummer (how many Underkills plugs do you reckon I can get into this review?) to head along to Snafu with me, and as we were walking in, I said "I reckon it will be quite busy tonight" - we walked in to an empty Snafu. And I mean empty. We were customers number 1 and 2. I was confident that Fridge Magnets frontman Steve Winton of Kashmir Red fame would have every hot chick in Aberdeen coming along to the gig, and I was right - they were all upstairs having a cocktail or three in Five before heading down for the gig.

To ease things along we were served two of the finest pints of lager the world has ever tasted. Draft Tiger at Snafu is absolutely amazingly good. Unfortunately, I could only have one as I was driving, but the drummer had about five in 30 minutes because they tasted so good. At £3.20 a pint, it would need to be good!

Eventually, at about 23:20 (what kind of time is that to start a gig!?), Fridge Magnets took to the stage just as the place was filling up nicely.

"Is This Music?" started the show - an electro catchy backdrop with Winton doing something between talking and shouting "Is this music?" - is that a Glaswegian accent I can hear? Weird. I liked the song okay, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting for the opener. I can see what they are trying to do here with the song, as the tempo kind of builds up, and the song gets louder, with Winton's vocals more rousing towards the end of the song. I think it was cut short due to a technical difficulty with the backing track (at least, that's how it looked anyway). I'm not sure if they intended to blast straight into the second song after building up the first one, but that isn't what happened. I don't know if Fridge Magnets have a suggestion box, but if they did, I would be dropping my wee bit of scribbled on scrap paper, saying: "I suggest whispering the vocals for at least the first half of "Is This Music?" and build it up to a big finish at the end, and fire straight into the second song without a break." I'm sure that would work and would work well.

On with the show, and after a stuttering start, Fridge Magnets grew in stature. The songs got progressively better - tracks 3 and 4 (apologies I don't know any of the song names) were particularly good. If we're looking at comparisons (which we always are at Aberzine HQ...), I think a mash up of Kasabian, Bloc Party, White Lies and maybe even a touch of Calvin Harris thrown in for good measure. Steve Winton is a massive personality on the Aberdeen Music Scene who everyone knows, and it shows at his gigs, as he always manages to pull a decent crowd (did I mention the hot chicks?), and his personality comes across on stage with Fridge Magnets. With no guitar to hide behind, he was bounding with energy on the small Snafu stage, trying at every opportunity to engage the crowd - an Aberdeen crowd can often be a difficult one, even if it is full of your mates, but Winton and the Fridge Magnets did manage to get them dancing at times.

When the opening chords of a cover of Calvin Harris's "I'm Not Alone" (I think that's what it was - I'm not up on Calvin Harris's back catalogue, so apologies if that's wrong) kicked in, a massive cheer went up, and the crowd were well and truly onside for the rest of the set.

The last song was a great finish to a very accomplished set. I was a bit worried during the first song, that I was going to be disappointed but I really wasn't - Fridge Magnets have the potential to be a great band. As far as I'm aware this was Fridge Magnets first gig, and just for a laugh they are following it up with an appearance at Rock Ness (Strongbow Tent) today at 8pm (strongly recommend you check them out if you're going), King Tut's in Glasgow, supporting Unicorn Kid, and T in the Park (T Break Stage). Good work guys! Fridge Magnets will be back in Aberdeen in November - keep an eye out.

Stand out track - the last one (sorry, don't know what it's called)

Rating - *** (and a half, nearly 4)

www.myspace.com/fridgemagnetsglasgow

Gig review - Alan McGee (DJ Set) plus various live bands @ Mambo's Nightclub - 02-May-2010

2010-06-09T05:10:00.011Z

Shmeet the Beat Clubnight

Reviewed by Gladstone

Firstly, apologies for this very late review - in Lucky's words, I'm a goon that lost my review...

What really happened was I typed up the review on my phone and e-mailed it to myself, then put it in a "safe place" and promptly forgot where that safe place was!

So, back to the action...

Well, this was a mammoth day of musical treats to say the least. I'll do my best to keep it brief. The Shmeet the Beat guys did an absolutely marvellous job of organising what should really be labelled as a mini-festival which went off with barely any problems - hats well and truly off guys.

First was local girl Lynn Taylor who has an acoustic guitar and absolutely beautiful voice. Great chilled out start to the day.

The Form were next. I wasn't blown away by these guys, but there is potential there. Young guys who can clearly play, but it was a bit loose at times and they need to just tighten the whole thing up.

Next was Grant Davidson. I missed most of his set, but caught a couple of tunes which were pretty damn good. A cracking cover of Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" and an original that Grant's brother jumped on stage and joined in with him which was a really good song.

Then it was Steven Milne and his mates. This was very very good. Steven's solo album is out later this year - keep a close eye out for release details. The song "Saturdays" is one of my favourite songs ever. Brilliant stuff.

Rescue Party finished off the action in the downstairs bar. Having not played any gigs for over a year and only practised twice this year, this had the potential to go seriously tits up but it was like they'd never gone away. "Derelict" as ever was brilliant, but "Fallout" was the stand out track - it's a fucking brilliant song.

Right, upstairs we go...

Where the fuck did Dead Robots come from? What a band! I was disappointed when the singer spoke as they are clearly not from round these parts. I was sat with Alan McGee at this point and can assure you he was impressed. Look out for these guys coming to Aberdeen hopefully sooner rather than later.

Cast of the Capital were next and smiles a plenty. The cheeriest band on the planet - I love them. They've rocked up somewhat since the last time I saw them and it works. "Comiston Springs" as ever was the highlight.

The Underkills next and this was much better than our set the previous night. Highlight from onstage was new song "Thom Yorke, Thom Yorke" - really enjoyed it!

Then Velvet Audio who were at their rocking best. They've matured somewhat and they're a bit more polished. They really got the crowd going. "Nuclear Bomb" was their best tune.

Then it was the new best band in the world In Atlanta. I'll be honest, I was a tad disappointed. They were so amazing last time I saw them, but they look like they've lost their innocence to an extent and are now oozing confidence. They are still really fucking good but there was a certain charm about the nervousness behind those great songs which seems to have been lost and replaced by some cockiness. It's not always a bad thing, but don't get ahead of yourselves boys!

Onthefly was next and I didn't pay much attention in all honesty - I was taking a timeout to catch up with our mates that had came through to see us.

I got back into it for Indian Red Lopez though who were fucking magic as always. What a band. Seriously, seriously good. "Ropes" being the highlight.

Then it was over to Mr McGee. I remember dancing like a buffoon, and enjoying myself, but after a whole day, I was quite tired and emotional (drunk) and can't really remember much about it.

Overall rating: *****

Highlight - Dead Robots

www.myspace.com/shmeetthebeat

www.myspace.com/indianredlopez

www.myspace.com/monthefly

www.myspace.com/inatlantauk

www.myspace.com/velvetaudioband

www.myspace.com/theunderkills

www.myspace.com/castofthecapital

www.myspace.com/deadrobotsmusic

www.myspace.com/rescuepartyonline

www.myspace.com/stevenmilnemusic

www.myspace.com/birthofgrace

www.myspace.com/theformphd

Gig review - InMe @ Warehouse - 4th-June-2010

2010-06-07T16:55:00.004Z

Reviewed by Lucky

Friday night. I wanted to go and see Reginald D Hunter at the Music Hall. Mrs Lucky wanted to go and see InMe at the Warehouse. Normally I would have put my foot down, demanded that we go to Reginald D Hunter, and also administered a hard slap in the chops for having the audacity to question my authority. Then I remembered that over the past few years I have dragged my long-suffering girlfriend along to watch bands like Skizofrenic and The Underkills and figured it was about time I paid her back for these past atrocities, so I agreed to go along. (Sorry Reg).

InMe aren’t a band that particularly interest me. I don’t know much about them, I probably couldn’t name any of their members or any of their songs, but the few times I’ve heard them I thought they were OK. I arrived at Moshulu around 9pm, having successfully managed to avoid all the local support bands (yes!), and found it surprisingly empty for a band with such a big reputation. I would estimate it must have been around 50% full, and that’s being generous – when InMe came onstage, I simply walked up to the front row and leaned on the barriers. That’s how empty it was. The crowd (or at least the ones around me) seemed to mostly be made up of young emo types, probably in their mid to late teens. I immediately felt out of place: not only am I 30 years old, I think I was the only person there wearing jeans that actually fit me.

(I’m just kidding emos. You know I love you).

During the first couple of songs of their set, I had the feeling this night might be a disaster. There were only a few rows of people at the front of the stage, and the first couple of songs they played were met with polite applause and general apathy, aside from a few hardcore fans. But as the night went on, the tide started to turn in their favour as more and more people wandered down from the bar area to the front of the stage. Around 4 songs in, the lead singer split the crowd right down the middle, having everyone push out to the sides to leave about 10ft of space in the middle, and instructed everyone to rush in for a bit of a mosh as they started the next song. This act alone seemed to give the crowd a big kick up the arse, and from then on the whole show was stepped up a gear, both by the band and by the crowd. Sweaty frontman Dave McPherson (no, not the one who played in defence for Hearts) made a bit of conversation between songs to try and lift the crowd, but he seems like a man short of confidence, he kind of mumbled into his chest in his Spinal Tap accent, and it was difficult to make out what the hell he was saying. In complete contrast, during the songs themselves he threw himself around the stage like a wildman, striking poses and screaming his lungs out. His onstage banter might have been lacking a bit, but the crowd really reacted to the music and their performance, and by the end this gig had completely turned around, going from a very slow start in front of a lethargic crowd, to a real high energy affair that had the fans purring - a gig where security had to get involved near the end, as the fans, in their over-exuberance, were literally tearing the roof off the place.

Hey, emos, leave that roof alone...

High point of the night – the headline band played for a full hour and a half, which sent everyone home happy.

Low point of the night – overzealous security guards getting hold of the first and only crowd surfer of the night and chucking him right out of the venue after only about five songs.

Verdict - ****

www. inmeofficial.com

Gig review – Darth Elvis / Brothel Corpse Trio / Tragic City Thieves @ Moorings – 22-May-2010

2010-05-26T16:35:00.006Z

Fudge Night # 320

Reviewed by Lucky

Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of updates recently. Sometimes unfortunately real life gets in the way of keeping a fanzine, and I‘ve been busy with work, playing gigs in Edinburgh, attending gigs in Glasgow and moving house, all of which ate into my gig attending / gig reviewing schedule. Meanwhile my fellow reviewer Gladstone has been doing shit like running marathons, rescuing cats from trees, single-handedly curing cancer, generally being an all round hero.

But, after a few hectic weeks I managed to drag my beautiful self down to the Moorings this Saturday night having heard a lot of excited chat about the upcoming Darth Elvis gig, or to give them their full name, Darth Elvis & The Tattooine Trio. More on them later however. Opening the night (after it transpired that original opening band Chaos Theory were under 18 and thus, not allowed into the venue) were Tragic City Thieves. Spiky, loud as fuck and brimming with attitude, this Glaswegian foursome swagger onto the stage in an explosion of leopard-print and make-up. They combine glam rock with punk with exciting results, like a demonic, shambolic New York Dolls. Their songs are energetic, fun, and incredibly danceable. A fantastic opening act who seemed to get the crowd fired up. Book them up again Mr. Fudge.

Rating - ****

Following on from there came Brothel Corpse Trio, a band I really wanted to like. I’m a big horrorpunk / psychobilly fan, so I savour the rare occurrences when a band of that genre plays in Aberdeen. The Trio this evening had swelled to a sextuplet, as various hangers-on, well, hung on really, and as they took to the stage and started their set the dancefloor filled right up. Initially I was quite impressed with them, though most of it was due to Phil’s awesome punk voice, and the bassist playing a proper upright double bass, like off of one of them rockabilly bands n’ that. But, as entertaining and energetic as this performance undoubtedly was, what lets the BCT down is their songs, which are, for the most part, largely forgettable, all a bit too similar. The crowd seemed to love it though, and the band’s enthusiasm is certainly contagious, but musically I found it a bit like bubblegum - great for the first few minutes but quickly becoming all a bit bland.

Rating - **

Last but not least, Darth Elvis & The Tattooine Trio take the stage to the sound of the Imperial March, and this is, I’ll bet, the only band in the world which feature a stormtrooper on drums, a Jedi on guitar, Boba Fett on bass and a Sith Elvis impersonator on lead vocals. They play exclusively Elvis Presley covers with the lyrics changed to be about Star Wars (no I’m not making that up). They open with “Trouble” which has been altered to include references to Admiral Ackbar (that weird fish-turd guy from Return Of The Jedi) amongst other things. Darth Elvis himself twists and contorts and gyrates, channelling the spirit of the King, and while he may not quite have the King’s voice down to a tee, he comes pretty damn close. He also works the crowd brilliantly, making sure the whole place is dancing and singing along to these bizarre crossover songs. As for the songs themselves, how do they fare? Well firstly, they are all Elvis songs so you know they are going to be pretty good, and Tatooine Trio play them with gusto, rocking them up significantly from the originals. However, where a “comedy” band lives or dies is by its lyrics and playing live in a rowdy bar is not the best place to make your lyrics heard, no matter how good the PA is. While I’m sure I missed about 50% of the Star Wars references due to poor sound, the well-known classic songs and the fevered performance were good enough to ensure that most of them hit the mark (“That’s Alright Jabba”, “You Ain’t Nothing But A Nerf Herder”, “Viva Mos Eisley”) although a few fell short (“A Little Less Disintegration”, “Suspicious Minds”). By the time Darth Elvis and co. had “left the building”, the patrons of this particular wretched hive of scum and villainy were clapping and whooping hoping for an encore which never came, but ultimately I think every one of us went home happy. There is room for comedy in music when it’s done well, and this live spectacle, which is quite obviously a labour of love for man under the Sith cloak, is certainly worth the £3 door money, even if I did pay in with a tenner and not get any fucking change.

Rating - ***

Band Of The Night - Tragic City Thieves

www.myspace.com/darth_elvis
www.myspace.com/thebrothelcorpsetrio
www.myspace.com/tragiccitythieves

EP Review - Which Way Now - "Fly"

2010-05-24T16:29:00.006Z

Self released

Reviewed by Lucky

Rightio, I’ll save the intro, as I’ve done quite enough talking up Which Way Now recently, so let’s just get straight down to business.

“Fly” is Which Way Now’s debut EP, and it was recorded at RedEye Studios in Clydebank in January of this year. Opening the EP with a bang is “Trash” a good stompy rock track which starts out with some wah-wah-laden lead guitar, leading into a thumping heavy riff which is unashamedly classic metal. Lead singer Heather’s voice sounds polished and professional, but suffers slightly from what I call “Studio Syndrome” (in short, the absence of a crowd and not having to yell to be heard over the drums means a lot of singers (myself included) don’t sing quite as vociferously in the studio as they would live, leading to a more polished yet less emotive performance). Still it’s a good song and a good introduction to Which Way Now. It is probably the most “rock” track on the EP and thus a good way to kick things off (though for some peculiar reason it reminds me of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9_eH26mkfw).

Next up is “Carefree”, which is a very different animal to the opening track. Slower and more melodic, yet still managing to be heavy, this brings to mind the likes of Blind Melon or Stone Temple Pilots. The arrangement on this track is superb, the dual guitars create a wonderfully thick sound, the bass has some interesting parts and Heather sings her heart out throughout the track. The melody and the lyrics are very memorable, it’s a real catchy track and it’s also quite uplifting. This is an excellent song, well put together, well produced and a showcase of what Which Way Now are capable of.

Track 3 is “Tell You”, a fairly rocking number, which has an oddly dancey vibe to it, with a looped lead guitar part and lots of delay. There’s a lot going on in this song and a lot of really interesting parts from the various instruments, which are as usual played impeccably, and the vocals complement it perfectly. This is the kind of song that you would hear playing over the end credits of a Marvel super-hero film. I realise that’s a fairly odd description, but that’s exactly the picture I get when I hear this song. Go on, listen to it and tell me I’m wrong.

Last but not least is “Fly” which is another slower number with some big, heavy riffs reminiscent of Alice In Chains in their pomp. Besides the cool riffage, there are also some nice bits where delay / reverb are used to full effect on the lead vocal, which helps this track a lot, because it isn’t up to the high standards set by the other tracks on the EP and it sounds a little bit generic at times. A few of these studio touches help to turn it from a fairly average song into an OK song, but it is still missing something (though the big double-speed metal solo bit in the middle is kinda cool).

In conclusion, this is a very good EP, especially for a debut offering, and it firmly establishes Which Way Now’s position as one of the best new bands in the city at the moment. Where it was does fall down a little bit is that most of the songs sound vastly different – while it is definitely good to have more than one string to your bow, the amount of different styles on display here make it difficult to get a sense of their identity. Are they classic rock? Are they grunge? It’s a little bit of everything really, like a party suzie of rock. In addition, the first and last tracks, while still being decent tracks, aren’t close to the standards of the second and third tracks which are both fantastic. If Which Way Now can come up with more tracks on the level of “Carefree” and “Tell You” then the world is their oyster. Time for a customary closing pun! On this evidence, the answer to the question “Which Way Now?” is “up”.

Verdict – somewhere between *** and ****

www.myspace.com/whichwaynowrocks

Cornered! - Aberzine vs Heather Walker (Which Way Now)

2010-05-07T18:13:00.011Z

Written by Lucky

Which Way Now have been turning a few heads in Aberdeen recently with a series of excellent gigs . Their debut EP "Fly" is currently on heavy rotation on my iPod plus their last two gigs have both been awarded 4 stars on Aberzine. However before I review their EP, I caught up with lead singer Heather to talk influences, attending gigs in utero, and being compared to Paramore...

Hi Heather. How are you today?
Just fabby, how are you?

So, let's start at the beginning. How did Which Way Now get together? How did you all meet?
Well the guys were together before I joined, they had a male singer first, but he left to go to uni, so I was asked if I wanted to take over. My brother is our guitarist so I know all the guys through him. Originally it was just Pete, Kieran and our previous guitarist who would just jam but Martin got asked to join and it just started to build from there.

Who are the band's main influences?
I think we all bring our own influences to the table. One of the main bands is probably Alterbridge - we are all big fans of those guys and they inspired us to be more creative. Other bands such as Karnivool have recently inspired us. I think Dave and Kieran bring their classic rock influences, Martin brings influences from everything- that boy listens to every kind of music which is awesome. Me and Pete bring more proggy kind of stuff I think.

And what about you personally? Who inspired you to join a band?
What's weird is I don’t have a female idol who I look up to and admire, I have been so inspired by male vocalists like Myles Kennedy of Alterbridge - he is incredible and has an amazing vocal range and I aspire to be as good as him!

What are the ambitions for WWN? Are you just in it for fun, or are you hoping to try and break onto the wider scene?
A bit of both really, I think the main aim at the moment is to build ourselves a good fan base, and definitely do some shows outside of Aberdeen to pick up a few fans elsewhere -that would be great.

Where do you get the inspritation for your lyrics?
From things I have felt at one point or another in my life, or things I have seen others go through too. I write about feeling rubbish to feeling awesome to writing about the end of the world haha.

What's been the highlight of being in Which Way Now so far?
For me it has probably been recording this EP, it was so much fun. But also the last gig we played at the Moorings was just ace - I had people singing my lyrics back to me which was AWESOME!
The rest of the guys definitely feel that recording the EP has been a massive highlight, getting out of Aberdeen for a week and spending time solely recording music - epic.

You're one of only a handful of girls currently performing on the male-dominated rock scene in Aberdeen. Why aren't there more girls playing in bands?
I’m not sure really! I actually don’t know why! I guess it’s hard for a female fronted band not to be compared to the likes of Paramore (like we would ever do that! -Lucky) or other females on the music scene, and a lot of the bands in Aberdeen are a bit heavier than that genre.
I like that we don’t sound like any of the popular female fronted bands and I guess that gives us an edge.

What's your favourite track on the "Fly" EP? (Mine is "Tell You" by the way)
Probably ‘Tell You’ also, I LOVE playing that song live, just makes you want to dance!

Which other local bands do you like?
I love Downfall, they are great guys and always good to see play, you should check them out. Also gotta love Semperfi and Dave’s other band Rise - always fun.

What's your favourite venue in Aberdeen, both as a performer and as a gig-goer?
I would probably say the Moorings, cos their sound system is awesome and there’s always a good crowd. Warehouse is great too.

OK time for the quick-fire round! What was the first concert you ever attended?
Pretty random but technically it was Pink Floyd haha, OK my mum was like 8 months pregnant with me BUT I WAS STILL THERE!! Realistically though I think it was either Korn or Coldplay haha.

What was the last song you heard that you wish you'd written?
"Three Libras" by A Perfect Circle - its pretty sad, but I like deep lyrics.

Here's a tough one - name your top 5 albums of all time.
Holy hell, ok..... not sure they are in order
The Kennedy Soundtrack- "A Tale of Two Cities"
Deftones- "White Pony"
Alterbridge- "One Day Remains"
Placebo- "Black Market Music"
Blue October- "Foiled"

Tell us a random fact about Heather Walker.
Emmm.... there’s probably quite a few, haha. But one thing that most folk don’t seem to expect, is that I am a Martial Arts instructor! That’s right, I’m a ninja - don’t mess!

Friday nights - party hard or quiet night in?
I like to alternate

Tea or coffee?
Tea! Milk & two sugars please.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Emm, thanks for the interview! Hope everyone will come check us out live next time we play!

Thanks for your time. Please take this opportunity to plug any upcoming Which Way Now gigs / releases etc. Or anything else you like really.
At the moment, no gigs lined up (I’m doing my finals), but keep checking back!

www.myspace.com/whichwaynowrocks

Gig Review - Alan McGee (DJ Set) / The Tijuana Sun / Kashmir Red / The Underkills @ Cafe Drummonds - 01-May-2010

2010-05-06T21:33:00.007Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

First up was my band The Underkills, which I won't review for obvious reasons. I thought we had a shit gig with pretty much everything that could go wrong, going wrong including bust lead, bust guitar and a switching pedal doing somersaults - it wasn't fun. I was informed by everyone I spoke to that we were good but your mates always say that.

Next - Kashmir Red. I was really looking forward to this, having been blown away by them a couple of years ago at Wizard Festival. However, I was a little bit disappointed. They weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, I was just expecting a more rocking set. The first half of the set was really mellow, which I just wasn't expecting. They made up for it in the second half though which was much better. I'll give them 3 out of 5. Highlight - Superstars and Heroes. After hearing 15 bands and 2 DJ sets this weekend, that's the song I was singing on Monday morning!

The Tijuana Sun were up next and I wasn't sure what to expect in all honesty. The last time I saw them they were very much an acoustic act, a bit like a good Proud Mary, but they've rocked up a little since then with drummer, bassist and electric guitar added. It was different and probably slightly better - I really liked the acoustic sound but I was digging this as well. There's still a Proud Mary influence in there, what i'm hearing is bluesy indie music and I'm liking it. 4 out of 5 for these guys, and 10 out of 5 for the number of hot chicks they brought to the gig!

Then it was the turn of the maestro Alan McGee to do his thang. I was a tad concerned that the place would empty after the bands but thankfully it remained about three quarters full. It says over there on the right that I'm Aberzine's indie kid, which meant I was in heaven when McGee pulled out a host of indie britpop classics! He had Drummonds bouncing for two hours solid - absolutely great fun! 5 out of 5 for gauging the crowd early on and giving them exactly what they wanted.

Overall rating 4 out of 5.

Highlight - aside from the ridiculous number of smoking hot chicks and Brett from Lady Mercedes practically offering to suck McGee's cock for a gig in London, the highlight was undoubtedly McGee's DJ set - nothing groundbreaking, but just all out great fun.

www.myspace.com/thetijuanasun
www.myspace.com/kashmirred
www.myspace.com/theunderkills

Gig Review - The Lorelei @ Captain Tom's - 17-April-2010

2010-05-04T08:19:00.005Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

I was really excited about this gig. In fact it was as excited as I'd been about a gig for quite a while - probably because I felt quite special to be invited along as part of the exclusive group of people permitted to drink beer in Captain Tom's on a Saturday evening.

Sadly, Simon Roberts (Fivefifteen) was shacked up in bed with a bout of manflu or something and had to pull out of the gig, which was a shame - I was really looking forward to his set.

The Lorelei were just going to play twice to make up for it. What a bunch of heroes.

I feel I should set the scene, as Captain Tom's isn't normally a music venue. It looks pretty much the same as always, but the gear has been taken out of room 1 and Captain Tom has has built a bar and stuck it in the corner with a fridge full of beer behind it. Magic. Room 2 has some guy DJing - I'll be honest, I never went into Room 2.

Room 3 is as it normally is, except with all the gear up at one end where the band will melt our faces from...

So, The Lorelei. This is a group of fun-loving veterans of the music
scene who have been gigging for about 20 years, and it shows. By that, I mean they are tight as fuck, and they instinctively know what each other's every next move will be.

The frontman is about as confident a frontman as I've seen in a local band - he oozes confidence, and engages the crowd all the way through the evening with his cheeky banter.

The best way to describe The Lorelei's music is probably 'party music'. There's a lot of folk, some rock and even a hint of metal on occasion, but it's always played at breakneck speed and played perfectly, and it's always great fun.

Highlight of their 2 sets was probably "Just For Tonight" (I think that's what it was called anyway)

Rating: a very strong **** - for both the band and the all round vibe. I really hope this happens again - I'll be there with bells on.

www.myspace.com/theloreleiprogression
www.captaintommusic.co.uk

Gig review - Right Hand Left / Deportees / Make Sparks / Cast Of The Capital @ Drummonds - 30th-April-2010

2010-05-01T17:27:00.008Z

Right Hand Left Single Release Night

Written by guest reviewer Kai

I like Drummonds. Its regulars might be completely Heather Mills (legless and crazy) and its decor shabby, yet it retains a certain je ne sais quoi, a phrase that has almost certainly never been uttered within its walls, and thank god for that.

The trouble with watching a band you’ve never seen before and will probably never see again is that that there’s only so much enjoyment that can be derived from their set. Unless their songs are catchier than chlamydia, you’re unlikely to find yourself singing along vociferously, stomping feet and raising hands to this hitherto unworshipped altar of rock magnificence.

What, ideally, do you need from a band in order to create the perfect gig? Screaming for a start. Not all the way through perhaps, but certainly nothing raises the hackles like a blood-curdling scream, a visceral statement of intent. Liber8 used to be the masters of the screaming intro. ‘Good evening. We’re a band from Aberdeen called LiberEEEEIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTT!’ Band go mental. Crowd go mental. Result. Opening act Cast of the Capital (or Coc as they shall henceforth be known) don’t scream or break stuff or do anything that could be remotely termed dangerous. What they do instead is provide shimmery guitars, crunchy choruses, indie beats, gleaming telecasters, polite haircuts and smart shirts. They’re wholesome, clean cut and likeable, and in the absence of blood, sweat and screams, that’ll do. There’s a scientifically proven formula that dictates precisely how long an unknown band’s set should last for, which coincidentally also happens to be the exact amount of time that you should fuck an average-looking one nite stand for (the sort of who, like the band, you’ll probably never see again), and that time is 20 minutes. 20 minutes is the perfect period in which to fully appreciate her quite nice – but not amazing – boobs and reasonably alright blowjob technique. After that, you just wanna shoot your load and phone a taxi. Coc are pretty damn good actually, but they ain’t no beautiful lady and thus I’m thankful that they don’t try to force themselves upon me all nite long. No, 20 minutes was all I wanted and it’s all they gave me; bash, bosh, yes, yes, I’m coming, I’ve came, perfunctory cuddle, how was it for you, yeah me too, nice, we’ll have to do it again some time, alright, laters, number deleted. In fact, I know for sure that Coc are good because for the duration of their set, I didn’t even feel the urge to dip into the small bag of flour that was burning a hole in my pocket. I just drank my pint, tapped my feet and let that baby burn.

I was going to write something nice about the next band, Sparks-something-or-other, but then they went and played an indie rock cover of Eminem’s Just Lose It, a song that was horrific enough the first time round. Hilarious. Now fuck off and die. Actually, they weren’t too bad – whatever their name was – or maybe I’m just being nice because at the time of typing these words into my fone at the gig, I’m still sober enough to drive an 18-wheeler. Another six Jack & Cokes and I might have to revise that statement, but right about now I’m soberer than a mildly inebriated judge.

The Deportees are like bumping into an ex in the street and thinking ‘My god, you’ve piled on the beef haven’t you? Must be because you’re not getting a good workout on my penis any more.’ When they used to play in their respective bands of yore (de Barros, Sirius, Clocker, Eddison, Ten Easy Wishes, The Wells and Edgar Prais if I recall rightly) – The Deportees’ chaps were a bunch of handsome motherfuckers, and they still are; it’s just that there’s a bit more of them to go round these days. The Deportees are solid and dependable. They don’t fuck up the intro to any of their songs or go out of tune. Their harmonies are spot on. The rhythm section is tight. They’re like making love to the same woman twice a week for the rest of your life. Yeah, so you already know that you’re getting it in the missionary position next Saturday nite and every other Saturday nite after that, but still, what a ride! No sudden nasty surprises. No ‘Baby let’s try something different tonite… I want to shit in your mouth.’ Nah, The Deportees just quietly get on with the job of being ace and for that, you’ve gotta love them.

Nevertheless, tonite isn’t about The Deportees or CoC or that other band whose name eludes me – no, tonite is all about Left Hand Right. It is their single launch nite after all. They are the band that everyone has come to see. Everyone, that is, except me. Left Hand Right are one of those annoying bands who lead a seemingly charmed existence; break a string and they’ve got a roadie on hand to pass them a replacement guitar; drop a plectrum and they just grab another one from their plectrum holder; tangle up a lead and… fuck, they‘ve got wireless guitar packs, they don’t even need leads. Left Hand Right are slick, charming and privileged. They’re the cool kid at school who shows up with his prom date in a brand new Chevvy. You spill a drink on his shirt out of spite and he just smiles affably and shrugs ‘Don’t worry about it bud. I’ve got a spare one in the trunk.’ You want to hate Left Hand Right for their oh-so-perfect lives, but they’re such nice guys you just can’t bring yourself to do so. They’d snatch your girlfriend from right under your nose, grin cheekily and extend a hand to say ‘No hard feelings.’ And like the mug that you are, you’d accept it and wish them good luck. Like they need it. It doesn’t matter what I think of Left Hand Right's music because at the end of the day, they don’t need my verdict; the sun is shining in their white picket fenced world and there’s nothing but blue skies ahead. Piss on their parade? I don’t have it in me. Besides, there’d be no point. They’d only go and fetch some clean threads from the trunk.

www.myspace.com/righthandleft
www.myspace.com/deporteesuk
www.myspace.com/makesparksband
www.myspace.com/castofthecapital

Single review - Right Hand Left - "Lipstick"

2010-04-28T17:07:00.003Z

Released on Fat Hippy Records.

Reviewed by Lucky

Well first things first, I have to come clean and admit that I don't know a whole lot about Right Hand Left. I have their “Johnny Ray” single on my iPod, and I like it, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge. I’ve never seen them live, so I don’t really know what they’re all about, but still, if “Johnny Ray” was anything to go by, this should be a solid effort, as that 3-track single had some good stuff on it.

The first thing that grabbed me on this CD is the cover art – in this age of downloading, very little attention is paid to the wrapping that the album comes in, and album covers almost feel like an afterthought at times – a picture of the “star” in some stupid pose with a logo stuck on it that a 5 year could knock together on Photoshop is usually sufficient – but RHL have gone a different route here and opted for a really striking and attention-grabbing image, which I like. I look at it and it makes me think “Who is this girl? What’s her story? What is her facial expression saying?” Though maybe I just think too much.

So anyway, enough prattling on about the artwork, let’s stick this bastard in the CD player and see what comes out the speakers. Track 1 “Lipstick” starts out quietly and builds up slowly, teasing that it’s about to kick off, before dropping into a fairly energetic indie-rock song at about 1:30. It’s kinda stop/start from then on – when this track is in full groove it’s a banger, the kind of thing that would get you throwing shapes on the dance floor (think Vesuvian but good, and with a singer that sounds like Sting!), but the slower sections drag it down and they drag on a bit. A solid if unspectacular title track.

Track 2, “Sat On The Bench” is the best track of the three for my money (which is irrelevant really because I got it for free). This is a slower, quieter track than the opener, with shades of JJ72, and it has one of those melodies than you only need to hear once and you can recognise it again. Like the opening track, it doesn’t really kick in until about halfway through the song, but it sounds glorious when it finally does, and it’s quite uplifting at the end.

Closing out the single at track 3 is “Boulders In The Sky”, a real stripped down track made up of only vocal and acoustic guitar. I always think the telling of a really strong song is if it stands up to being performed acoustically, and this one passes, but only just. It’s not a bad track at all, it’s performed well, the vocal especially, it’s just that this sort of thing has been done before, and done better. A really raw, emotional track should stir up feelings inside the listener, and this left me feeling a little bit empty.

On the whole, this is a decent effort. It’s not the best release I’ve heard this year, I found the tracks a little bland, but it’s not a bad collection of songs at all. The second track is probably the best of the three, and though I didn’t instantly fall in love with any of them they are three very different songs and all performed very well, which gives a good showcase of what Right Hand Left can do.

Verdict - ***

“Lipstick” is released on Monday 3rd may on Fat Hippy Records, and official release show takes place this Friday at Drummonds, with support from The Deportees, Cast Of The Capital and Make Sparks. Which is a pretty fucking good line-up really. If I wasn’t going to be out of town, I would be at this gig in a shot.

www.myspace.com/righthandleft

Gig Review - Falling Red / Which Way Now / Hagana / Cerebral Inferno @ Moorings 17-Apr-2009

2010-04-23T16:48:00.002Z

Written by guest reviewer RockRock

I love the Moorings. Great venue, great beer, and Saturday nights are always hot, sweaty and rocking. I had been looking forward to this gig ever since I read Classic Rock magazine stating that Falling Red were “Ones to watch 2010”. More of them later.

First on were local thrash metallers Cerebral Inferno. These guys were a mixed bag, led by a lead vocalist who could actually sing. Their songs were spoilt by poor guitar sound and the fact that they looked as if they were just goofing around, and coming off stage whenever the mood touched them.
Rating - **1/2

Next up were Edinburgh based Hagana, with their melodic almost Foo Fighters type songs. These guys were quite good and got warm applause from the crowd throughout their 30 minute set. I hope these guys return, as they deserve another listen.
Rating ***

Which Way Now hit the stage next with a thunderous start that didn’t let up until the last note. With a female singer (Heather) keeping things ticking over these guys produced the best of the night by a long way. Blistering guitar solos that put the other bands guitar sound to shame. These guys are not another Paramore, thank God.... think hard rock with a nod to classic rock that just happens to have a hot female vocalist. Please come back soon.
Rating ****

At last, later than expected came Falling Red, who as I said earlier were the reason why I was here. Well dear dear dear, they were 4 guys in make up trying to be cool, which wouldn’t have mattered if any of their songs were memorable, or any good. These sleaze rockers played average rock music which has been done a thousand times better by bands like Backyard Babies, Quireboys etc.
Rating *** (just)

http://www.myspace.com/fallingredband
http://www.myspace.com/whichwaynowrocks
http://www.myspace.com/haganaband
http://www.myspace.com/cerebralinferno

Gig Review - Aberzine Bands Night #1 - Captain FACE / Panda Eyes / Robert Knight / Which Way Now @ Tunnels One - 9th-April-2010

2010-04-16T16:52:00.008Z

Reviewed by Lucky and Kai.

Here’s a treat for you folks – a gig review written from not one but two different perspectives. I rather ill-advisedly asked Kai from the Trash Whore Diaries to review this gig for me, being the experienced and wonderful writer that he is. I really should have known better - in typical Kai fashion, he turned up completely shit-faced, wrote the whole review on his phone while watching the gig and fucked off before the last band came on. Then on Saturday morning his review plopped into my inbox, and it was basically a 1000-word sexual fantasy about Heather from Which Way Now. So, in the interests of taste and decency, I’ve taken the guts of Kai’s review, censored the more sordid aspects (leaving about 100 words), and interspersed it with my own less slanted point of view. So if this feels a little lopsided, it’s because while I was busy trying to watch the bands, Kai was busy being pissed and horny.

Lucky: Aberzine Bands Night #1. My first foray into the murky world of gig promotion. My first attempt to bring the Aberzine name into the real world and not just to geeks like you who sit and read blogs all day. My first…. Well actually that’s about all the firsts I did, but that’s more than enough for one gig. Everything was in place for this night to be a success – venue hired, bands booked, promotion done – and then the arse fell out of it a couple of days before the gig when two of the bands pulled out, leaving me scrambling to find replacements, and rendering all my lovingly created posters / fliers / newspaper adverts / Facebook groups out of date. But hey, these things happen and the show, as they say, must go on.

Kai: What's this I hear? Four local bands playing in the same venue on the same nite? And admittance for just £4? What a perfect opportunity to get along early and catch every drop of sweet, sweet music as it oozes from the stage. Actually, scrap that. I missed the majority of the first act because I was too busy pre-loading on vodka Red Bull in that manner much decried by publicans and MPs alike. Actually, scrap that previous sentence too as it's mostly untrue; I wrote that part while stocking up on the aforementioned vodka Red Bull before the gig. I did actually catch opening act Which Way Now, or part of them at least, and what I heard was damn good. Unfortunately that's about all you're going to learn about them or indeed any of the acts who played Aberzine's inaugural gig as the review that follows was composed on my phone in situ while completely wrecked. Too much VRB does that to a man. Apologies for the lubricious and misogynous comments that follow; they weren't written by me, but by the alter-ego who possesses me and my pen after a few drinks more than a few too many...

Lucky: The advertised line-up for tonight’s gig were Captain FACE, Point Of Origin, Which Way Now and Autumn In Disguise, and I was fucking stoked to get these four bands. Captain FACE are a bundle of funky rock energy who I could listen to all day, Point Of Origin are a band I’ve been following for years, and although I’d only experienced Which Way Now and Autumn In Disguise in passing, I liked what I’d heard of them both enough to offer them a slot at this gig. Unfortunately with only a few days to go before the gig, both Point Of Origin and Autumn In Disguise were forced to pull out, but thankfully I managed to rope in Panda Eyes at the 11th hour, and persuade Bob Knight from Point to play an acoustic set. Both very able replacements who I was more than happy to have join the bill, so I was still pretty darn excited come door opening time. By the time Which Way Now took to the stage at 9pm to kick things off, a fairly sparse crowd of around 30 had trickled their way into the Tunnels in dribs and drabs and taken their place at the front of the stage, where I myself stood with Bob Knight to enjoy the opening act. About halfway through the set, I was suddenly groped by a tall man with spiky hair…

Kai: Do you remember the scene in American Pie 3 where the dog swallows the wedding ring and Stifler ends up having to eat the dog shit, pretending all the while that it's actually a delicious truffle? That's what watching local bands is like. You've got to wade through a lot of shit to uncover the gems, all the while mustering your best rictus in an effort to pretend that their aural faeces are in fact delicious truffles. Upon arriving at The Tunnels I discovered, much to my disappointment that the first act were still on. I've never been a fan of watching bands as I find that the cacophony they create impacts upon my ability to talk at length about myself. However, having contrived to arrive too early, I felt obliged to begrudgingly endure the remainder of Which Way Now's set. There's a tendency when reviewing female-fronted rock bands to focus on the hot chanteuse and ignore the rest of the band. Well I'm not gonna fall into that trap. All I want to say is that even if I was the singer's brother, playing guitar alongside her, I would.

Lucky: OK!!!!!!!! Maybe best I take over from here. Which Way Now are a 5-piece who play a pretty heavy brand of rock, and were recently crowned Best Newcomer at the 2010 Fudge Awards (the same award my own band were cheated out of at the 2009 awards!). Led by brother and sister Heather and Martin Walker (actual brother and sister as well, not fake ones like The White Stripes), they combine heavy grunge-style riffs, intricate stoner rock breakdowns, effortlessly precise lead guitar and powerful female lead vocals. The 4 guys manning the instruments play with real aplomb and confidence, with nary a duff note to be heard, and the twin guitars create a really full wall of sound effect. Their drummer batters the living hell out of his kit, and lead guitarist Martin makes soloing look easy, his calm, collected demeanour in contrast to the sound emanating from his amp – he looks he could stand there for hours effortlessly creating wah-wah laden solos while casually drinking a pint with one hand, and watching Futurama at the same time. Frontwoman Heather doesn’t say a whole lot, and apart from throwing out a few cursory dance moves in the instrumental sections, doesn’t do a whole lot either, but by Jove this girl can sing. As well as having a great voice, she has an intensity which makes her very watchable as a frontwoman, and while you’re trying to take in the whole band, your eyes soon find their way back to her. Comparisons to Hayley Williams and Amy Lee are probably inevitable, especially from lazy hacks like me who strive to compare EVERYBODY to somebody else (and can only think of two other female-fronted rock bands), but there’s a lot less of an “scene kid” vibe about Which Way Now than Ms Williams and Ms. Lee’s bands – WWN are a rock band, and a good one at that. Everything about WWN just somehow works, watching them you can see they really click, and they really sound like a band, not just 5 people who get together once a week and play their instruments. This shows in their performance - it’s infectious as hell and it’s difficult not to get swept away in it. A top-notch way to start the gig.

Kai: Did I really write that? What a cock. I need to either start drinking less, or drink so much that I'm too incapacitated to write.

Lucky: Well, since Point Of Origin had to pull out, frontman Robert Knight agreed to step up to the plate and take on the vacant slot by himself in an acoustic singer / songwriter capacity. Since there are no girls in this band for Kai to letch at / insult, I can probably hand him the reins on this review.

Kai: Next up was singer/songwriter and general layabout Bob Knight. Where do I start? What can I say about Bob that he's not already said about himself? Ah fuck it, I'll pass him the mic: 'You'll find the best thing about an acoustic set is it's possible to talk over it without spoiling your pint.' Then, upon fucking up the start to a song: 'You know, intros are a bit like foreplay and not really necessary.' Utter genius. Bob has always been something of a Marmite character; not brown, viscous and spreadable, but the sort of person you love or hate. I often find myself experiencing both emotions simultaneously in his presence. When he's good, he's damn good, and when he's not... well, tonite thankfully he was, so let's just focus on the good times. Gary Glitter would give the contents of his hard drive to have written lyrics as good as those found in 'Secrets, Tales and Lies'. (Not that ST&L is about paedophilia, I hasten to add. For that, you'd have to turn to the Bob Knight classic 'My Friend Bubba'.) 'Found You', meanwhile, is one of the best ten songs ever written. Fact. (Not that there is such a thing as a best ten songs in the world of course, any more than there is such a thing a best ten sets of tits. They're all good, apart from the saggy ones and the ones equipped with an extra nipple.) I played 'Found You' to my daughter when she was still in utero, the headphones placed against her mother's bulging belly. Now that Kris Watson-Morgan-Prais-Wish-8 has disappeared off the radar, Bob Knight is officially the best songwriter in Aberdeen. Where next for this prodigious talent? Tonite the Granite City. Tomorrow the Mearns, perhaps. Sadly we don't live in a meritocracy where the good rises up and the shit sinks to the bottom, so Bob's occasional flourishes of genius will never reach the audience they truly deserve. If the handful of bored looking punters in The Tunnels couldn't appreciate them, what hope is there? Talk about pearls before swine.

Lucky: Third on the bill were last minute additions Panda Eyes, a band who have been on the music scene for a good few years now. They take their influences from folky Americana artists like Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Ryan Adams and Mazzy Star, and have created a similar sound for themselves, but with a hint more indie. I’ve seen Panda Eyes a few times since their inception, and while I didn’t warm to them immediately (in fact I think I was quite vocal in my dislike for them to begin with) their sound has evolved significantly since their early days, and these days they are a band that I have a lot of time for, and a lot of respect for for daring to go against the grain a bit (the “grain” in this case being hundreds of miserable sounding rock bands). To quote one Andrew Learmonth, "Every time I see Panda Eyes it's almost like seeing them for the first time. As a band they reinvent themselves constantly, adding new players and working on new arrangements. All this gives them a unique sound and special place in the Aberdeen gigging scene”. And it’s true, last time I heard them they had fiddles and all sorts of shit, but tonight they were back to the traditional 4-piece of vocal, guitar, bass and drums. Opening with “Down In The Quiet”, Panda Eyes quickly grabbed the attention of the ever-diminishing crowd, Marie Claire’s soaring voice complimenting Jan’s jangly guitar perfectly. Panda Eyes are a band that seem really at ease with themselves, relaxed, confident, and not short of a few memorable hooks – “Me And Mine” and “No Way Back” like their opening song are very catchy songs and very very well written. This band sound like a combination of Americana, folk, indie and traditional Celtic music, though mostly sad, minor sounding songs, it’s an odd combination that probably shouldn’t work, but it does. You should probably check Panda Eyes band out of you like any of those genres, I would really recommend them, as they have some really beautiful songs. However it seems not everyone was so impressed…

Kai: The third act, Panda Eyes, reminded me of the sort of bands they used to put on every Thursday nite downstairs in the old Aberdeen Student Union. And that's not a good thing. At least back then there was copious amounts of cheap drink to numb the pain of having to endure some turgid female-fronted rock band. Panda Eyes were so bad I had to go to the bogs for a line just to make them seem better. I tell you, following that band on tour wouldn't be cheap.

Lucky: Ah, that will explain why Kai came back from the toilets and spent the next ten minutes rabbiting on in my ear about fucking hair gel while I was trying to listen to Panda Eyes.

Kai: I missed the final band, Captain Face, presumably because Panda Eyes bored me out of the venue, though to be honest I can't really remember now why I left. I'll just helpfully note that Captain Face were probably very good at what they did, whatever that was.

Lucky: Well let me assure you sir that Captain FACE were very good at what they did, whatever that was. Sadly by the time they took the stage the venue had all but emptied, and there were only about ten people left in attendance to witness the FACE spectacle (though 5 arrived mid-set only to be almost immediately ejected again, for crimes including but not limited to, threatening members of Panda Eyes with a chair, and leaning over the bar to drink beer straight from the tap). I had my first live Captain FACE experience just before Christmas (right here!) and I’ve been talking them up ever since, their energetic live show having left quite an impression on me, so I was virtually quivering with anticipation by the time they came on. No actually, that sounds a bit gay – I was just outside having a fag actually. “We’re Captain FACE – and for that I can only apologise” comes the intro from lead singer Euan, before launching into “Small Joy” an absolute belter of a tune that could only come from the deranged minds of Captain FACE, all funk and playful rock. A Captain FACE gig is just a big bucket of fun, the toe-tapping induced by previous bands being replaced by flailing your limbs around with wild abandon, and gurning like a total idiot (though that may have just been because I was quite pissed by this point). There are very few bands that succeed in getting me to shake my boo-tay, but with Captain FACE onstage, dancing isn’t so much a decision you make, as your body’s natural reaction. This kind of shamelessly major-key fun, infectious rock hasn’t been seen since Terrorvision went the way of the dodo back in 2001, but even they didn’t rock as these hard as these fuckers. The crowd may have been small, but it didn’t put them off, they went for it as hard as ever, delivering a set of pure energy, right up until closing track “Awesome, No Way” (with added audience participation!) which closed the night off brilliantly. Brilliant. Chair-weilding, jacket-swinging, pint glass-smashing fun.

Verdict:
Which Way Now - ****
Robert Knight - ***
Panda Eyes - ***
Captain Face - ****

An excellent night all in all. Will there be an Aberzine Bands Night #2? Well, I don’t know. This one took a lot of work, and caused a lot of stress, not to mention the fact that I ended up losing money and only 50 people turned up. However, it was still a really enjoyable night and I certainly wouldn’t rule out doing it again. But don’t hold your breath….

Highlight – Captain FACE.

Lowlight – 50 people through the door? Come on Aberdeen, where were you?!

www.myspace.com/whichwaynowrocks
www.purevolume.com/robertknight
www.myspace.com/pandaeyesaberdeen
www.myspace.com/captainface
More pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/luckyrathen/sets/72157623736779509/

Gig Review - ShutterSpeed @ Tunnels 1 - 7th-April-2010

2010-04-09T20:29:00.004Z

Reviewed by Lucky

As first gigs go, this one will take some beating as the great and good of the Aberdeen Music scene turned out en masse to witness the debut of Aberdeen’s internet grunge sensations, ShutterSpeed.

If you are not familiar with the story of ShutterSpeed I’d recommend you spend an hour or so reading through this thread. Or at the very least, 20 minutes reading the first few pages.

However if you don’t have the time or the inclination to trawl through that, allow me to sum it up for you:

1 – Group of excitable 15-year-olds register on a notoriously “difficult” music forum, asking for feedback for their new grunge band.
2 – Grown adults on said forum humour the youngsters, and proclaim that they not only like the music, but that the badly-recorded tuneless noise is the best thing to come out of Aberdeen in years, and that this band are set for stardom.
3 – Band members appear to take the praise seriously.
4 – Joke begins to get a little bit out of hand, as soon there are 2000 posts in the thread, not to mention ShutterSpeed fan groups, t-shirts, groupies etc. and the praise is getting ridiculous.
5 – Local promoter sees an opportunity and offers them a gig at The Tunnels.
6 – Debut gig is instantly labelled the biggest musical event in the city for years. Scenesters young and old promise to turn up to see it.

And so this is how I find myself in The Tunnels on a Wednesday night, supping a pint, surrounded by local music luminaries, and awaiting the debut of a group of scared-looking 15 year olds with a kind of car-crash curiosity.

8.10 and ShutterSpeed take to the stage, and launch into their first song “Hollow Minded Citizen”. As soon as they take to the stage, I, and most of the rest of the crowd of sniggering 20-30 year olds, take to the floor. It’s weird seeing these young guys performing on the stage where I’ve seen so many experienced bands, it felt like watching Stars In Their Eyes Kids Special or something, like watching kids acting like adults, and I felt a little bit bad for them becoming the butt of a massive joke. Though at the end of the song, they got an amazing reception which almost took the roof off the place, and you could actually see the weight being lifted off their shoulders, and they relaxed a lot more after that. Later songs included the int0rn3t’s favourite ”Doberman” (twice), “Long And Lonesome Road” the Pearl Jam song “Lukin” and two Nirvana covers. And they were actually passable, for the most part. The songs on their MySpace are just atrocious, utterly dreadful, it’s as though they wrote a song, and then just recorded it without even running through it first, it was like introducing a new level of bad to music. But they have obviously been practicing since they recorded these, and although they still have some issues with timing, and tuning, and a few other things, they were probably no worse than your average 15 year old school band.

About halfway through this gig, the oddest thing happened. It suggested to me something that I’ve had a suspicion has been sneaking up on us for a while. Aberdeen’s music scene looks like it’s beginning to come back to to life. Looking around the venue, I was able to look at most of the people there and say “There’s Adam and Christy from The Deportees, there’s Brian and Rass from Deadloss Superstar, Paul and Shaki from Escape To Victory, Bob from Point Of Origin, Teabags from the Moorings” and there were loads of folks from other bands, all standing around one venue. Sure it may have been as a result of a fairly silly internet meme (for want of a better term), but one thing that I always remember from being on the music scene here during the very busy early 2000s period was being able to walk into Moshulu, Drakes or wherever and go “There’s the guys from Sirius over by the bandit, there’s the bassist from Subsistence at the bar, there’s My Decaying Leg, there’s Hot Mangu, The Rebel Jellybeans, Psycho-A-Go-Go, Black Atom, Quik, 7 Stone Under” etc. You’d see all these band members strewn around the place, and you all knew each other, you’d all been to see each other’s bands, or played together, it was like being a part of a club or something. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that feeling, like being part of something, and I felt it in the Tunnels the other night. I know it might be a false dawn, and that most people were just there to take the piss, but I really do think the music scene in Aberdeen is about to take off again, I feel like we’re on the up, like we’re on the edge of something. And if takes a bunch of grown men giggling at a group of fumbling 15 year olds to start it off, then so be it.

Anyway, I digress. ShutterSpeed, were shite, but they were a fucking lot better than most people were expecting them to be. But come on, there only young guys, they’ve probably only been playing their instruments for a few months, and they’ve started gigging too early. They’ve got a good attitude, give them a bit of time and I’m sure they’ll get better. As for the atmosphere? It was great. There may have been a subtext, but The Speed got a great crowd, a great reaction, and it was just really fucking fun. And amusingly, the place virtually emptied as soon as they came off stage. There were 3 bands on after ShutterSpeed, but no-one could have followed that, so like the others, I finished my pint and left.

Verdict:
The band - *
The atmosphere - *****

This gives ShutterSpeed an average score of:
***

www.myspace.com/shutterspeedisgrungin (listen at your own risk)

Album Review – Fudge Charity Compilation CD 2 – “Mirror, Signal, Mongolia”

2010-04-01T19:45:00.000Z

Reviewed by Lucky

The first Fudge Fundraising CD was a rip-roaring success, so as inevitably as a piss follows a shit, here comes Fudge Fundraising CD part 2, titled "Mirror, Signal, Mongolia".

My review introductions of late have been becoming ever-more convoluted, so before I go off on a tangent, let’s make like a sexually-inexperienced teenage boy, skip the foreplay and head straight for the good stuff.

Opening things up are Alpha Male with their take on the Fudge Theme, 42 seconds of monk-like chanting over an church organ. As an opener to a fairly odd CD produced by some fairly odd people, it works. So far, so Fudge. Following that up is Le Reno Amps with “The Guilded Road”, a straightforward rock track that always threatens to come to life but seems to get a bit stuck in the birth canal. It rocks a bit at the halfway point when it goes into a double time instrumental, but compared with other tracks on the CD it’s a bit “meh”.

“Bowl Of Cherries” by Cuddly Shark is at track 3, and this is a punky rocky treat, oozing confidence, and played with the vigour of God’s evil twin jizzing spunky fireballs down onto a screaming village, while sticking his tongue out, closing one eye and giving the international symbol of rock. That was a weird description. I never know what kind of images these bands are conjure up in my head. It’s just one of the hazards of the job. This rocks like fuck, and then you look at the band name and you see “Cuddly Shark”. Srsly? WTF?

Onwards to track 4, and here we have The Elvis Suicide with “Laura Was Right”, which clocks in at just over a minute, and would probably be best described as rockabilly. These guys sound like they’re giving it their all, but the song isn’t great. At track 5 is Deadloss Superstar, the only band to make it onto CD1 and CD 2 (and what’s the betting on CD 3?) “Momentum” is probably their most melodic song, it’s certainly not the most rocking song in their repertoire but it’s the one you’ll find yourself singing in the shower. The production sounds really polished, and the cello in it is cool but it’s a wee bit overused. Good band that Deadloss.

Next up is Super Adventure Club with “Nosferatu”, which I’ve listened to about 6 times, but I still can’t get my head round. What the fuck is this lunacy? It sounds like music from a kids TV show being played by drunk redneck zombies dressed as Frank Zappa. Just fucking madness, it’s chops and changes from riff to riff, changes time signature, instruments stop and start, the accents change from American to Glaswegian, and it goes from psychobilly to jazz to punk to country to metal and back again without any sort of rhyme or reason. Of course, I absolutely fucking love it. This is my favourite song on the album. In fact, it might well be my favourite song out of every song, ever. I defy you to find another band in the world that sound like this.

If your brain can stand the 7 minutes of awesomeness that preceded, you’ll get to “Eating The Body Is The Perfect Crime” by Greater The Shadow. This starts out as laid back instrumental indie rock –the kind of thing you’d expect Zero 7 or Air to turn out if they started making indie music – and then suddenly it turns into hard rock with weird electronic beeps that sounds like someone kicking Kraftwerk in the scrotum. This is a very interesting track, which despite being an 8 minute instrumental, never gets boring.

Fuck me, I’ve used a whole page and I’m only up to track 8. This could go on longer than a Vesuvian song.

At track 8 is “Coincidence Is No Accident” by Ali Ferguson, and it’s a beauty. Seemingly this guy is quite famous, but I’ve never heard of him. It’s kind of an ambient acoustic rock, with added swirly noises and drum effects., like the love-child of Massive Attack, Moby and Elliot Smith (Do you think I can ever manage a whole review without comparing someone to Elliot Smith?). To quote Facebook, “Lucky Rathen likes this”.

Next up are Rise with “Burning Love”. Where do I start with Rise? I’ve played with them and they are a nice bunch of guys, but I just hate this band. I love classic rock, Crue, Kiss etc, I’m all for it normally, but this is balls. Musically it’s all fairly well played, but the singer really doesn’t have the voice for this kind of music, he sounds like someone is stapling his balls to his nipples, and he is frequently off-key. I don’t really know if this band are trying to be taking seriously or are just a bit of fun, but sorry guys, it’s just not for me. I’ll be at your gig on 1st May at the Moorings, so feel free to prove me wrong.

“Snakes And Ladders” by Ivory Fall are at number 10, and this one I do like. This rockin’ sumbitch is a belter, and it’s more infectious than a three-dollar whore, and I’ve caught myself singing it on various occasions. Good work fellas, whoever you are.

Next – Ten Tonne Dozer with “The Valley”, a sublime mash-up of deep-south gospel and metal. This is awesome, awesome, awesome, even if it does sound suspiciously like Clutch. I would shag this song if I could. Ghosts In The Arcade are up next with “Sick And Unwell”, and this is another band I have a lot of time for, they have a kind of 90s college rock sound, the sort of thing you would hear on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or on the soundtrack to Empire Records. Have you heard of Better Than Ezra? If you like them you’ll like this. If you haven’t, go listen to Better Than Ezra. And watch Empire Records while you’re at it. Local indie-pop celebrities Nero have a go next with “Halloween”, which is pretty average really. I haven’t seen Nero live for many a long year, but I don’t remember ever being that impressed with them. Aye they were OK, but there have been better bands since. This just sounds like a fairly straightforward pop song. Downfall are at track 14 with “Wrecking Ball”, and you can read my thoughts on Downfall in the last review. (Can you tell I’m running out of time? Time to speed things up)

Track 15. Armoured Cats - “The Defeatist”. What would an armoured cat look like then? Would I still be allergic to it? Oh yeah this song is decent. NEXT! Good Sir Smith – “Nuclear”. Poor recording. Good song. I’m eating jellybeans. NEXT! The Curators - “State Of Grace (live)”. Good singer. Really good singer. Lots of power in his voice. Cool harmonies. The song is a little bit forgettable though. Sounds like Manic Street Preachers. NEXT! Ghosts Of Progress – “Offshore Syndrome (live)”. I fucking love these guys. There’s only two of them, and one of them plays lead guitar with his hands, plays drums with his feet, and he’s also the lead singer. Seriously, you should see that shit, it’s unbelievable. He has three pedals on the floor, one hitting a bass drum, one hitting a snare drum and one a cymbal and he does it all with one foot. Anyway it’s kinda countryish but they tend to go a bit radge at the end of the songs and just rock out. This song is OK. Not their best but good enough. See them live though before you make your mind up.

Verdict - ****

Not as good as the first CD, but a bit more eclectic. As I said before, it’s only £4 and it’s for charity, so get it bought you fucking mung.

http://www.teamfudge.com/

Album Review - Downfall - "Unburnable"

2010-03-23T18:55:00.003Z

Self released

Reviewed by Lucky

Technically speaking, this is two old EPs tacked together onto one disc and handed out for free at gigs. However, it’s got 11 songs and it came out this year so I’m treating it as a new album. You don’t like that? Suck my balls.

If you’ve read reviews of anything metal-related on these hallowed pages, you’ll know this – I know dick about metal. I used to listen to metal a lot when I was a teenager, however if you exclude System Of A Down, the last metal album I bought was “Antichrist Superstar” by Marilyn Manson in 1997. And even that’s not “proper” metal. Before that the newest metal album on my iPod is “Far Beyond Driven” by Pantera, which came out in 1994. When I say I like metal I mean I like Ronnie James Dio, Judas Priest, Ozzy, Motley Crue, Megadeth, Slayer – now there’s about 7 million different metal sub-genres, I don’t even know what half of them mean. Neo-classical metal? Symphonic metal? Drone metal? GTFO with your wanky terms and get back to singing about the only two subjects metal should broach – riding winged beasts in an epic battle against the forces of evil, or porking birds with great big tits. However, in the grand scheme of Aberzine I would imagine asking indie wunderkind Gladstone to review a metal album would be like asking an American to locate Israel on a map – lots of blind groping and guesswork - so like the trooper I am, I’m going to stop talking about myself (my favourite topic) and get on with Downfall.

Initially upon scouring the back of the “Unburnable” sleeve I noticed something I really hate jumping out at me. See if you can spot it.

“On the go since 2005, Scottish Heavy Metal band ‘Downfall’ are slamming something new on the table. A unique mix of Thrash, Blues and Rock n Roll, Downfall will get your head banging and your hearing tested.”

No it’s not the questionable grammar; it’s the phrase “slamming something new on the table”. From my years of experience attending local gigs for, let me give you a quick summary:

Percentage of bands who claim on their MySpace profile to be doing something new: over 90%

Percentage of bands who actually deliver on this promise – less than 1%

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. A band doesn’t have to be doing something original to be good, they just have to be doing something good. Sometimes bands don’t realise that.

Downfall play a sort of slowed down, plodding, grindy metal with a variety of different influences thrown on top of it. You can hear 80s metal riffage with squealing pinched harmonics and wah-wah laden solos; you can hear 70s style classic rock guitar fills; You can hear a singer who sings in a gruff voice and occasionally drops in a growl here and there; in one song you can hear expertly played acoustic guitar; in another you can hear bridge pick-up reverby soloing that could almost belong to Pink Floyd. It’s an interesting mix and one that is for the most part successful – this is a very solid heavy rock album with a lot of good songs on it. Opener “Breaking Down” is a great introduction to Downfall’s sound, heavily led by the guitar riffs, and a stop/start structure, the lyrics telling, somewhat fittingly, of one man’s downfall. This theme is continued throughout with “CYF”, “The Surge”, “Panic Attack”, and, quite frankly, most of the rest of the album, which sticks steadfastly to the rifftastic 4/4 heavy rock formula. And why not? It works for them, they do it well and it sounds great.

The first real departure from this sounds come in the shape of “Nothing”, track 5 on the album, which is a stunning, sombre number with mournful layered vocals over gorgeous acoustic guitar and strings. It really breaks the album up wonderfully just as you’re beginning to wonder if this band have any other strings to their bow. Top tune.

From there onwards the album pretty much follows on as it began, with balls-out rawk. Tracks 7-10 are from a different EP to tracks 1-6 and the difference in quality is obvious, not only in terms of the recording quality, but in the quality of the songs. While tracks 1-6 are obviously all cut from the same cloth, they at least have enough about them to make them stand out from one another. Tracks 7-10 begin to meld together a bit in your brain and sound sort of generic. They are good songs but they are too similar.

The album closes out with bonus track “Lost”, a track which is mostly instrumental, with clean guitar and solos that wouldn’t sound out of place on “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. Just when I accuse them of being too similar, they do something completely different.

Downfall know what they are doing and they do it well. At its core, it’s heavy, bluesy rock with hints of metal. This is a good album, the first 6 tracks especially are excellent, although it does dip in quality near the end (or maybe that’s just my short attention span). If you want to put on an album and rock the fuck out then you could do far worse that this.

But lets go back to third and fourth paragraphs shall we?

“Downfall are slamming something new on the table. A unique mix of Thrash, Blues and Rock n Roll, Downfall will get your head banging and your hearing tested”.

This is certainly good, and it got my head banging, but is it new? Well, no, it isn’t. In their attempt to fuse thrash, blues and rock & roll (seriously rock & roll? Where?) Downfall have invented Alice In Chains. Heavy, slow guitar riffs, dark themes, gravelly voice – sound familiar? Every song here sounds like it would sit nicely on Dirt or Facelift – the singer even sounds a bit like Layne Stayley. Is this a bad thing? No. I fucking love Alice In Chains, if anything it’s a compliment for me to compare a band to Alice In Chains. You can pick up these CD from their gigs, or at Captain Toms. And you should because it’s decent. Just resist the urge to say “Yo Downfall, I’m real happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Alice In Chains made one of the greatest rock albums of all time. All time!”

Verdict - ***

Starts really strongly but fades toward the end.
www.myspace.com/downfall13

Gig Review - Stiff Little Fingers / Point Of Origin @ Lemon Tree - 16-Mar-2010

2010-03-18T18:33:00.001Z

Reviewed by Lucky

Confession time – I’ve never seen Stiff Little Fingers live before, despite them coming up to Aberdeen every single year for about the last 600 years or so. Confession number 2 – I only own one of their albums (can you guess which one?), although it is one of my favourite albums of all time and listen to I often. So, after using my “contacts” to obtain two guest list spots, thus saving £30, I wandered down to the Lemon Tree for a spot of old school punk…

The opening band for the night were Point Of Origin, Aberdeen’s pop-punk survivors. The chance to play for a packed Lemon Tree isn’t one that comes around often and I am really pleased that Point got this gig, because they are a great band and a really nice bunch of guys. It’s fair to say that I was slightly critical of them after their last gig at Drummonds, where I felt they were a bit sloppy – Point Of Origin on their night are more than a match for any other band in Aberdeen - they have perfectly written pop songs, peppered with gorgeous three-part harmonies and good musicianship. At Drummonds last month it was just a bit messy, a bit directionless, something didn’t sound right. On this occasion though I’m glad to say Point Of Origin took the ball and ran with it, they played absolutely brilliantly. I’ve seen them live many, many times and this performance was up there with their best. They sounded tight, professional, well-rehearsed, and their songs seemed to go down well with the crowd. Their closing double-whammy of “Radio Song” and “Blink & You Miss It Part 2” will have undoubtedly spiked the number of Google searches for Point Of Origin the next day, as I imagine they will have won over quite a number of new fans playing to this different audience. A top-drawer performance.

So after a piss, a pint and a fag, it was time for Stiff Little Fingers to take to the stage. Wasting no time, Jake Burns and co. launched straight into Wasted Life from Inflammable Material. At the age of 52, Jake’s voice has lost it’s trademark snarl and he looks like he may not be averse to the odd fish supper, but while he’s may have lost some of his youthful exuberance, he sounds incredibly polished, both his voice and his guitar-playing (though I guess if you’ve been playing this song for 30 years, you’d probably be quite good at it too). This gig reminds me a little of going to see Madness at the AECC a couple of years ago – far from being the “Nutty Boys” of their youth, Suggs and Co were relaxed, genial, charismatic and entertaining, spending as much time talking to the crowd and telling stories as playing songs. Stiff Little Fingers were kind of similar. Of course they still played the old songs, but the anger, the passion, most of all the “punk attitude” has ebbed away, leaving mostly nostalgia. Jake Burns barely seemed to break a sweat, appearing calm and relaxed and sharing stories with the crowd. And I cannot mark them down for that, their modus operandi may have changed (though they’d no doubt deny that) but still they were good, very good in fact. They played their songs brilliantly, almost effortlessly, barely missing a beat, and although some of the newer stuff seemed to fall flat, tracks toward the end such as “Suspect Device”, “Nobody’s Hero” and “Alternative Ulster” still had a bit of the old energy to them, and they did manage to get the crowd moving.

Ah yes, the crowd. I think before the gig I had this romanticised vision in my head of the late 70s punk movement, mohicans, studded jackets, beer, glue, puke – you get the picture. I was expecting all the old punks to be out in force, reliving their youth. And it happened. But what I didn’t count on is that most of the old punks are now 50 year old, balding, pudgy middle-managers who have to be up early to drive to the office in their BMW. Punk it may have been, this was one of the most well-behaved crowds I’ve ever seen, although the place was packed to the rafters, there wasn’t much movement except from in the front few rows. But again, that’s not a bad thing, that’s just where this band are these days.

In short, I enjoyed this gig, this review may not make it sound like I did, but I really did. Point Of Origin were a good choice to open the night and they played really well, and Stiff Little Fingers also played really well, despite not having the raw energy and passion they maybe once had. Unlike a lot of punk bands from that era, there is a lot more to their songs than just 4 badly-played chords and a load of noisy shouting, which is perhaps the reason they are still going strong after all these years, when most of the other punk bands fell by the wayside years ago. Their songs are catchy, anthemic, and interesting enough to have staying power. If Stiff Little Fingers come back (which they definitely will) I might go and see them again, but now that I’ve seen them once, and sung along to all the old songs, I don’t really see there being much different next time around.

Ratings:
Point Of Origin - ****
Stiff Little Fingers - ***

www.slf.com
www.myspace.com/pointoforiginuk

Album Review – JJ Bull – "Ou Sont Les Elephants"

2010-03-16T18:15:00.004Z

Self released

Reviewed by Lucky

JJ Bull, former lead singer of noise-pop trio 10 Easy Wishes has been hard at work for a year and a half working on this, his debut solo album. Listing his influences as Frightened Rabbit, The Swell Season, The Who, Fleetwood Mac and Friendly Fires, JJ has been busy self-promoting this for the past few months, and adds in one of his promotional emails “I'm really proud of the whole thing so I’m not ashamed to big it up”. So, obviously JJ thinks a lot of it. But is it any good? Well, let’s get down to business…

Breezy. Whimsical. Lo-fi. Folky. Americana. Hints of country. These are all things I’ve written down in my notes while listening to “Ou Sont Les Elephants” over the past few days. Trying to pin this down to a genre is difficult, as it straddles a numbers of genres and exhibits a host of different sounds. In the 11 songs on this album, I can hear folk, I can hear country, I can hear rock, soul, even electro. There are shades of Bright Eyes, of JJ72, of Mercury Rev. But for all its variety, one thing is constant throughout – more than anything else this album is simply outstanding.

From the moment the album starts with the beautiful “Grandstand” it never quite lets you go, taking you on a journey of highs and lows with wonderfully layered and textured songs, and lyrics that manage to sound both playfully light-hearted and yet deeply personal at the same time. The guitar chords, and particularly the chord changes on “Grandstand”, "Chalk Scene" and "Tommy" are a joy to listen to, and would almost work as instrumentals. At times JJ does wisely let the vocals take a step back to allow the music behind them to shine through – most obviously in the Flaming Lips-esque “Don’t Paint” with its stabby piano and its synth effects, which builds to a wonderful crescendo with pitch-perfect female backing vocals and violins. At other points on the album you’ll also hear Hammond organs, fiddles, harmonicas, xylophones and synths seeping through and adding to the sound. But then on “Coal” in particular, JJ shows off just how good a singer he can be, in this sparsely-instrumented track he really sings from the heart and nails the vocal completely – it is the shortest song on the album and yet the most effective. Another highlight is the countryish “Capital City”, which also builds up to a wonderful crescendo full of harmonies and strings and leaves you with one of those warm fuzzy feelings you keep reading about. At its heart this album is folksy, guitar led Americana, but there is so much more going on in all the tracks that it never once becomes dull or samey.

Though it’s not all perfect – track 2 “121 Miles” is a quirky little pop song that never really goes anywhere, and the last two tracks are a dip in quality compared to the rest of the album. But that said, there isn’t one song on this album you could describe as “bad”, and the quality of the rest of the songs more than make up for the few weaker ones.

JJ has every right to feel immensely proud of this album, it is a startlingly good debut and I was genuinely blown away by it. Buy this album. No excuses, just get out there and buy it. “Ou Sont Les Elephants” is one of the best albums you will hear in 2010. And that’s a promise.

Verdict - *****

Standout track – “Chalk Scene”, great guitar work, arrangement and lyrics – this song has the whole package. Also honourable mentions to “Coal” – the best vocal on the album by a mile, and the excellent “Tommy”.

“Ou Sont Les Elephants” is released on March 22nd.

Catch JJ Bull live: in-store at One Up on the 20th of March at 4pm, and at Drummonds on the 2nd of April with special guests.

http://www.myspace.com/jjbull

Gig Review - Barberos / Mr Peppermint / Spectral Fairground @ Drummonds - 23-Feb-2010

2010-03-13T15:14:00.004Z

Written by guest reviewer Matt

8pm and I was stood at the bar alone, furiously texting any person I could think of who'd be willing to come down to join me as the night's bands nervously shifted around an empty Drummonds.

Soundchecks long over, ticket desk open and manned, the signs weren't good. Ok, it was still early but when I say it was empty I mean ominously empty. The only conversation going on in the place was between an old alcoholic (who had clearly been drinking since the bar opened and so had gained free entry to the gig by default) and a virtual Noel Edmonds at the quiz machine. I was the only other punter in there.

Two of my friends strolled in and instantly the place felt more full. The opening act took the stage, a few more people came in and pockets of bodies dotted the venue but it was clear this was gonna be no sell out.

Spectral Fairground, a young Aberdonian experimental noise-maker turned out in the end to be a fitting support act. Structureless synthetic waves of static, bleepy glitches and looped screaming is how I can best think to describe what he does. That sounds like criticism but it really isn't. Unorthodox and challenging was the theme of the night and Spectral Fairground is the personification of those two terms. (A discussion with him after the gig confirmed this to be the case even in social situations... a really nice guy though). I'm not too proud to admit that I didn't understand exactly what he was trying to acheive with his set and at times I felt as if the repetition was a substitute for actual content but I respect what he was doing. Making electronic instruments come together to produce sounds so dense and, quite honestly, scary is no mean feat. There were definitely moments of genuine emotion running through the cerebral pounding he gave his audience. Perhaps one to watch out for in the future if he figures out how to properly gauge the general thresholds for his indulgent gadgetry.

Lights dimmed, rabble louder, projector on, Fraggle Rock DVD in! Cheesy Irony such as this at gigs just doesn't sit well with me. If you're going to do visuals, do them properly.
A cartoony wink to the audience will add nothing to your music.

So now it was me who was doing the nervous shifting. Putting a pint in one hand and placing the other hand in my pocket whilst looking around the room is my usual procedure for feeling at ease at moments like this. Then...

BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was over. Mr Peppermint had taken the stage and delivered an utter onslaught. It flew by and my snobby internal rant about the visuals instantly forgotten. It was loud. Very loud. Too loud. Then very loud and eventually just loud. My social awkwardness from before quickly gave way to oblivious gaping-gob and noddy-head syndrome. I have no idea what the mask contraption is that he wears on his face nor the exact number of effects and pedals he uses with his guitar, and I don't care. He plays messy, fuzzy music laden with feeling and I am now a big fan. My ears sincerely are not. Job done Mr Peppermint.

A brief break whilst the night's headline act got changed into their trademark white lycra body socks. Yes, that's right...white lycra body socks. Quel gimmick! I thought. The blatant stipping away of the 'identity' of the musician by being covered in blank white material is equal measures art-school wankery and attention seeking gimmickry but given how the night had gone so far I decided to go with it. By which I mean I didn't instantly hate them for it.

Barberos are two drummers, a synth player and a laptop man/player/controller (i'm not certain about what he was doing). They are quite simply brilliant. Heavily percussion-driven synth-noise (which you could probably deduce on your own from the line-up) I can't remember ever seeing a drumming performance as good as this. Time signatures, styles, rhythms... they were all over the place yet perfectly in sync. All accompanied by various meaty synth melodies.
In addition to that, it's not very often that you come away from a gig commending the live visuals in particular but they were also spot on. Clearly well thought out and worked on as much as the music rather than a throwaway feature.

It's hard to convey the Barberos live experience in a brief review because a large part of it is the 'what the fuck is going on' feeling that rushes over you. What they do is completely mad and experimental. But what comes across strongest is the fact that they are amazingly talented musicians with an in-depth understanding of how different genres can be brought together. This, I feel, is unique. Either you get experimental or you get technical ability, rarely both.

Even the soundman looked impressed, Barberos were that good. Their set ended and everyone, all 20 of us, in the place clapped and whooped once when they finished and then again when they left the stage a few moments later. It was a spontaneous double applause born from a collective feeling that we'd just seen something special.

Barberos are planning a return trip to Aberdeen later in the year. I urge everyone to go.

www.myspace.com/barberosmusic
www.mypspace.com/mrpeppermint
www.myspace.com/spectralfairground

Gig Review - Reverend And The Makers @ Warehouse - 05-Mar-2010

2010-03-11T17:50:00.006Z

Reviewed by Lucky

Reverend And The Makers were not a band I cared much for prior to this gig. I knew 3 of their songs, one I liked (Heavyweight Champion Of The World), one I hated (He Said He Loved Me) and one I was largely indifferent to (No Soap In A Dirty War). So being asked to accompany Mrs. Lucky to the Warehouse last weekend to go and see them, I pretty much planned to just stand at the back and have a few pints.

Phase one of this plan proved impossible, as Warehouse was absolutely hoaching, and standing up the back near the bar, I couldn’t see anything and I couldn’t hear anything because the music was really quiet and everybody around me was talking. So, pint in hand, I bit the bullet and waded into the sea of arms and legs that was the Warehouse dance floor….

Reverend And The Makers then. I had always put them down as the latest jingly-jangly, flavour-of-the-month, sound-alike NME cover-band, which would be darlings of the indie music fraternity for all of five minutes before being dropped faster than George Michael’s keks on Hampstead Heath. So I was surprised to see their stage set up included a trumpeter and three synths. And far from being the wanky afterthought music of shitwands like The Wombats, The Pigeon Detectives, The Hoosiers, The Enemy et al, their songs actually had some substance to them, they were really dark, and had tinges of electro and 2-tone in places. Frontman Jon McClure (that’s a name just begging to be used in a detective novel) has real charisma about him, he spent the whole gig prowling up and down the stage, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, all the time looking intense and focused, almost pissed off, never allowing himself to crack a smile, never letting up, and there’s something so innately watchable about him, someone so completely into what they are doing, that it really makes you feel part of it, and makes you not want to look away.

The themes of their songs don’t stray too far away from those of fellow Sheffield bands, Pulp and Artic Monkeys, relaying frustrations at working class life, consumerism and the likes – and although we may have seen and heard this before, Reverend do try to bring something new to the table with the synthy beats and brass. What does let them down unfortunately is the strength of the songs – they get very samey and seem to repeat over and over again. But in spite of this, they are very very watchable, and Jon McClure does such a fantastic job of working up the crowd and holding their attention that it becomes more about losing yourself to the beat than analysing the music.

To be honest, I’m still not totally sold on Reverend & The Makers, but having experienced them live and seen what they are about, I have a lot more respect for them, and I can certainly listen to them with a new ear – in fact I played one of their albums on the way to work this morning. As a live “show” this gig was excellent, however musically? Average to good. Though I still hate “He Said He Loves Me”.

High Point – Jon McClure – a fantastic frontman.

Low Point – Typical Aberzine time-keeping meant I missed all the local support.

Verdict - ***

www.iamreverend.com

Gig Review - In Atlanta @ Mambo's Nightclub - 06-Mar-2010

2010-03-08T10:45:00.011Z

Shmeet the Beat Clubnight

Reviewed by Gladstone

I was really looking forward to hearing these guys live, having been blown away by the "bedroom recordings" on their myspace. When they walked onstage, I thought they looked too young to be out beyond 9pm on a Saturday night in Peterhead. These little bastards make me feel old. Very old. Anyway - no messing about, straight into the first tune, and it's good. The singer has a drumstick, and is helping the drummer out at the start of the song, as it kicks in, I think of early Doves, which is no bad thing at all. The singer does look incredibly nervous in the first song, but this is their first ever gig, and so far, they're doing brilliantly. As the place starts to fill up, and they progress through their set, they grow in confidence and in stature. I, and it seems everyone else in the place, am really enjoying their set.

The curveball of the set for me is a massively surprising cover of Calvin Harris's "Flashback". Where the fuck did that come from? Slightly risky, but by fuck it was good. Brilliant in fact. One of the best cover versions I've ever heard live.

Unfortunately, I had to leave unexpectedly before the end of In Atlanta's set, I probably only missed one song, but that was one song more than I wanted to miss.

As first gigs go, this was the best debut performance I have ever seen. The band were tight as the proverbial duck's arse, and not only that - they were good. Every tune was good, the frontman kept his chat to a minimum (which may have been down to nerves, but I'd advise to keep it that way), and everything was delivered flawlessly.

A word about the venue / clubnight is in order too. What the Shmeet the Beat guys have developed at Mambo's Nightclub in Peterhead is an absolutely fantastic venue. Phil the sound engineer (don't know his surname) brought in his brilliant PA system, and had it sounding absolutely fantastic. They also have dressing rooms / rider / etc for the bands, and treat them very well - so if you get asked to play at a clubnight with these guys, don't scoff at it because it's in Peterhead. It's a very good venue, and there will always be a crowd.

Rating - ****

(Note - if I was marking In Atlanta, purely on the basis of debut gigs, they'd have got about 10 out of 5)

www.myspace.com/inatlantauk
www.myspace.com/shmeetthebeat

Gig Review - MINNAARS / Eskimo Blonde / Marionettes / The Ivory Fall @ Drummonds - 05-Mar-2010

2010-03-07T22:10:00.001Z

Exposure Clubnight

Reviewed by Gladstone

First up on the night was the relatively new and unknown The Ivory Fall. Other than listening to a couple of tunes on their myspace site, I had no idea what to expect. What they had brought to Drummonds with them, was the most enthusiastic fan I'd ever seen, fully kitted out with red waistcoat. Magic. So, their set starts and the first thing I think is, "Holy shit, that's loud - incredibly loud." For a three-piece, these guys have an enormous sound. Something akin to Biffy Clyro, which is the main comparison that comes to mind. Very loud, very rocking, and on the whole decent tunes. For a band early in their gigging career, they are very tight for most of their set. The second last song went a bit wrong - I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I think it fell apart slightly, but it was covered up reasonably well, and they got on with it professionally, and their last song was delivered well. (Verdict - if it hadn't been for the second last song falling apart, it would have been a 3, but I'll give them 2.5. There's potential there for this band to be really good, but the set was a little bit samey, but I did enjoy it).

Second up were a band I've seen many times, but Marionettes have dropped the "The" from their name, lost a member, and added two new members and a synth since I last saw them. What these guys offer is incredibly fast, up- beat, verging on punky indie music. If you imagine what the Arctic Monkeys would have sounded like if they were from Inverurie, this is it. As always, Marionettes are brilliant. I really like this band, and love what they do. They never care if they're playing in front of three people or three million people, they just deliver their set with masses of enthusiasm, and Friday night was no different. I didn't get to pay as much attention to their set as I would have liked as there was a flurry of people coming through the door about halfway through their set, and my fellow doorman had gone awol... But what I heard was good. The only mild "criticism" I would have, although it's not even a criticism, is I don't really see what the synth adds. It doesn't make the songs any worse, but I don't think it makes them any better either. (Verdict - a solid 4 out of 5)

Third of the locals were veterans Eskimo Blonde. I've been arguing their corner with music snobs for a while. What Eskimo Blonde offer is good old fashioned American influenced rock / pop tunes, with one of the best vocalists in Aberdeen in Mike Loszak. However, I wasn't digging their set on Friday as much as normal - it could just be that they were a bad fit with the rest of the line up, but something just didn't sound as spot on as it normally does. Couldn't put my finger on it, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I normally do. (Verdict - 2 out of 5 - though it would normally be a 4!)

Then it was the shot of the headline act, MINNAARS. Having watched the soundcheck, I was very excited about the live performance, and I wasn't disappointed. Drummonds had been steady all night, but definitely not busy. There seemed to be a flurry of punters through the door just before MINNAARS started, and the instant they kicked into their set, the place was bouncing. Think of the Editors but with a million per cent more energy, and you'd be close, and comparisons with Friendly Fires wouldn't be far off the mark. The singer was climbing on anything he could find, and the set was very, very enjoyable. This was also their first gig in a few months, and it seemed to go perfectly. I'd love to see them play in a packed out Drummonds, I mean, right out the door, with no room to move. That would be great. The only thing I didn't like, was the amount of chat between some of the songs. It could have been filler as they were sorting tuning, or the backing track or something, but I think they lost a few of the punters with their chat. So, less chat and more banging tunes please. (Verdict - solid 4 out of 5).

Highlight - MINNAARS. Absolutely fantastic.

Rating - ****

www.myspace.com/minnaars
www.myspace.com/eskimoblonde
www.myspace.com/themarionettes
www.myspace.com/theivoryfall
www.myspace.com/exposureclubnights

Gig Review - Audiokicks / Point Of Origin / Death Trap City / The Deportees @ Drummonds - 26-Feb-2010

2010-03-02T18:06:00.004Z

Fat Hippy Records Night

Reviewed By Lucky

I can honestly say that in 10 or so years of going to see gigs in Aberdeen, I have never heard of a band creating such as buzz after just one gig as the Deportees did after their debut gig at Drummonds in December. Having turned up late and missed the Deportees that evening, I was looking forward to seeing them again, and with the added bonus of catching pop-punk stalwarts Point Of Origin on the same bill, I was looking forward to this night immensely.

I see my esteemed writing partner has got in there like the proverbial “rat up the drainpipe” and reported on the Deportees before I got a chance to (here) – since I pretty much agree with every word he said, there isn’t much point in going over the same things again. It’s true, I did get goosebumps during one of their songs, I was just blown away by this band, and the reaction they got from the crowd was just astonishing for a band only on their second gig. While watching their set, I was looking for anything I could pick at to criticise them on, and the only thing I could come up with was that the guitarist’s beautiful Telecaster was covered in dirty fingerprints. And that’s it! That was all I could find.

The Deportees are playing at The Tunnels on 13th March and I strongly recommend you see this band.

So, on with the bands that Gladstone fucked off before and left me to review. Next on the bill were Death Trap City, a power trio from Edinburgh who were faced with the unenviable task of following the Deportees. I wasn’t immediately blown away by this band – their sound was like an unusual mix of Lost Prophets-y rock mixed with clean indie pop vocals. I didn’t hate them, and their songs were catchy in places, but they didn’t really do much to hold my attention. I asked my two mates for a one-weird review of their set, and one said “shit” and the other said “generic”. The first is possibly a bit harsh, but the second one isn’t far from the mark. Death Trap City are not a bad band, far from it, but in a sea of unsigned Jimmy Eat World soundalike rock bands there isn’t much to make this one stand out from the crowd.

Up next were Point Of Origin, who are a band I have seen many, many times over the years, and who I could probably write an entire article on. However, I’ll try to keep this fairly brief. When Point first started out, I didn’t care for them. They sounded too California skater punk, the lyrics were too immature, and the songs all sounded a bit the same. However as the members of Point have matured over the years, their music has too, and these days Point Of Origin are a very different beast from the noisy skater punks of 2002. These days they’re probably more power-pop than pop-punk, their songs are generally beautifully structured pop songs dripping with feeling and decorated with luscious 3 part harmonies the Beach Boys would be proud of. Tracks such as “Misery”, “Radio Song” and “Blink And You’ll Miss It” are up their with some of the finest output any Aberdeen band has to offer, and on their night Point Of Origin are a joy to behold, musically fantastic and with great banter which creates a really fun atmosphere. Sadly though tonight wasn’t Point at their finest, for whatever reason they just didn’t seem to have the sound (perhaps they offended the sound engineer before the gig). The guitars sounded messy to the point where you couldn’t really make anything out, and their usually impeccable vocal harmonies were off-key (which I’m told was down to bad monitors). But still the cheeky charm of co-frontmen Bob and Ryan shone through, and although they weren’t on top form musically, they still put on a good and enjoyable show. If you like well written pop rock melodies with added banter, then this is the band for you.

Closing the night off were Audiokicks, and to be honest by this point I was so pissed I can’t really remember much about them. I do remember them being good, and telling my friends how impressed I was with them. I remember them sounding really tight, really professional, and their songs having a lot of energy to them. I remember thinking that their singer had an awesome voice. However, I also remember them being a hard-rock / punk band, and a quick listen to their Myspace today reveals that they aren’t, they are an indie band, so it’s possible my memory of them may be slightly impaired. So to the Audiokicks I can only apologise, and promise you a soberer reviewer next time…

Highlights of the night? The Deportees, without question. This is a band who are making waves big time after only two gigs and quite rightly so, because they are fantastic. Just polish the fucking guitar next time, eh?!

Lowlight of the night? WHY IS DRUMMONDS SO FUCKING LOUD BETWEEN BANDS.

Rating - ***

www.myspace.com/theaudiokicksband
www.myspace.com/deathtrapcityofficial
www.myspace.com/pointoforiginuk
www.myspace.com/theaudiokicksband

DON'T FORGET:
9th April 2010 @ Tunnels
Aberzine Bands Night #1
Featuring Captain FACE, Point Of Origin, Autumn In Disguise & Which Way Now.

Gig Review - Deportees @ Cafe Drummonds - 26-Feb-2010

2010-03-01T07:32:00.007Z

Fat Hippy Records Night

Reviewed by Gladstone

How much did I want to see Deportees live? I'll tell you how much. After getting up at 4.50am on Friday morning to go to work, then finishing work at 4pm, and spending about 4 hours tidying and cleaning my flat, and being absolutely knackered, I got a text from one of the band members saying they were on stage at 8.45pm. I decided, rather than going home for a nice relaxing bath, that I'd go to the gig. I jumped in the car and sped into town, ditching the car at the closest legal place I could think of, and legged it to Drummonds. Having not done much exercise recently, I was almost dead by the time I got to Drummonds. I saw Captain Tom and wheezed "are Deportees on yet", "nah, man. About 10 minutes". So I nipped across to the cash machine, and back to Drummonds, saw my Aberzine colleague Lucky, headed inside, got a pint, and then waited for the magic to start. This took a good bloody half an hour! I could have strolled, taking the long way round. Stopped for a chat with a couple of beggars on Union Street, and still had time to order a pint before Deportees started.

Nonetheless, I was still very excited about seeing this band. I have what can only be described as "gay love" for Eddison, and the same in equal proportions for Edgar Prais. Deportees are made up of members from both these bands, plus a couple of necessary additional members. I'd heard only good things about Deportees following their first gig that I couldn't get to due to fifteen feet of snow blocking me in.

Eventually, lead singer Adam Keenan announces that they are Deportees, and song one begins. And what a start! Four way spine tinglingly amazing vocal harmony with no instruments being played, except the odd tap on a drum by Christy. Having four members of your band that can sing this well, is just plain greedy. The song eventually kicks in, and well, it's just beautiful. There's some more bravery being shown with some odd timings of the first couple of songs. No simple 4/4 timings here. I'm not even knowledgable enough to tell you what it is - it's a bit "stop/start", speeding up, slowing down, kicking in louder, etc etc. A lot of work has quite clearly gone into these songs, and there's a lot could go tits up, but the band delivers it absolutely perfectly. The solid drumming is obviously essential for this to work, and work it does - brilliantly.

It's difficult to pin down and label what the Deportees offer up in terms of a genre or style. It's a bit rock, a bit country, a bit indie - it's most definitely brilliant.

The highlight of the set is "Stay All Night" - again, quite difficult to describe - it builds up from a fairly quiet and innocuous start, about halfway through the band hit you with a wall of sound - it's incredible how loud the song is (without being too loud), and you can 100% imagine them doing this on a much bigger stage. At this point, Lucky turned round to me and said "I just got goosebumps", and it's easy to see why.

The band wrap up their set with what Adam Keenan described as "a little country bastard", I think it was called "Let The Roses Grow" or something similar, and it was also fantastic, and a great, upbeat way to finish what is one of the best thirty minute sets of live music I've seen for quite some time.

This is a band to keep a firm eye on. If these guys want to, they can really make something of this band. Already right up there with my favourite bands, after just one showing.

Rating - ****
(very nearly a five-star rating, but I don't want them to peak too early!)

Gig Review - Los Campesinos / Swanton Bombs / Islet @ Tunnels 1- 15-Feb-2010

2010-02-18T17:46:00.006Z

Reviewed by guest reviewer Lucius.

Where to start? Firstly, I’m Lucius a friend of Lucky’s who volunteered to review this gig. It should be pointed out that unlike Lucky and Gladstone who are music makers, I am merely a music fan. I play a little guitar, bass and dabble in keyboards but my major talent is sucking at all three. So this review will simply be written from a music lover’s point of view and will be bereft of any technical knowledge whatsoever.

First thing that should be noted is that entry to this gig was a whopping £10. Normally I wouldn’t grumble at ticket prices but for a Monday night with 3 bands I had never heard of, I thought it was quite pricey. I’m used to paying 3 or 5 quid to see at least 4 bands. Maybe I’m just being a tight git?

First up were Islet, a 4 piece hailing from Cardiff. My first thought was, “I hope that jackass who keeps whooping at the front shuts up so I can hear them”. As it turns out he was part of the band and the whooping was him starting the song. Next we heard a sound like a Hammond organ being rhythmically beaten with a hammer. I looked at my mate and was greeted by a confused look that matched my own. The drums, bass and guitar suddenly kicked in and the volume gradually grew until I lost myself completely to the music. Never have I fallen so completely in love with a band in the first minute of hearing them play. This first song went on for about 6 minutes, but as soon as it stopped I felt let down. I didn’t want it to stop. Luckily after a few position changes it was back into it, with more screaming, weird noises and two of the members running through the crowd with tambourines. So many bands stand completely still and just play song after song, barely moving, but not Islet. They all seemed to have so much energy and genuinely seemed to love what they were doing, which was refreshing. Not only did they dance about a lot but they all took turns playing different instruments for each song (except the bass player, but during the fifth and last song she was playing bass and drumming at the same time - gotta love multitasking!).

One thing that annoyed me is that there was no chat between songs. Sometimes bands talk too much, but this band didn’t talk enough, hence I have no idea what any of their songs are called. Anyway, more screaming, wailing, chanting and weirdness. It didn’t feel like a gig anymore but some kind of ritual welcoming us all into the far-out Cult of Islet. If they were handing out deadly Kool-Aid at the end of this thing I would have drank it!

The first thing I did when I got home was search for these guys on the internet. What did I find? Nothing. They apparently shun the net. They also don’t release their stuff on CD, as I was distraught to discover when I inspected the merchandise stand only to find some weird newsletter they produce. (More evidence of a cult?)

All I can say is that if you get a chance to see these guys, do it. You won’t regret it. You may be a bit confused, but you'll be blissfully free of regret.

Next up were Swanton Bombs. I was instantly grabbed by the name. I’m a wrestling fan so I got the reference straight away, and then wished I had thought of calling a band that. A two-piece from London, they were faced with a hell of a challenge - how do you follow what we just witnessed? Now obviously I could go down the lazy journalistic route and say they try to be a bit like The White Stripes, but with a better drummer. Well, they did sound a bit White Stripe-y, but mixed in with a heavy dose of Kings of Leon, and I liked what I was hearing. The problem was that I then heard what sounded like the same song, 3 more times in a row.

A friend of mine judges bands by how many smoke breaks he takes during a performance. I don’t smoke, yet I found myself outside The Tunnels as I was bored to tears by this band. A lot of people seemed to feel the same. If they had been on first I don’t think I would have disliked them so much, but they had huge shoes to fill and sadly no feet!

Main event time and out come Los Campesinos, a 7-piece also from Cardiff with such an array of instruments on display I wondered how they were all going to fit on the stage. Drums, guitars, bass, banjo, keyboard, violin, xylophone and flute all made an appearance. I had researched these guys a little bit before going out and had spent the hour before the gig listening to there music in preparation. I was pumped and ready to be entertained. However, I was let down. Something just wasn’t right. It later turned out that there singer had a chest infection. Unfortunate, but damn it, I paid a tenner! They sounded great, but because of the infection, the singer couldn’t give it his all which was unfortunate. Tons of respect for the guy for trying but I just wasn’t feeling it. The crowd however were loving it. There was lots of interaction between the crowd and the guitarist, including some crowd surfing that almost ended in disaster. Also a nice moment where the crowd sang happy birthday to one of the band members who turned 26 that day. I didn’t join in because I despise youth….bloody kids!

Standout moments were the single “Romance Is Boring” which was excellent (and at this very moment is queued up on my iTunes download list), “Who Fell Asleep In”, and the song they played 12th. I didn’t catch the name of it, but it was fast-paced and had the place jumping. If they come back I’m definitely going to try and see them again, it’s just unfortunate that the singer wasn’t at 100%. He gave his best though, so hats off to him.

Overall scores?
Islet: 8 out of 10. Lost a point for not having a CD.
The Swanton Bombs: 4 out of 10. Put them on first and they could have had a 6 maybe 7.
Los Campesinos: 7 out of 10. On a good day I’m sure they could get a 10. Monday wasn’t a good day.

www.myspace.com/loscampesinos
www.myspace.com/swantonbombs
http://thisisislet.com/

EP Review - Escape To Victory - "The Front Page"

2010-02-17T18:00:00.005Z

Released on GFN? Records

Reviewed by Lucky

Escape To Victory are a band I have a lot of time for. Read my gushing review of their gig at The Tunnels last week for evidence of this. Having enjoyed their live shows many times, and being of the firm belief that they are one of the best live bands in Aberdeen at the moment, I was interested to see how well they would transfer across to CD and whether they could capture the same infectious energy in the studio as they can on the stage. Playing in a recording studio is a completely different beast to playing live – for a start you’re concentrating on playing your parts with 100% precision, hitting every note, and you aren’t jumping around thrashing the living fuck out of your guitar – so it follows that you’re going to sound different live than you do on CD.

“The Front Page” consists of 5 songs and clocks in at just over 10 minutes, so you know what you’re getting with these guys – short, stabby punk-rock songs. Tracks such as “Lessons Learned From Rocky IV To VI”, “Sound The Alarm” and “Army Of Mannequins” are typically fast and aggressive, and a good introduction to the E2V sound, they pounds your ears with fast drums and gang vocals all the way through. Lead singer Jamie snarls and sneers his way through each of the tracks and the rest of the band absolutely bellow the backing vocals in a way that makes your hearing think it’s being raped. The feeling and, dare I say aggression, in the songs shines through, these guys give it their all and they batter the songs into submission, “Army Of Mannequins” and “Sound The Alarm” for instance, make it sound as though any of the four of them might jump out of the CD player and kick you in the balls at any minute. Even our beloved Prime Minister Gordon Brown comes under attack in the 18-second assault that is “A Short Statement On Behalf Of The Apathetic Majority”. E2V never fail to make their feelings known, and on this form, I wouldn’t like to try and stand in their way.

But, this CD is not without its flaws. The sound engineer who recorded it has not been kind to them, the guitar is too quiet and too clean throughout and it leaves a gaping hole in their sound at times. And although the songs are technically spot on, and the band have obviously put everything they have into them, they still sound empty in places, weak almost - though this is almost certainly down to poor production than poor performance.

And, try as they have, they simply haven’t managed to “bottle lightning” if you will, and recreate the madness and the ecstasy of an E2V live show. “They are more of a live band” is a lazy expression that’s thrown around too often, and it’s usually used to describe bands who put on a great live show, but write shit songs and get found out when they step into the studio. Escape To Victory certainly don’t come under that banner, but they really are a “live band”, and you really need to see them in concert to get what they are all about. By all means, buy this as an introduction to their songs, but only that – if you really want to experience E2V get down to one of their gigs.

Verdict - ***

Standout track – “Call To Arms”

www.myspace.com/escapetovictoryuk

Thoughts etc. - Evil Demon Theory

2010-02-13T13:37:00.006Z

Written by Lucky

I was in Captain Tom's the other night buying guitar strings when I spotted Evil Demon Theory's album for sale behind the counter for the princely sum of £3. Having very much enjoyed their track on the Fudge CD I picked up a copy (along with an old Right hand Left single) and listened to it yesterday as I was fighting my way through rush hour traffic. Have to say, I'm very impressed with it. It's kinda bluesy stoner-rock, with hints of Mudhoney about it. Unfortunately it's been out so long that I can't review it, as it doesn't meet the VERY STRICT Aberzine review criteria, but I can say that it's an excellent album, and a bargain at £3. Next time you're in El Capitan's for a band practice, you should grab a copy.

Have a listen to them here:
http://www.myspace.com/evildemontheory

I've also got my grubby mitts on a copy of Escape To Victory's debut EP, "The Front Page". If you read my gushing review of their gig with Gutshot at the Tunnels last week, you'll know how highly I rate E2V. I'll be reviewing this next week, so check back then...

In other Tunnels related news, the first ever Aberzine bands night will (hopefully) be taking place there on Friday April 9th. More details to follow...

Gig Review - Live @ The Beach ft. The Little Kicks / Indian Red Lopez / Cast of the Capital / The Underkills @ Beach Ballroom - 06-Feb-2010

2010-02-08T09:25:00.014Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

I was once ripped apart on a music forum for claiming my band (The Underkills) was the best unsigned band in Aberdeen. It was, admittedly an uninformed statement, and I think it’s safe to say that if the only four unsigned bands in Aberdeen were the four performing at the Beach Ballroom on Saturday night, that The Underkills would be the fourth best unsigned band in Aberdeen. In fact, I’m going to make a bold statement here. In my opinion the three best bands in Aberdeen are:

1. Indian Red Lopez
2. The Little Kicks
3. Cast of the Capital

In that order. In fact, I’d go as far to say that Indian Red Lopez is one of the best bands in Scotland, and the other two on that list aren’t far behind.

First up on Saturday night was The Underkills, and well, it’s quite difficult to review your own set, but I’ll review it from an onstage perspective. It was ten months since our last live performance at The Tunnels, and with four new songs in our set, added to the fact we are playing in a venue that looks like the fucking Colosseum, it was fair to say that I was somewhat bricking it. The crowd looked a little healthier than when I first looked up, possibly 150-200 (at a stretch), mostly convened round about the bar area, but enough spilling onto the bouncy dancefloor to make us feel loved. For once, we didn’t piss about, and just hit straight in with our fan-friendly “Plastic”, which seemed to get our small following up for it. The next three songs were all brand new, so my nerves were jangling, but we got through them pretty well, and there were a few mistakes, but none that were noticeable (hopefully) to the crowd – new ballady type “Don’t Fear Yourself” got a welcome and somewhat surprising massive cheer, which pleased us! It wasn’t our tightest set ever, but we were all absolutely delighted with how it went, and with the crowd response. The highlight of our set was probably “Plastic” (lots of people told me on Saturday night that “Plastic fantastic is the best song ever…”), and “Don’t Fear Yourself” (gauging by the cheer from the crowd, that went down very well).

Next up was Cast of the Capital, who I think are absolutely brilliant, but I missed the majority of their set due to the usual running about sorting out tickets/cash with the venue etc. I caught the last couple of songs only, but I did hear their soundcheck earlier which was great. A lot of people told me how good they were, but I’m afraid I can’t post much of a review. The couple of songs I heard were as usual, brilliant. Highlight of the set were probably “Comiston Springs” and “Passing The Horse” which I either heard as passing through or when I was standing watching the last couple of tunes. I’m really disappointed I didn’t get to see their whole set.

The band I was most looking forward to was Indian Red Lopez, and they didn’t disappoint. I said to my mate just as they were getting started, “I think you’ll be blown away by this” and by the end of a stunning performance of “The New Black” my mate was sold. These guys need to be playing big venues like the Beach Ballroom for the entire IRL experience to work properly. Their visuals are often lost at the back of small stages, but they were on full view on Saturday night with the two massive screens, and that completed the whole experience for me. The songs are great, really great. They just seem to capture every intricacy perfectly, and know when a synth part should be added, or when to slow it down, and then crank it back up again. I’m not going to lie – Indian Red Lopez is my favourite band right now. What they offer is electronic indie music, with some pounding dance beats, a haunting voice, and just mix it all together brilliantly. For comparisons, you’re probably looking at a rough mash up of Kasabian, MGMT, and Friendly Fires. Highlights of the set were “Ropes”, “An Iron Fist” and “No Secrets” – absolutely fantastic. Keep an eye out for any Indian Red Lopez gigs, and get your arse along to see them.

Finishing off the night was The Little Kicks – another of my favourite local bands. I gave their album a 3 out of 5 further down this page, but I have no qualms about giving them 5 out of 5 for this performance. I predicted that they would be brilliant because they always shine in bigger venues, and this was no exception. Jingly jangly, indie, discopop or something is how I’d describe The Little Kicks. What I’ve been noticing recently about them is just how fucking brilliant Lewis Porter is on bass. He’s a bit of an unsung hero. He quietly goes about his business, with all attention always being on frontman Steven Milne, with his brilliant voice, but these songs wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without the superb basslines. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Lewis Porter is the best bassist in Aberdeen, and Steven Milne is the best vocalist. And just to even things up, Indian Red Lopez have the best drummer in Aberdeen in Scott Maskame. Highlights of the set were “Don’t Give Up So Easily”, “One More Time” and the quite brilliant “Small Talk”.

Overall, this gig as a spectacle was fantastic. To see so many people pitch up on a cold miserable February evening at this enormous venue for four local bands makes me giddy thinking about it. I sincerely hope Live @ The Beach is continued and becomes an integral part of the Aberdeen music scene, and I hope to get back in playing again sometime. I believe there will be another one in July sometime, though I’m not sure who’s on the line up, but I urge every single one of you to buy a ticket when they go on sale – we all need to support this night.

Rating: *****

www.myspace.com/thelittlekicks
www.myspace.com/indianredlopez
www.myspace.com/castofthecapital
www.myspace.com/theunderkills

Gig Review - Escape To Victory / Gutshot / Raph Pirate / The Dog's Botox / The Carrion @ Tunnels 1 - 02-Feb-2010

2010-02-05T17:59:00.010Z

(GFN? Promotions.)

Reviewed by Lucky

The Tunnels on a Tuesday night is something of a 'graveyard shift' for gigs, as it's very unusual to pull a decent crowd in Aberdeen on a weeknight without a "name" band on the bill. This one was unfortunately no different as only about 20 people turned up to see what was actually very promising line-up (although the line up did seem to do more chopping and changing than Victoria Beckham's boobie surgeon).

First out of the blocks were The Carrion, who were quite simply the loudest band I've ever heard. Walking into the venue midway through their first song was like being attacked, I've never felt such a wall of volume in my life. The bass was absolutely pounding, and every time the guitarist started playing it was like getting an electric shock - if the Tunnels weren't flounting the noise level laws at this gig I'd be very surprised.. Once I got over the initial shock of almost being rendered entirely deaf by just opening the door, I found that they were actually pretty decent. They rock a pretty hard metal sound, their singer hurls himself around the front of the stage screaming like a nut, and the musicianship of the guitarist and bassist were top notch, with lots of fast, intricate guitar fills. These guys were extremely tight and obviously all skilled musicians, my only criticism of them is that there wasn't much variety between the songs, and a few of them just seemed to go on. And on. And on. Not being a metal fan, I can’t say I enjoyed their set enough to go and see them again, but it certainly wasn't a bad way to open the gig.

Following on from there were The Dog's Botox, the closest thing The Moorings has to a house band. The focal point of this band for me has always been the excellent and often amusing lyrics of lead singer Rapunzel. Covering topics such as fascists, neds, white van drivers and “people from Westhill”, Rapunzel is more of a punk poet than a lead singer, and his style is more like prose put to music than singing, an element which really makes them stand out from the crowd. I’ve always enjoyed seeing this band and this gig was no different. However the sound in the Tunnels this evening was just all to fuck, and no matter where I stood in the venue, I could not make out one word of what Rapunzel was singing about. With a band like this where the lyrics are so important it took away a key element – like watching an David Attenborough documentary without the animals. What this did do though was draw my attention back to the band, and a very good band they are – tight, well-organised, and with some very interesting riffs. It’s just a shame the vocals were inaudible because this was a good set, and they were obviously enjoying themselves.

Up next was an acoustic set from Raph Pirate, which was unfortunately the low point of the night by some stretch. Not bringing a spare instrument to a gig is an amateur mistake – not bothering to tune the one you have is unforgivable. Before he started the set, he plugged in his guitar to find it didn’t work, so instead he did the whole set entirely unplugged, with no microphone either. What followed was astonishingly bad as Raph bellowed his way through his songs at the top of lungs, desperately trying to reach notes well above his range and settling for just shouting. His guitar was out of tune for the entire set and he made a few arbitrary attempts at tuning it, and just made it worse. After the first song I was flabbergasted at how an act this bad could get a gig anywhere, but to give him his due it did get better as the set wore on. The thing is, his songs were actually really good, it was just the delivery that was horrible. The songs had an air of Rancid about them, and contained some really nice lyrics and were quite uplifting in places. Acoustic punk was always going to be a brave concept, sadly Raph hasn’t quite pulled it off, but in a full band set-up, these songs could actually be something special.

Following up were Gutshot, a four-piece, female fronted punky / rocky / emo-ish kinda band (whatever we’re calling that genre this week) who had driven for 9 hours to reach this gig all the way from Lincoln (no, I don’t know where that is either). Lead singer Lily really commands your attention as she jumps around the stage like a bundle of energy, never standing still for more than a second, and using language that would make a sailor blush. And by Jesus, what a voice on this girl. Is there a note she can’t reach? I don’t think so. Each time I thought “She’s never going to hit this note” she would reach it with ease, and then do the two above it as well just for good measure. There was a real energy from the whole band and they didn’t let the sparse crowd dampen their spirits. Their first few songs were absolutely awesome and as I watched them I was thinking I may be attending one of those “I saw them at the Tunnels before they were famous” gigs. However the songs really ran alarmingly out of steam by the halfway point of the gig, and by the end I was actually pretty bored. If these guys can write more songs like the ones they opened the set with, and get rid of the dead wood at the end, they could really be going places. However, if the stuff at the start was the old stuff and the stuff at the end was the new stuff, then they may have peaked.

Gutshot: are more animated than they look in this picture

Last but not least were Escape To Victory, probably my favourite band in Aberdeen at the moment and the reason I went to this gig. I’ll openly admit, I have a huge hard-on for E2V, so if you’d prefer not to read 100 words of me relentlessly noshing them off, I’d suggest you skip to the end. E2V play a hardcore punk style with so much energy you’d be forgiven for thinking they’ve had their blood drained and replaced with Red Bull. Wiry frontman Jamie stands atop the monitors precariously and snarls his way through the songs with a voice similar to a young Jake Burns, while guitarist Paul bounds around the stage wearing a permanent grin, like an overexcited puppy whose paws are too big and he keeps tripping over things. Drummer Duncan batters the drums like he fucking hates them. They have 4 vocals, each sounding pretty different to the other, and this is used to full effect on their fantastic gang vocals. Let’s not fuck around here. E2V are good. Really fucking good. They are so good, it’s not fair to the rest of us. If this band aren’t playing bigger and better venues within the next two years, there’s something very wrong with the world. Though there may be a question mark over whether thy can capture this much relentless, punch-you-in-the-face energy on CD as well as they do in the live setting.

Escape To Victory - less blurry in real life than they are in this picture.

During the gig E2V unleash anthem after anthem; by the end of the set, Paul has dropped his guitar and jumped into the mosh pit, and all the microphones have been thrown into the crowd for them to provide the backing vocals, which they do with some aplomb. Their energy is more infectious than swine flu, chicken pox and AIDS combined, and the crowd is well and truly eating of their hand. Come midnight, the crowd disperses and heads home, sweaty, deafened, and probably still singing an E2V song in their head.

Verdict – it’s tough to put a mark on an night which had five different bands playing, some great, some not so great, so I’ve decided to use the good old, play-it-safe average. Out of 5, I’d give each band: The Carrion – 2, Dog’s Botox – 4, Raph – 1, Gutshot – 3, E2V – 5. This given this gig an average score of….

***

That worked out well!

http://www.myspace.com/toourgloriousdeaduk (The Carrion)
http://www.myspace.com/gutshotuk
http://www.myspace.com/escapetovictoryuk

Gig review – Withered Hand / Debutant @ Peacock Visual Arts – 28-Jan-2010

2010-02-01T18:14:00.010Z

(Interesting Music Promotions.)

Reviewed by Lucky

An arts studio may not seem like the most obvious place to host a gig, but this was no ordinary gig. First of all it was in a venue that makes Dr Drakes look like the AECC. Secondly, the entire audience sat cross-legged on the floor, primary school style, and listened to the songs in utter silence. And thirdly, it had no speakers, no amplifiers and no microphones – just two guys with acoustic guitars singing au natural. To call this gig lo-fi would be like calling Ed Gein a little eccentric.

Altogether now - *The wheels on the bus go round and round*

By the time first act Debutant took to the stage (well, the stool), around 100 hardy souls had braved the Aberdeen weather and squeezed into the tiny hall, and a squeeze it was – if someone had sneezed the whole crowd would have been phoning in sick the next day. Even in the hushed silence, you still had to strain to hear Debutant’s spiderweb-thin vocal as he picked out dissonant chords on his acoustic guitar, his voice rarely rising above a whisper. But this in no way discounted from the feeling he puts into his songs. The emotion in his voice is clear as day, and his body language and closed eyes back it up: whatever it is that Debutant is singing about, he means it. I’ve struggled to think of a performer to compare Debutant to, to give an impression of what you can expect from one of his acoustic shows and I really can’t think of anyone. His guitar work is quite unique, and his songs have a loosely-structured style that makes it difficult to pigeonhole him. Vocally, although he sings exclusively in his own accent, it’s difficult to listen to his breathy vocal and not think of Elliott Smith, but that comparison starts and ends with the singing style because musically this bears no resemblance to Smith whatsoever. It took me a couple of songs to really understand what Debutant was all about. I’ll admit in the first couple of songs I wasn’t hooked at all, I thought the songs meandered without ever really going anywhere, though by the end, and it may just be down to the strangely immersed atmosphere of the gig, I quickly found myself quite captivated.

While I did enjoy Debutant’s acoustic set, would I go back and see it again? To be honest, no, I probably wouldn’t. Without the effects he uses on the studio versions of his songs, I found them a little lacking in direction. Without the ability to build up crescendos and tell a story with instruments, the songs sound a little too empty – the effects are a large part of what make them interesting in the first place and it doesn’t quite work acoustically. However if he were to play again with his usual electric guitar and clutter of pedals I certainly would make the effort to go along again.

Next on the bill was Withered Hand, an Edinburgh singer-songwriter whose songs have a folky and occasionally country-tinged sound to them. Immediately upon hearing his first song “Cornflake” I found myself comparing his style to that of Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, but while musically there may be similarities between the two, lyrically they are completely different. Before he began his set, Withered Hand informed us that he can only write songs about his own experiences and things that have happened directly to him - and when he sings he conjures up images of unrequited love, a heart that’s been battered and bruised and a childhood belief system that’s been shattered – and yet seeing the humour in everything. While his lyrics can be pained and wistful, they can also be deliciously playful and laugh-out-loud funny at times. Withered Hand is a guy that’s more than just a singer-songwriter, he’s also an entertainer, often stopping midway through songs to make fun of someone in the audience, or more often than not, himself. Which is about the only criticism I can really level at him if I’m being honest – he relies a little too much on comedy from time to time and he doesn’t need to – when the songs are this good and your voice as golden as Withered Hand’s, you don’t need to use funny lyrics and stop halfway through songs to tell a joke – while it certainly helps him connect with his audience, it detracts from his songs, which are mostly excellent, and the poignancy of some of his lyrics are lost.

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this gig before I arrived, but I’m really glad I went. The whole “stripped down” feel was a new and welcome gig experience, it felt rewarding to be part of an audience who were actually there to listen to the performers rather than just have them be background noise while they have a pint. The door price of £5 was scandalous, and had I known it was going to cost me a fiver to get in I may not have gone along, but I am glad I did, it was a really good gig and I enjoyed both acts.

Verdict - ****

http://www.myspace.com/witheredhandmusic

http://www.myspace.com/musicbydebutant

Album Review – Fudge Charity Compilation CD 1 – “It’s Baatar To Have Tried And Failed”

2010-01-18T18:37:00.006Z

Reviewed by Lucky.

You know, I actually can’t remember the last time there was a really good compilation of Aberdeen Bands. The Fat Hippy compilations generally start out strongly but fade away badly towards the end, and they suffer from poor production. Exile Studio’s effort a few years certainly couldn’t be faulted for its production, which was top notch, and while the album had a few gems on it, it had a few turkeys as well.

So it was great anticipation that I picked up the Fudge compilation this week, not only because I think it will be more to my taste, having more of a rock flavour than the aforementioned efforts, but also because after 10 years of putting on gigs in Aberdeen, them wacky Fudge japesters know a thing or two about local bands. This CD is almost bound a blinder, right? Well, let’s go through it track by track…

Things open up in style with Tupelo Town Assembly’s “Oh Yeah!”, a dirty blues rock stomper that conjures up images of honky-tonks, cowboy hats and Jack Daniels, and goes a bit Soundgarden in the chorus. This track is a real grower – on the first couple of listens I was questioning the logic of having this track open the CD, but it quickly became one of my favourites. This is the kind of shit you want to listen to when you find out your wife has left you to go and live with another woman, you’re being kicked out of your trailer park, and your 13-year-old daughter is pregnant by your 14-year-old son. Wake up in the morning, pour some Bourbon over your cornflakes, switch on Tupelo Town Assembly, and then go round and just shoot the fuck out of everybody.

Next up, Dead Heirs get their chance to keep things rocking with “Fire At Broley Point”. This track has more than a hint of Foo Fighters about it, though that should not detract from the fact that it’s a great song. So far, two for two. Good start Fudge. The Brothel Corpse Trio are up next, keeping the spirit of horrorpunk alive with “Brought Back”. The BCT are a band that I like a lot, especially since they seem to be the only horrorpunk band around at the moment since the sad demise of Karloff, but this isn’t their finest moment. Musically it’s a bit by-the-book and the lyrics aren’t great either, though if you like horrorpunk / psychobilly, chances are this will get your juices flowing.

Track four is “The Fisherman Sings” by multi-instrumentalists the Oxbow Lake. It’s a much slower track than the initial three songs, and doesn’t sound a million miles away from “Good Son”-era Nick Cave. The trap the Oxbow Lake have fallen into here is to try and show off their multi-instrumental chops by throwing as many instruments at the track as possible in lieu of actually writing a good song. It includes organs, fiddles and a saxophone, all at the same time on occasion, which makes the track sound cluttered, and the song itself is pretty forgettable. This isn’t a bad song, but it’s not a good one either. Less instruments, more hooks in future.

Bloodnut take us back to 1984 next, with “Bad Wolf” a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ronnie James Dio album. This track is actually very good, and their singer has the perfect voice for this type of music. The poor production lets it down a little, but the song is strong enough to shine through it. Track 6 sees evergreen rockers Deadloss Superstar offer up “Carnivorous Minds” the kind of balls-out rocker that these guys can seemingly hammer out before breakfast. This track has lots of interesting dynamics that make it stand out from the others on the album, the hooks in the pre-chorus and the chorus get inside your head like a bullet and just refuse to leave. Deadloss don’t get much of a chance to gig these days, but if you get the chance to go see them, do it, the day they give up the music will be a sad day for the local scene.

So we get a complete change of direction in track 7, with The Kitchen Cynics “I Went To An Alehouse”, a sparsely-instrumented track with a Scottish flavour, and sung in the local accent. The Kitchen Cynic’s have been darlings of the Aberdeen music scene for many a year, but personally I’ve never been a fan, it’s always sounded a bit “twee” to me, and this track is no exception. It makes me think of medieval battle re-enactments, and guys with beards drinking mead. However, everybody I know who has this album has been raving to me about this track, so what the fuck do I know, eh?

Track 8 is Cobra Kai with “Plastic Smile” and yours truly giving a masterclass in singing in a register you’re not comfortable with. I won’t say much more than that, I like the production on this song but I’m not 100% happy with my own performance. 4 Star Sunday are up next with “How About No” which is a 3 Star track. Number 10 is Evil Demon Theory with “Ripped And Twisted” which was initially my favourite track on the album and still rates highly. It’s a pretty straightforward bluesy-rock song in 4/4, but it’s just awesome and it’s a snapshot of a band in the studio having some fucking fun, which not enough bands do these days. Great production as well.

Decipher are at track 11 with “On My Own”, which is a good track but it’s played in such a dull, careful fashion that you’d be forgiven for falling asleep during it. For a band that call themselves punks they play with zero passion, the guitarist sounds like he’s hardly even touching the strings, and the drummer may as well be tickling the drums. Put your back into it lads. At 12, The Hostiles ska things up in a manner reminiscent of “Cheer Up”-era Reel Big Fish. When it’s done properly, ska is more fun than a big barrel full of tits, and this definitely is done properly. Look out for these guys on an American Pie soundtrack near you soon.

Ascension are up next with a bit of power metal. I’m not really sure what to make of this so I’ll just scratch my head and gloss over that one. The song is good, but I’m puzzled by it. At track 14 The Matricarians give us an experimental instrumental with the barmy title of “We Mould The Fields Like Unto Us And Sow Our Seeds”. Plinky-plonky pianos, bells, chimes, feedbacking guitars and what sounds like static radio interference make this track weird yet unique, original, interesting and ultimately beautiful. This is a glorious song.

Following up at track 15 is “Who You Are” by Strong Like Ox, and what immediately hits you with this song is how bad the production is. This whole track sounds like it was recorded by putting a tape recorder inside the bass drum while the band jammed around it. It’s a shame because the song is actually really good, it builds up wonderfully, picking you up, before dropping you into a pit of desolation again. It’s a little overly-long at eight-and-a-half minutes, but it never gets repetitive.

And so we get to the final track, “Trap Door To The Earth’s Core”, a live recording from Eric Euan, a band I’ve heard a lot about but I’ve never actually seen or listened to. The track is above average, but never quite sets the place on fire, it’s largely instrumental, but the bit near the end where it’s all kicks off is fucking tits (I think that means good, I’m not sure), and it’s a great way to close the album.

Verdict – all in all, this is a good showcase of Aberdeen’s bands, and while the range of bands on it may not cover a wide variety of genres, the tracks chosen do actually sound quite eclectic, and it never sounds generic like the Fat Hippy ones tend to. Each track stands out on its own merits and of the 16 tracks, there are probably around 12 good ones. At £4, this is better value for money than most of the stuff you’ll find in the shops and even if you’ve never heard of any of these bands, it’s for fucking charity you mung. Get it bought.

****

Standout tracks – Tupelo Town Assembly – “Oh Yeah!” / Deadloss Superstar – “Carniverous Minds”.

http://www.teamfudge.com/
www.myspace.com/fudgefanzine

Gig review – Captain FACE @ Drummonds – 18-Dec-2009

2009-12-26T14:58:00.010Z

Fat Hippy Records night.

Reviewed by Lucky.

My gig attending / reviewing plans have not gone well of late. First of all, I planned to attend Goldie Lookin’ Chain's gig at the Warehouse last Thursday, arrived at the venue an hour early to make sure I got tickets, and was informed that I was in fact 2 days early and the gig was on Saturday. On the Saturday, Cobra Kai were playing at the Moorings alongside Ghosts Of Progress, Ghost In The Machine, and The Super Six Funk Machine. As we were in our normal “first band on” slot, I was planning to come offstage, grab a pint and watch the other three bands for the purpose of reviewing. However, as soon as I got offstage I was dragged to the Crown & Anchor for a karaoke night (quick review – the guy that did “New York New York" was good. My mate who did “Mysterious Girl”, not so much). Finally, I planned to head for the Fat Hippy Showcase night at Café Drummonds this past Friday in order to catch the debut gig of new Aberdeen band The Deportees, made up of former members of Edgar Prais, 10 Easy Wishes and Eddison, and also to see Soothsayer, a Glasgow-based 5-piece made up of several ex-bandmates of mine. Unfortunately however, this date clashed with my office Christmas party, and as I was on the vino from 12noon, I seriously doubted whether I would be in any fit state to be reviewing anything by the time the Deportees took to the stage at 8pm. As it turned out, I headed home at 6pm to get a wee rest from drinking and get something to eat, got in to my flat, made a cup of tea, sat down in front of the X-Files and promptly fell asleep. When I woke up it was 8pm and the Deportees were due on stage – by the time I got changed, had a snack and battled my way through snow and ice to reach Drummonds, The Deportees were finished, all my mates had fucked off and Soothsayer were halfway through their set. Another epic failure from Aberdeen’s most half-assed fanzine.

Soothsayer, from what I saw of them were kind of like an experimental Placebo. Their songs all seemed to clock in at around 7 or 8 minutes, had lots of changes and had a faint emo tinge to them. Their use of three guitars along with a pounding bass really filled out their sound to create a really thick “wall of sound” effect, unlike any other band I’ve seen recently, and while this certainly gave some welly to the heavier parts of their songs, it sounded a little cluttered in the softer parts. I didn’t see enough of them to review their set properly, but I did see enough to say that I was really impressed by them and I’ll be looking out for them up this way in future.

And so, having gone to all that trouble to get back in to town to see 20 minutes of music, I decided to stick around and watch the next band, Captain FACE, a band I’ve never really taken the time to listen to, despite (or maybe because of!) them being a big favourite of my girlfriend. Hailing from “the mythical land of Kinmundy, Aberdeenshire”, wherever the fuck that is, they are a five-piece who play the sort of poppy funk-rock you might experience if you blended together Faith No More, Kaiser Chiefs and Terrorvision, all high-octane, energetic songs with crunchy guitar riffs and more hooks than a fishing tackle shop.

The first thing that strikes you, especially if you are a FACE virgin, like me, is the stage presence of this band. Singer Euan twists himself around the microphone stand and bosses the front of the stage like a less-twatty Ricky Wilson, and delivers witty lyrics and catchy choruses while bedecked in a red knitted Christmas jumper with a set of Christmas lights wound round him, and a Santa hat. To his right their guitarist channels the spirit of Angus Young, gurning and strutting up and down the stage with a Gibson SG, and to his left their bassist pounds away at his 4-string, sings / yells backing vocals and is wearing a bright orange T-shirt which reads “Your Face Is Shit”. Watching the FACE do their thing, you just don’t want to look away for a second in case you miss something. This band look, and sound, as though they are really enjoying themselves, and it’s infectious – the whole venue has a great atmosphere while the FACE are onstage, and down at the front people are dancing, jumping around and singing along. I didn’t catch the names of all the songs, though the tracks that stood out for me were “Small Joy” an upbeat catchy number with an extremely energetic chorus, and the barmy “Awesome No Way”, which I’m told has become the signature song of Captain FACE, and quite rightly so, because it’s fantastic, all funky guitars, a shout-along chorus and an infectious melody that makes you want to jump and flail around like an ADHD kid who’s high on E-numbers. The only low point of the set was the closing song “Credit Crunch Christmas”, a low-key and oddly empty-sounding song which was a very peculiar choice to sign off such a high-energy set, and was met with an air of indifference.

The live FACE experience is definitely something worth catching – I regret that it’s taken me 6 years to actually get round to seeing them, and I will most definitely check them out again. They may not be doing anything terribly original, but if you want to go to a fun gig with a party atmosphere, dance around like a tit and enjoy yourself immensely, you could do a lot worse than Captain FACE. In fact, you might you say you should “FACE” the music and dance! Ho ho ho! See what I did there?

Rating - ****

Captain FACE on MySpace.

Retrospective EP Review – Sirius – “Baby Can I…?” (2002)

2009-12-16T18:21:00.005Z

Simply put, there isn’t enough Aberdeen-based music being churned out at the moment out to keep two eager beavers like Gladstone and myself in fresh stuff to review. For that reason, we will also be looking back at some releases from yesteryear to see if they still stand up. First up, Sirius…

Reviewed by Lucky

Of all the local music releases I’ve ever owned, I’ve listened to this EP more than any other. I reckon that even now, a full 8 years since it was released, I could still sing along with every word if I wanted to. Sirius, for those of you who weren’t around at the time, were a punk band who formed in the early 2000s when everybody and their dog was forming a pop-punk band. The difference between Sirius and most of the others though, was that Sirius were actually very good. They were what I called “glitter-punk” and they took to the stage sporting spiky hair, safety pins, lip gloss, nail varnish and glittery hairspray. Their songs covered such topics as killing hookers “just for kicks” (in “My Valentine”), underage sex (“15’s Close Enough”) and incest (“Keep It In The Family”) and they were known as much for their wildly destructive live shows as for their music. Gigs more often than not ended in a Sirius-shaped heap of blood, spit, glitter and broken equipment, which didn’t exactly endear them to local promoters, and legend has it that by the time they split up in 2003, they were banned from every venue in the city.

The twin towers of Sirius were songwriter and guitarist Kai, and lead singer Terry Cunt, a man who never met a microphone stand he didn’t annihilate, and who seemed to concentrate more on climbing over amplifiers, trashing equipment, writhing on the floor, spitting on people and contorting the mic stands into new and interesting shapes than actually singing. While this made for an entertaining live show, it did unfortunately take away from the music, as it’s quite difficult to sing while you’re punching a hole in the wall, or jumping into a drumkit, or splitting your own head open with a microphone stand, as Terry Cunt proved often. As a result, musically anyway, live shows didn’t do Sirius justice, which was a shame because they were a damn fine band. The drum stool was filled by Christy, who later played in every Aberdeen band, ever, including De Barros and Edgar Prais, and the bassist position, while held permanently by a guy called Andy, was a bit of a revolving door of stand-ins, including Bob from Point of Origin, and on a couple of occasions, myself.

So, onto the EP. “Baby Can I…?” comes in an amusing box featuring a hand-drawn schoolgirl on the cover wearing a Sirius t-shirt. However, when you slide the sleeve out of the box, you find her clothes are actually stickers which are stuck to the box, and the happy-looking schoolgirl on the sleeve is naked and has been chopped up. Delightful stuff. (This theme is continued in the title track, where the full phrase is revealed to be “Baby, Can I… Kill You?”). Track 1, “M.I.L.F” is an ode to the sexual desire of the more mature lady (reputedly the mother of one of the band members), and while the lyrics are amusing, and feature some clever wordplay (something that Sirius do often), the track doesn’t quite jump out like some of the other tracks on the EP do – musically it sounds a little bit jumbled. Things kick up a notch though with the second track, “Baby, Can I…?”, an amusing song about the various ways to bump off one’s girlfriend. Lyrics such as “In the bathtub / with a toaster / put her legs up / spit-roast her” and “I’ll have your heart with cheese on top / while you’re still screaming for me to stop” added to smatterings of American Psycho references all add to make this a song where you really need to concentrate on the lyrics to appreciate it fully. Terry spits the lyrics of the chorus with real venom, all over some strangely major chords and cheerful backing vocals to create this most strange beast – a cheerful, happy 3 minute song all about murder. Dodgy American accents in the breakdown aside, this track is a real pleasure, and a step up from “M.I.L.F”.

Track 3 is called “Super-Hero” and tells the tale of falling in love with a girl who works on the checkouts on the supermarket by day, and fights crime by night. It’s got some nice guitar and bass work in it (Kai was never one for just using a simple 4 chord progression), and the chorus is irresistibly catchy. This song is also made up mostly of major chords and scales and bounces along nicely for its whole three minutes, with samples of a talking Powerpuff Girl doll thrown in for good measure. This track is pretty bizarre, but it’s great and it’s indicative of what Sirius could do when they could really got their musical chops on and weren’t busy getting banned from venues. Track 4 is the finest track on the EP, and not only my favourite Sirius track, but one of my favourite songs ever. “Take Me Home” is a simple tale of going out, getting drunk and getting laid. Musically it’s the most mature track on “Baby Can I…?” and it really should be an anthem for rock-night hedonists everywhere. As an EP closer, it’s perfect, as not only does it absolutely rock, but at two minutes of pure joy, it makes you want to reach for the “play” button again as soon as it’s done. If you can lay your hands on this track, I strongly advise you to do so.

Some of the “Baby Can I…?” EPs had a hidden bonus track called “Cunts”, unfortunately mine does not, so I cannot review it. However as I recall the chorus is something simple like “You’re a fucking cunt, you’re a fucking cunt, you’re a fucking cunt, you’re a fucking cunt cunt cunt” and I think it was aimed at Radio 1.

All in all, I absolutely love this EP and I still listen to it regularly. Alas it is long since out of print, but if you can find a copy somewhere, do it. You’ll enjoy it.

Verdict - a well deserved *****

Standout track – “Take Me Home”

Thoughts etc. - Rehearsal Rooms Tried & Tested (part 1 of 4)

2009-12-15T20:01:00.000Z

Written by Lucky

So, you’re in a band, huh? And you’re going to be the next big thing? Well good luck with that, I applaud your ambition. However, unless you plan to sound like The Underkills (sorry Calum!), the one thing you’re definitely going to have to do is practice, and unless you live on a farm, or have some very understanding neighbours, you’re going to need to hire a rehearsal space to do that.

As far as I’m aware, Aberdeen has four rehearsal rooms, though if there are more please feel free to add a comment to this post or email me to tell me what a total fuckwit I am. Over the past year I’ve braved them all, from the sublime to the utterly shit, so you don’t have to set foot in the shit ones (I’ll save you the effort of reading it all – I’m talking about Transition Extreme). Over the course of next four weeks I’ll write a few words about all four, starting this week with Captain Toms.

Captain Toms
Ann Street
http://www.captaintommusic.co.uk/

Rehearsal rooms – 4
Gear – each room has two Marshall 100w amps and 4x12 cabinets, a bass combo amp, drum kit and PA.
Price - £15 per hour, 3 hours for £30 (off-peak).
Other services – Equipment hire, recording studio, shop, instrument tuition.

Pros – Each room has pretty much the same equipment in it, which makes it a piece of piss to just go in, plug in your instruments and play, without having to fuck about with the amps for ages trying to wrest a decent sound out of them (unlike the so-called “ sought-after vintage amps”, in some other studios, yes Musical Vision, I’m referring to you). The gear is in good nick and well maintained, the drums are well looked after and the P.A’s are nice and loud – in fact Toms is probably the only studio in the city where you can really properly hear the vocals without having to scream yourself hoarse over your noisy bastards of band-mates. The soundproofing on the walls and the roof when added to the carpeted floors and soft furnishings in the rooms make for great acoustics, with no annoying echoey noise bouncing off every surface (yes Musical Vision, I’m referring to you), plus the big fat sofa in every room is ideal for having a well-deserved break, or for your hangers-on to sit on and gasp in awe at your musical prowess. Staff are helpful and provide plenty of banter, plus they have a fully equipped shop for everything from spare strings and straps to Space Raiders and cans of Red Bull.

Cons – Pricey. At a frankly ludicrous £15 an hour, this muh-fucker is the most expensive rehearsal room in the city, and the only way to score some discounts are to book during the day (for a minimum of three hours no less), when most people are working. This puts a lot of people off – a 3 hour practice will set you back a princely £45, and if you’re doing this once a week you’ll shell out over £2300 over the space of a year – that’s the same price as 766 Cobra Kai CDs (“Some Thoughts Conecerning Education”, available now from One-Up!). Plus if you need to cancel for any reason, you’ll get charged full price, which is a kick in the balls after you’ve loyally jammed there every week and spent enough money to keep Captain Tom in weed for a month. Finally, trying to get a room here is harder than trying to hide an erection in a pair of hot pants – and if you want to practice at a sensible time (ie, not 10pm – midnight) you’ll need to book about two weeks in advance.

Verdict – Toms is, to borrow a catchphrase from a popular brand of fizzy juice, the original and best. It may be the most expensive rehearsal space in the city, but in terms of sound, facilities and gear it is head and shoulders above the rest. You get what you pay for and Captain Tom’s has everything you need, however, if money is an issue, best look elsewhere.

EP Review - No Pasaran - "Trossachs"

2009-12-13T08:42:00.003Z

Written by Gladstone

I have never heard anything from No Pasaran, so I’m really not sure what to expect with this EP. What I do know is that they seem to be popular within the Aberdeen Music Scene, and news of their indefinite hiatus was met with dismay from many. If I'm looking for comparisons, I would say No Pasaran sounds vaguely like Snow Patrol without the stadium rock choruses. If you could take all the Snow Patrol "quiet" tracks, and add some extra percussion, and a female vocalist, you'd be somewhere close to the No Pasaran sound.

The EP starts with “Routines” which instantly reminds me of Snow Patrol, both vocally and the catchy tune. There’s a lot going on, but at no point does it sound messy. It is a nice track, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. It feels like it’s going to build to something really big at the end, but never quite does.

There is a change to a female vocalist on “Particles” and a beautiful female voice at that. The female voice suits the track better, I’d have preferred if they stuck with the female vocalist for the whole track. The timing seems to go a little during the drum solo – it doesn’t seem to quite work.

I’m really enjoying “Villages. It all falls into place nicely. Again, there’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t get anywhere close to messy. The vocal harmonies work much better than in “Particles”. The bassline adds just the right amount of body to a very nice track. The outro works really well, and finishes off the best track so far perfectly.

Things are stripped right back with “Landing Light”. Very simple but effective track. Again, the vocal harmonies work very well. Images of sitting round a campfire, roasting marshmallows, having a singsong go hand in hand with this song. Another very nice track.

“Woods & Water” is stripped back at the beginning, with slightly less going on than the first three tracks. It builds to a rousing finish, which helps this become the strongest track on the EP.

The bonus track is a full band version of “Landing Light”. The stripped back version probably works slightly better. This is still a good track though, but I would probably have left it out and let “Woods & Water” sign off the EP.

Overall, this is a very accomplished collection of very nice songs. I didn’t enjoy “Particles”, and think it brings the quality of the EP down, and I wouldn’t have included the full band version of “Landing Light”. If those two tracks hadn’t been included, I think the overall rating of the EP would have been slightly higher. Nevertheless, this is still a strong EP, and I hope the hiatus comes to an end soon, as I would like the opportunity to see No Pasaran live sometime.

Stand out track: “Woods & Water”

Rating: ***

www.myspace.com/nopasaran1

Thoughts etc. - The joys of being in a band: Part 1

2009-12-12T13:19:00.005Z

Written by Gladstone

Roll the clock back just over three years to November 2006. The Underkills were about to embark on what we thought would be an epic journey (and to an extent I suppose it has been for us). We had booked that illustrious first gig. It wasn’t glamorous or grand, but for us, Stuartfield Local Hall was going to be the Theatre of Dreams.

We didn’t have a clue what we were doing, but we had hired the hall, hired a PA system, and got a couple of amps from our good friends Rescue Party, who were to “support” us on what was to be the gig to end all gigs.

We had planned the day with military precision. A couple of us were to meet at Sound & Vision to pick up the PA system at 1pm. We would all meet at Stuartfield Local Hall at 2pm to start setting up, and get a bit of practice in in the afternoon. Let Rescue Party soundcheck at about 6pm, and throw the doors open to the public at about 8pm. And then of course, we would take the roof off as we rocked our way to superstardom.

So, the drummer and I pick up the PA system, cram it into the back of our cars, and head for Stuartfield, where we meet the guitarist who (and I find this impossible to believe these days) was the only band member with all his own gear at the time, and was there on time, guitar and amp in hand. We’re waiting for the singer to arrive with the amps borrowed from his Rescue Party buddies, and he was also to pick up his drums from his Mum & Dad’s house in Strichen. He also – being the experienced member of the band – was going to rig up the PA system because the rest of us didn’t have a clue what we were doing.

But alas, the singer was never arriving and he wasn’t answering his phone. We dicked about with the equipment we had and tried to set up what we could, but we didn’t know what we were doing at all, so it was pointless. We eventually (at about 4pm) got the call from our singer to say he was on his way (i.e. just leaving Aberdeen). We were raging, and getting more nervous by the second, because our practice time was going to be out the window. We had to go to his Mum & Dad’s house to pick up the drum kit, which when we got it back to the hall realised that at least one of the stands was broken, and it was missing a few bits and pieces. Thankfully we’ve got one of those mates who owns a drumkit and about eight guitars, but no idea how to play any of them, and he managed to supplement what was missing. Eventually our singer turns up with the missing amps at about 6pm, and confesses that he got completely trashed the night before and didn’t get up until the early afternoon. What a bastard.

So, we quickly rigged everything up and ran through a couple of tracks to make sure the sound wasn’t awful, and then handed over to Rescue Party to do the same.

A couple of hours later, Rescue Party played a blinding set, and I was understandably bricking it. It was the first time I’d ever played anything in public, there was a 50 strong crowd in a small village hall, and all people we knew, expecting us to be better than Rescue Party!

Thankfully, the nerves disappeared about halfway through Come On And Save Me, which was our “hit” for a while (by “hit” I mean the song that people remembered because it was catchy – it’s been all but dropped from our set these days…). I (and I think the rest of the guys) had an ace time, and we threw in a cover of Columbia by Oasis which went down very well with the crowd.

To this day, that was one of the best nights I’ve ever had – getting up and playing in the band for the first time and seeing a host of friendly faces really enjoying our set was such a great feeling. The gig has been surpassed in quality by probably every single gig we’ve played since, but has probably only been surpassed in the enjoyment stakes by a few. We had an absolute blast of a party afterwards as well, with my ipod plugged into the PA system set to shuffle, and about 20-30 of us bouncing around like idiots. We also had an off-the-cuff photo shoot with our drunk photographer friend.

The Underkills playing with a tricycle

I think I might just stick to playing at public halls from now on…

EP Review – Fivefifteen – "Only Way To Be"

2009-12-10T18:02:00.004Z

Released on Fat Hippy Records.

Reviewed by Lucky.

I’d never heard this band before yesterday. I’d heard their name mentioned, but I’d never seen them live, or heard any of their songs, I didn’t know if they were metal, indie, dance, country, whatever - I just downloaded their new EP off of iTunes on a whim. It could have consisted entirely of someone whipping their dick against a guitar, while pissing into an upturned trumpet and wailing like a hungry baby. I mean I literally had no idea what to expect. I’m managing to get that point across, right?

So with a bit of intrigue, I cued up the first track as soon as it was finished downloading, sat back into my chair and prepared myself for the unknown. An “E” chord rung out, played through a tremolo pedal. This did not give much away. Then some fast drums. What could be next? Enter guitar. Nice. Bass. Nice. Hammond Organ. Wait a minute…. Hammond organ? What the fuck?

Fivefifteen are difficult to pigeonhole. They seem to lean mostly towards a sort of modern indie rock sound, but there are definite leanings towards blues, rhythm & blues and also perhaps a hint of country. If I had to pick some bands they remind me of, I would say imagine, if you will, what the bastard offspring of The Who and the Zutons might sound like (if you can get past the awful image of wrinkly old Roger Daltrey with his trousers round his ankles, chucking it up Abi from the Zutons). I don’t know if it’s a compliment or an insult to this band (I can’t keep up with who’s cool and who isn’t these days), but the instrumentation and vocals on these tracks have a definite air de Zutons about them.

Opening track “Only Way To Be” is a big catchy number with a stomp-along intro, a rousing chorus and a fun breakdown with a Hammond solo in it. The guitar sounds brilliantly crunchy, and the song is quite infectious, but it doesn’t really go anywhere – it falls back on just repeating the chorus over and over again, and doesn’t get much of a chance to tell a story. Still, it’s a good enough opener and it does the job of grabbing the listeners attention, which is the purpose of any opening track, and I found myself with the chorus stuck in my head later in the day. The second track “Gold Dust” is of a similar pace as the first, and initially sounds a little bit empty, but when the chorus comes in the whole track really opens in a warm wave of fuzzy guitar chords and gorgeous vocal harmonies. There’s a real “wall of sound” going on behind the chorus which brings the whole track to life from this point on and it doesn’t drop off again until the middle eight, which is simply a hi-hat, bass, acoustic guitar and a swarm of eerie-sounding feedback. This builds up nicely into a guitar solo and instrumental coda with shades of “Baba O’Riley” as the track crescendos and reaches it’s climax. This is a much more satisfying track than the first, but isn’t quite as catchy. The third track "Tall Tales" has a thumping beat that makes you want to nod your head and stamp your feet along to it, it’s more balls-out, dirty rock & roll, than the first two, and the first two verses and choruses demand your attention. About halfway through it goes into a maniacal double-time instrumental where all the instruments have the chance to show off, which they do so with panache, though the guitar solo is a little unimaginative and sounds like the kind of standard major-scale blues licks favoured by the likes of Joe Perry. The vocals never come back in and the song, like it’s predecessor also ends on a long instrumental. While this sounds fine, having the lyrics end by halfway through the song is something this band do too often - it makes their songs quite formulaic, and you feel they may have been cut short just as they were getting going.

All in all, I enjoyed listening to this, the musicianship was excellent, the vocals well performed, and the Hammond, for all the derision it receives, genuinely adds a new dimension to the sound and makes Fivefifteen stand out a bit from all the other indie bands in the crowd. However I did feel the songs were a little formulaic and could do with a bit of variety. It is, after all, the spice of life.

Rating - ***

http://www.fivefifteen.co.uk/

Album Review - The Little Kicks - "Boxing Clever"

2009-12-09T07:33:00.006Z

Self-released

Reviewed by Gladstone

I’ve been a Little Kicks fan since they formed in 2004, having been mates with frontman Steven Milne and a fan of his old band Populous. The highlight of my time as a fan has to be the T Break Stage at T in the Park 2007. Watching your mates at T in the Park is an incredible experience. Watching them fill a tent, and make the entire tent bounce is like something from another world.
I’ve watched their progress closely, and have attended many of their gigs, and it never ceases to amaze me that they’ve never been given a record deal. When I hear some of the garbage on the radio, I just find it remarkable that a band like The Little Kicks remains unsigned. Now, I’ve heard this nonsense being spouted by fans of local bands many times before, but when you’ve been in the game for a while, you get to realise that bands very very rarely get “spotted” – you have to put the work in, and get yourself around the UK, and have a decent level of output in terms of recorded material. This is what makes the illusive record deal even more surprising. The Little Kicks have consistently played and played and played in many different locations around the country, they’ve supported some very high profile bands, including The Editors, Glasvegas and Maximo Park to name but a few, and have consistently recorded and released their music. They also have all the right ingredients for the mainstream audience. So, with all that in mind, I have high hopes for this album, and as I’m mates with Steven and the other guys in the band, I really want this album to be the best album of 2009.

"Don’t Give Up So Easily" kicks in with the signature Little Kicks high tempo disco drumbeat. Steven Milne’s vocals are impeccable as always, and so distinctive. Great bassline, although the song actually feels like it lacks a bit of body. When I think of “Don’t Give Up So Easily” I think of a real uplifting number, which the song eventually gets to nearly three-quarters in. I would prefer it if the song kicked in a lot earlier, and possibly right at the beginning. Great finish to the song.

"I Know It’s Over" is very catchy. It’s repetitive, but not too repetitive – just enough to grab your attention and hold it until the bridge, and then does the same in the second verse and the outro. A very nice track, which will probably translate very well into a live setting – it’s the kind of song that will get you dancing.

I feel myself warming to this album with "One More Time" – this is more like The Little Kicks I know and love – it gets straight into the action, with high tempo drums and lead guitar, and gets to the uplifting chorus fairly quickly. The feel good bassline and drumbeat keep the track going throughout, with the chorus lifting the song right up. Nice middle eight leading into the final chorus and outro. Best track so far.

The cool bassline in "We Came Alive" strangely reminds me of “I Love You Baby”!! This track overall actually reminds me a lot on the new Arctic Monkeys songs, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s very different for The Little Kicks. ‘Mature’ is possibly the word that best describes it. This is closesly followed by another 'mature' track. The lead guitar in "Let Me Down" is really nice, and works really well with the bassline and vocals. It sounds great when it kicks in at about 1 minute 40 seconds, and the second half sounds like it’s ready to take off, and it does at the second chorus. The rousing outro sounds like it would make for a great finish to a live set.

"Chances We’ve Had" follows with another catchy bassline, and high tempo drumbeat means that this track grabs you right from the off. Steven Milne’s vocals sound particularly good on this track. This is somewhere between the high tempo “discoed” up Little Kicks of old and the new mature sound that has peppered this album so far. It is a very catchy number, and the kind of track that would never leave your conscience if you heard it first thing in the morning. It really comes to life towards the end, and sounds like another great live outro waiting to happen.

Things are taken right back down with "Small Talk" which is very moving. It could definitely bring a tear to your eye if you had just broken up with your girlfriend, and I suspect it was written about the loss of a loved one. Very nice, mellow song.

The beat is restored in "Looking Out For Number One", although the cheeriness isn’t quite back to the usual Little Kicks standard. The message behind the song appears to be one of loneliness and unhappiness. Despite the sad vocals and lyrics, it still manages to have a certain feel good factor with the upbeat work on the keys and drums. The last third of the song builds into an upbeat crescendo, and it turns into one of the strongest tracks on the album.

The intro to "Time To Take Over" instantly reminds me of early Franz Ferdinand (which is no bad thing in my book), but reverts straight back to sounding like the Little Kicks when the verse kicks in, and then changes between the two for the rest of the song. On the whole, a more upbeat track, which edges towards the Little Kicks of old, and this will be great in a live environment.

Strangely "It All Comes Out In The End" reminds me of a factory, and visions of a guy doing bone-breaking fifteen hour shifts is never far from my mind throughout the track. The song really gets going about 3 minutes 30 in, and the outro signs the album off really well.

Overall, I think the word that best describes the album is “nice”. I said I had very high hopes for this album, and in all honesty I feel a little short-changed. I do think the album will be a real grower – I’ve liked it more each time I’ve listened to it – perhaps after a few more listens I’ll absolutely love it. It’s a real easy listening album, and it would be easy to sit, headphones on, eyes closed and get lost in the album, but I can’t help but feel the album would have benefited from a couple of the older Little Kicks tracks like "The Optimist" or "After Tomorrow Before Today", which I think encapsulates exactly what the Little Kicks are all about – or perhaps The Little Kicks have completely moved on from that sound, and onto this more easy listening, mature sound. It would be a shame to completely lose those upbeat disco beats that I and many others grew to love.

Stand out track: “One More Time”

Rating: ***

www.myspace.com/thelittlekicks

EP Review - Cast Of The Capital - "Rotten Kids & Haversacks" - A Second Opinion

2009-12-08T16:22:00.008Z

Reviewed by Gladstone

Cast of the Capital is a band I’ve been championing for about a year. I was hooked after they sent me a copy of their first demo. My favourite thing about Cast of the Capital is that they take a bedside lamp on stage with them – how cool is that? The highlight for me of following Cast of the Capital, was standing in the Banshee Stage at Wizard Festival 2009 – Matt Morris (who is the most polite frontman I’ve ever seen) came on stage and said: “Hey, we’re Cast of the Capital, we’ve came from Aberdeen today to play you some songs.” And I heard a New Deer bumpkin behind me say: “A’ the wie fae Aiberdeen?” Comedy genius. The thing that strikes me about Cast of the Capital is that what they’re doing isn’t necessarily cool, and not the type of music that a lot of people (like the Wizard Festival-goers) would be into, but Cast of the Capital always win everyone over. When that nice, well spoken kid addressed a crowd full of Charlatans fans from New Deer, and they kicked in with their jingly-jangly happy sound, probably about half of the tent wasn’t convinced. But by the end of the set, everyone was into Cast of the Capital – even The Underkills drummer stood beside me who “hates all that jingly jangly shite” as he so eloquently puts it. I’ve heard quite a few people say of Cast of the Capital: “I don’t usually like this kind of thing but…”

So, I had high hopes for the brilliantly named "Rotten Kids and Haversacks" EP, and I wasn’t disappointed when "Comiston Springs" kicked in with this great hook, and the very cheery, catchy song filled my senses. It is very well produced, yet has a very lo-fi sound. The song just gets better all the way through, as it builds to a happy crescendo. Great start.

Before listening to the EP, "The Witching Hour" has been my favourite Cast of the Capital song. I know what to expect, having heard it many times before, but I was looking forward to hearing it with this level of production. It really is a lovely song, with great lead guitar work and real feeling behind the vocals. The second half of the song is slightly more rocked up, and the fast very tight drumming works perfectly with the happy feel of the song. This is a very memorable track and will get stuck in your head all day.

"Passing The Horse" kicks in with upbeat drumming, and cool guitar riff, the lead guitar soars, and then Matt Morris’ voice fills the song, and is just so infectious. You can’t help but be in a good mood when you hear this song. I’d imagine if someone had just punched you in the face, but then the next thing you heard was this song, you’d instantly forgive them. This song wouldn’t be out of place in an episode of Happy Days. And then the hand-clapping middle 8 – it’s all just so catchy, and well put together.

The cheeriness is brought down a few notches with "Crematory Blues" – an acoustic guitar and single vocal only track. It starts off nicely – very simple guitar progression, and the usual nice vocals. Sadly, the vocal seems to lose it in parts about halfway through, and seems to get a little too high towards the end. A nice song, but weaker than the first three.

Everything is brought up a notch or two with Tree Sleep. This starts off well, another upbeat number, nice bass riff, followed up with the usual jangly guitar sound, which makes for an enticing hook. This isn’t as cheery as the first three, and doesn’t quite sound like the same band. There’s a very definite sound in the first three tracks, and to be honest that sound is what makes me love Cast of the Capital. I do really like this song, but it sounds somehow out of place on this EP.

Overall, a very strong EP. The first three tracks are brilliant, with tracks 4 and 5 being good, but not quite up there with the first three. I think the EP would have been better without "Crematory Blues", and possibly a re-shuffle with "Tree Sleep" not being the last track, as it’s not as indicative of Cast of the Capital’s sound, so shouldn’t be the sign off track. Having said all that, this is an EP that should be distributed to every household in the UK. In the midst of the nationwide depression we find ourselves in, a daily dose of "Rotten Kids and Haversacks" with breakfast could lift the nation’s spirits.

I have very high hopes for Cast of the Capital in 2010. The progress they’ve made in 2009 has been astounding, but every step of progress has been made on merit. This is a band that deserves to be playing every festival in the UK and beyond next Summer.

Stand out track: "Passing The Horse".

Rating : ****

www.myspace.com/castofthecapital

Read Lucky's review of this EP here.

Thoughts etc. - Who is Gladstone?

2009-12-07T18:08:00.004Z

A glimpse into the busy life of a local promoter and musician.

Written by Gladstone.

Like many a young lad, I grew up with aspirations of wanting to be famous in some shape or form, from wanting be a professional footballer, to a Formula 1 driver, a boxer, and probably a few other ridiculous ambitions, I finally settled on being a rock star.

Armed with a crap guitar from Argos, I was going to be the next Noel Gallagher. Twelve years later, I still can’t really play guitar. I can manage a few chords, and can play some easy songs, but that’s about it. I do play bass guitar, however, so I’m getting there.

I sort of stumbled into the Aberdeen Music Scene through playing bass for The Underkills, and always being the one involved with getting gigs, and promoting the gigs etc. I seemed to have a talent for talking our way into decent support slots, and got the bug for gig promotion. I set up a promotions “company” – Exposure, and was responsible for the Exposure @ Lemon Tree clubnights, which were a success in musical terms, but not in cash terms. I had lots of fun along the way, but lost far too much cash to keep it going for any length of time.

Some of the ups and downs so far in my life as a promoter have included: Alan McGee almost getting stuck in London due to serious weather conditions, and on the same day, ALL the bands getting stuck in traffic less than a mile from the venue, and all being about 3 hours late for soundcheck; Alan McGee then arriving about 4 hours late at the airport, and me having to drive far too fast in the icy conditions to deliver him to the venue 5 minutes before doors open; over 300 people turning out in the same horrible conditions to make the first clubnight very memorable indeed – and drinking the bar dry of lager; a certain “big name” local metal band pulling out of the show less than a week before, and taking their mates with them, leaving me four days to promote a very expensive gig; the Lemon Tree managing to book a theatre show upstairs to coincide with our metal clubnight downstairs – cue, very low level ambient metal music, followed by grindcore locals Ablach scaring the shit out of the theatre goers as they were leaving; putting on a gig in Edinburgh, and TWO people turning up; Roddy Woomble promising to throw an almighty ceilidh party, but then not bringing any ceilidh music and proceeding to play very dull folk music for two hours; the hip hop night being all round brilliant, and in particular Dan Le Sac’s set being amazing – remix of Song 2 followed by remix of Smells Like Teen Spirit; and the final clubnight being an all local affair, and being a massive success, with Indian Red Lopez being absolutely showstopping!

Dan Le Sac rolls another phat one.

I threw the towel in at the beginning of the Summer, but have been dragged back into the game kicking and screaming, and clubnights will happen again next year, but I’ve learned many a lesson, not to be repeated…

Some ups and downs of being in a local band have so far included: playing gigs to less than 10 people (lots of times); amazing gigs in Glasgow, followed by epic nights on the lash; playing Summer of ’69 at a wedding; headlining an unsigned stage at a festival; supporting Dodgy (being an up and a down, giving the poor turnout and Dodgy being, well, dodgy), The Law, The Dykeenies, Hayseed Dixie (who are just brilliant), and playing to a packed NEW DEER PUBLIC HALL.

The band took a long break this year, but the fun is back again. We don’t have the pressure of upcoming gigs, and a period of “experimentation” has ensued*, with some great new material emerging, and on top of the lyrics that I normally contribute, I’m now realising my dream of being an actual songwriter – armed with a bass multi-effects pedal, I’ve found myself composing songs on the bass guitar, a couple of which will hopefully be making their way onto The Underkills set list in 2010.

(*Note: We are only experimenting with our music, nothing else…)

Above all else, I’ve always got a lot to say when it comes to music, and you, my friends have just stumbled upon the place where I air my views on anything and everything related to the Aberdeen Music Scene, be it, local bands I like / dislike, amazing gigs I’ve attended, the highs and lows of being a promoter / local musician, great bands I’ve discovered, hilariously crap bands I’ve discovered, Aberdeen music venues, and the characters that grace the scene…

EP Review – Cast Of The Capital – "Rotten Kids & Haversacks"

2009-12-06T17:45:00.000Z

Released on Kittiwake Records.

Reviewed by Lucky

In between selling out gigs in that there London, and chumming up to the likes of Vic Galloway and Steve Lamacq, Aberdeen’s indie darlings Cast Of The Capital have finally got round to releasing some material. Three years since their inception, this 4-piece have been steadily working away at their craft, building up a fan base, and have landed some pretty impressive slots at the likes of Rock Ness, Belladrum and the Wizard Festival. Could this be the year they break through?

I’ve finally managed to lay my hands on a copy of their debut EP, the confusingly-monikered “Rotten Kids & Haversacks” (there must be some story behind that title), and I’ve been looking forward to hearing it for some time. My first experience of Cast Of The Capital came on a sunny Saturday afternoon this summer as I was wandering around Belmont Street doing some shopping and happened across them playing a live set on the pavement outside One-Up. Stopping briefly to see what they sounded like, I was quickly hooked and ended up watching the whole set…

So to the EP. What hits you straight away when you put on this CD is excellent production on the tracks, and how well put together the songs are - they are all very well written, and are for the most part, 3 minute pop songs with catchy melodies, jangly guitars and some nice vocal harmonies. That’s not to say that these songs are in any way “obvious”, or straightforward, far from it in fact, the 5 tracks on this EP are quite a mixed bag, and can take you from soaring pop melodies to dark and introspective in the space of two songs. The first track “Comiston Springs” is a joyous affair and a great way to open any EP, poppy and upbeat with great production, a catchy chorus and a glorious middle 8 that makes you want to stand up from your chair and dance around like a character in a cheesy 80s teen movie. The second track “The Witching Hour” slows it down a bit, it’s more minor and opens with some beautifully played and sparse-sounding guitars, a theme that runs throughout the song, even after the rest of the instruments have joined in. The song lacks the instant hooks of the first track, but is still really well-written, with its many changes and its intricate guitar work. Track three, “Passing The Horse” is musically more similar to the first track, it has a jangly 60s vibe, great harmonies, nice lead guitar work and some lovely backing vocals, and it’s kept short enough to hold the attention of even the most easily distracted. This song drills its way into way into your brain and just refuses to leave, this is the track you’ll find yourself whistling when you’re walking to work in the morning, unaware you’re even doing it. Unfortunately, the quality of the songs dips a little with the last two tracks. “Crematory Blues”, is a country-tinged slice of Americana, a stripped-down effort featuring just vocal and acoustic guitar. It jumps out as the weak link of the EP, and thankfully is kept to under two minutes as the lead vocal begins to grate a little. “Tree Sleep” bounces along nicely and is more straightforward indie than the rest of the EP but it doesn’t quite hit the heights of the first three tracks, though the 1 minute of instrumental near the end is arguably when the sound is at it’s fullest, as the guitars, which sounded throughout the EP as though they were played with only the gentlest of touches, really kick in and build up to a fairly rocking crescendo that closes off in the EP in style.

Overall, this a very decent debut EP from a band who really sound as though they have the potential to go far. It does run out of steam a little bit toward the end, but the three excellent tracks at the beginning more than re-dress the balance.

Rating - ****

Standout track – “Passing The Horse”

www.myspace.com/castofthecapital

Gig Review - Bacchus*** @ Moorings - 28-Nov-2009

2009-11-28T18:20:00.010Z

Fudge Promoters.

Reviewed by Lucky.

"The lyrics to this songs are easy to remember. We got them from a Faroese kid with Down's Syndrome".

So proclaim Shetland punk trio Bacchus***, before launching into "Baboo", (the only lyrics to which are the word "Baboo"), the highlight of what has been a dazzling set at the Moorings. Bacchus do punk the way it's meant to be done - four chords, upbeat, a bit of humour, and played brilliantly - this lot are tighter than Ron Jeremy squeezing into an extra-small condom. Guitarist and lead singer Phil's vocal style has shades of Jake Burns, drummer Rory batters the drums into submission without ever missing a beat, and he and bassist Aaron provide gang vocals in abundance to complement the lead singer perfectly.

Musically it's hard to find fault with Bacchus***. Each song seems to last about two minutes, and has the effect of being battered around the face with something, tracks such as "Shoot The Messenger", "Four Man Gangbang" and "Stand Up And Be Counted" never failing to rouse the collection of sweaty punks near the front of the stage, and for good measure, a demented rockabilly-tinged cover of "Wipeout" by The Surfaris, splits the set in two.

Bacchus and friends prepare to launch into another slow heartfelt number

The most joyous thing about this gig was just the sheer fucking fun of it. With good-hearted, self-deprecating banter between songs, grins all round, and a stage invasion thrown in for good measure, Bachhus*** excel in just plain making you have a good time. By the time the final track of the night "Fuck Off", aptly dedicated to "every fucking Rangers fan in the world" was finished, the place was bouncing and still in great spirits. Having experienced many, many bands at The Moorings over the years, I can honestly say that this is one of the best gigs I have ever seen on the hallowed Moorings stage. Punk, when it's done well, makes me happier than any other type of music and after this gig I was virtually delirious. Bacchus*** four-chord shout-along punk rock style may be simple, but in these capable hands, it's also simply brilliant.

Rating - *****

Bacchus*** on MySpace

Gig Review - The Luchagors @ Tunnels 1 - 13-Nov-2009

2009-11-13T07:58:00.008Z

GFN Promotions

Reviewed by Lucky.

So, hands up who was here just to see that bird from WWE? Well my hand is up, and if they were being entirely honest, I would guess around 80% of the modest Tunnels crowd's would be as well. The Luchagors, fronted by one Amy Dumas, better known to the world as Lita of WWE fame, are a punk band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, and are currently touring the UK along with Liverpool's Zombina & The Skeletones, who sadly couldn't be with us tonight.

The Luchagors wear their influences on their sleeves, quite literally, as each member takes to the stage under a plague of logos, every available inch of clothing and instrument covered in patches and stickers of punk bands from the well-known to the obscure. Their modus operandi appears to be hard, fast punk - lazy comparisons with The Distillers are inevitable - and while they certainly don't lack energy and enthusiasm - lead singer Dumas contorts and throws herself around the stage like a woman possessed - the songs unfortunately suffer badly from a lack of hooks and diversity. Each song merges into the next and if you didn't hear the pause in between you would be forgiven for not realising the song had changed.

That's not to say this gig wasn't good, because it was - but that was less to do with the band and more to do with the crowd. The scattering of fans that took in the show front and centre spent the first 20 minutes or so of the set with one hand in their pocket and the other hand holding a pint. It wasn't until Dumas herself invited some members of the crowd to hold her over their heads in a chair that things started to get interesting, and from this a modest mosh pit ensued, which became an exhibition of acrobatics, which in turn became a full scale Royal Rumble, complete with suplexes, swanton bombs, and Stone Cold Stunners, as the fans took the opportunity to show off their wrestling skills to one of the world's finest female wrestlers. To her credit, Amy Dumas gamely joined in the fun, delivering a diving spear from the stage and pinning one of the fans for a three-count, while the band played on behind her. Inevitably though, it had to end in tears and did so as someone attempted a moonsault (backwards somersault) from the stage and landed on his head.

If you are planning on catching the Luchagors in a town near you, chances are you will enjoy yourself, as their energy and enthusiasm is contagious. Just don't expect to be still humming one of the songs on the way out, as it's likely the tunes will have exited your head long before you've exited the venue.

Rating - ** (OK, plus an extra * for the wrestling show)

The Luchagors on Myspace

Photos from the gig