Whitley Bay Wildcats

Wednesday 12th May: It's a Wednesday and a band from my past (sort of) has caught my eye, so it's time for a solo trip to Fibbers.

Tonight's support bands seemed to me to be suffering from a bit of an identity crisis. First to take the stage, to somewhat muted applause, were Kiss Kiss Kill, a local band whose overall sound sounded more "punk/pop" than the "alternative rock" they bill themselves as on the above link. The trouble was they appeared just a bit too clean cut to suit the sound, apart from vocalist Grace, who could easily have modelled herself on Debbie Harry. There was quite a high degree of noise distortion through their set and, while the band is relatively new, the individual members' histories should have meant a more polished performance than we saw tonight - songs were introduced before guitars were tuned for them and leads mysteriously parted company from microphones. There was, occasionally, some nice melodic guitar-work trying to prise its way out from behind powerful drumming. Grace's vocals improved from an apparently nervy start and, overall, the set improved as it went on. For me, the best song was Shake Down, although the final song (and Grace's favourite) was the best vocally. Reception to the band remained ambivalent through the set but I suspect they might have got more plaudits on a different bill. There's a germ of a decent band here, they just weren't what most of tonight's gig-goers were looking for.

Raw Deal, on the other hand, sounded more like the classic heavy metal that they bill themselves as, but at least some members of the band adopt a more punk-like image. This was a more polished and energetic performance, although the vocals, by diminutive Steph (a.k.a. Pixie) weren't quite as clear as those of Kiss Kiss Kill, as they were drowned out a little by the guitars. The music did fit the bill a bit more, though and songs such as Catch Me and Godspeed (I think that was the title, anyway) were excellent. Again, there was good, if over loud, use of guitar and, for a change, the drumming wasn't too intrusive.

I was a mere youngster, still at school, when the original New Wave of British Heavy Metal was at its peak. I don't remember hearing anything by Tygers of Pan Tang, although I'm fairly certain that at least one of my friends had one of their albums, but the name has stayed with through the intervening years. (Indeed, I was suddenly reminded of them last year, when I read Michael Moorcock's Elric Stories while on holiday - the band took their name from a group of chaos-worshipping warriors in said stories.) The band,originally from Whitley Bay, have now been going for over thirty years and the current line-up boasts just one original member (Robb Weir on guitar) and a singer from Italy in the form of Jacopo Meille. Apart from those two members, the rest only date back to the 2000 reformation instigated by Weir. They play exactly what it says on the tin - heavy metal in the classic late 70's, 80's style and, while the set featured songs from the latest album, Animal Instinct, a lot of material was taken from Wild Cat and Spellbound, the band's first two albums. Screaming guitar solos, guitar duets, the audience being "machine-gunned" by guitars and microphone stand and Meille's fantastically powerful and rangy voice, transported me back to a time when my gig venues were the likes of Queen's Hall in Leeds. (Sadly, Ronnie James Dio, whose band was either the second or third I ever saw at that venue, lost his battle with cancer this week.)

I didn't recognise any of the songs until the encore, which started with Love Potion Number 9. It might be a cover version but my fading memory also thinks that it might be the Tygers' most famous song. (A bit of personal trivia - this set also included, albeit briefly, the first "talk box" I have ever seen used.) The band's member might be getting on a bit now, even if they weren't there from the beginning, but they certainly put out a superb set and put on a fantastic show.

CD Review: The Reasoning - Adverse Camber

Tuesday 4th May: By now a lot of fans of The Reasoning will have already picked up their copy of the band's third album, Adverse Camber, which was available to buy on the tour before the general release date of yesterday. In fact, the original pressing of 3,000 has already sold out (but worry not, more are on their way.) I picked mine up at the York gig and it's been in and out of various CD players since.

First, a word about the cover, which is a radical departure from the artwork covers of the first two albums. While it doesn't scream "prog!" at you, something about it does remind me of Storm Thorgerson's work for Pink Floyd. I'm not sure what it is about it as, being honest, it looks nothing like any particular Floyd cover - maybe it's the slight surrealism in the background pictures - but from the first time I saw it, that was the thought that has popped into my head.

Adverse Camber is not as dark as the previous album, Dark Angel, or, even Awakening, the band's debut. It does, however, retain some of the heaviness which marks The Reasoning as a little different from most female-fronted prog bands. The lighter tone may have something to do with Dylan Thompson seeming to take more of a back stage in terms of vocals, allowing Rachel Cohen's almost choral vocals to be front and centre for almost the entire album, with Dylan really only sharing lead vocals with Rachel on Through The Now, which actually ends up being more of a triple-header as new backing vocalist Maria Owen also gets a chance to shine during parts of the song. (Not that she doesn't shine as a backing vocalist - in fact, along with Dylan, she provides some of the best backing vocals I can remember hearing, both on the album and during the live set.)

Musically, a lot of the album seems not to be made up of full tunes, but snatches of music which ebb and flow around the vocals, never allowing the listener to get bored or to guess what form the songs are going to take. The music on the album varies between the neo-classical, with the piano opening to Script Switch Trigger, and some very heavy metal-like guitar solos. The overall effect, when mixing the vocals and the music is something that hovers just to the light side of the mid point between traditional prog rock and the likes of Evanescence.

Highlights for me are the Eastern influenced keyboards and choppy guitars of The Thirteenth Floor and the aforementioned, ballad-like, Script Switch Trigger, my favourite song on the album, which showcases Rachel's crystal clear enunciation. (Apparently the title comes from a theory of humour but I didn't follow Rachel's explanation from the stage and have just been more confused by internet searches...) The Nobody Effect, contains the album's heaviest guitar work overlaid with some subtle keyboards but I'm afraid I am unable to listen to the chorus without being reminded of Genesis' Driving The Last Spike.

Adverse Camber is a well-above average album and, like its cover, is definitely a bit of a departure from the band's previous output. However, while there's nothing actually wrong with the album, I still find myself preferring Awakening.

Track listing:

1. Diamonds And Leather
2. The Nobody Effect
3. The Thirteenth Floor
4. Through The Now
5. Script Switch Trigger
6. 14

Musicians:

Rachel Cohen - Vocals & Percussion
Dylan Thompson - Vocals, Electric/Acoustic Guitars & Mandolin
Matthew Cohen - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals, Mandolin & Percussion
Maria Owen - Vocals
Tony Turrell - Keyboards & Backing Vocals
Owain Roberts - Electric Guitar
Jake Bradford-Sharp - Drums & Percussion

Socialising With Dead Comedians

Saturday 24th April: It's an old venue under a new name tonight. I'm fairly sure that the last time I saw a band in this room, the building was called The Bay Horse. I was still at school and was watching a band from Bradford called Haze. That was twenty-plus years ago. Now it's Stereo and we're here for a very similar line-up to that of a gig Roj and I attended last year.

The only difference is tonight's opener. Robert Loxley Hughes was the flamboyant frontman of Idle Jack And The Big Sleep who have, we found out tonight, split up. Tonight it was just him and his (well, somebody else's) guitar, some bad experiences and the resulting songs. Hughes seems to be a bit of a tortured soul who takes his experiences, chews them up and spits them out as lyrics. One song, very emotionally performed, was about an absent friend. Another was introduced as having its roots in a long story which boiled down to "very nasty lady" (tidied up for a family audience). The guitar playing varied from minimal to as close to thrash as you can probably get with an acoustic. The lyrics were mostly clear, except for a couple of times when the emotions got the better of Hughes, who has a strong voice. This was a very good performance bit it veered just too much towards angry for my liking. However, how many times are you going to go to a gig and hear a song with the word "hypothalamus" in the lyrics? The set was worth watching just for that - although, it has to be said that this was a David Ward Maclean song.

The last time we saw Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians, there was just the two of them performing (Dave himself and Chris Saunders on guitar) and both Roj and I commented that we would like to hear what the full band sounded like. Tonight we got that pleasure, as Chris Murphy (piano), Andrew Wood (drums) and Lee Bradley (bass) were all on stage. We were treated to songs from last year's album release, Omaha High Low, as well as new ones from a forthcoming album. Songs about gambling and love, drenched in alcohol and wreathed in cigarette smoke (metaphorically, obviously, this was in indoor gig...) The music is a sort of mix of rock and roll and country, with a lovely steel guitar sound and the couple of songs that I remembered from the last gig had, quite obviously, a fuller sound. It was an energetic performance, with Dave gesticulating and dancing round the limited stage area. Indeed, at one point, he actually took the microphone into the audience and ended up singing while on his back. In another "rare song" event, the band played one song about Dave's hometown - my guess is that there can't be many more songs about Rotherham than there are about the hypothalamus... Anyway, I'm happy to report that the full band is a whole lot more enjoyable than the cut down version we saw previously. So much so that I bought myself a copy of Omaha High Low.

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of GT Turbo (a.k.a Boss Caine) and tonight saw another solo performance of songs from the album The Ship That Sailed. GT wore his annoyance on his chest (and back), with a T-shirt proclaiming "Shut the f*ck up, the band are playing". Sadly the message didn't get across to all members of the audience and, even after moving away from the group doing their best to define themselves as "loud and annoying", we could still hear them over parts of the performance. GT's set was comprised of what I assume to be his current standards, including my favourite Leaving Victoria and close second (though not on the album), Smoking In My Back Yard. Like Hughes, GT's songs are based on his experiences, not all of which are good. Unlike Hughes, there is a lot less anger on show. I've mentioned before that his songs have an immediate effect on me and I was able to sing along (silently, for the most part) to most of them. There's not too much more I can add, except to say that, somehow, GT's voice, which is usually superb, seemed a lot stronger tonight. I'm assuming that was something to do with the acoustics or the mixing.

As good as the previous acts were, we were mainly here for one reason - Hope & Social's return to York. They are one of our favourite bands and are currently promoting their second album, April, which is available from the above link, using their usual "pay what you want/can afford" method. Honestly, try it - you can download it for free (if you really can't afford to pay anything), they are a totally inoffensive, very talented band and I can't think of any reason not to like them. What's the worst that can happen? Right, plug over.

Tonight, the band, with very new drummer "he doesn't know half the songs" Ian, and new bassist James Hamilton and a three piece brass section, all of them resplendent in the now obligatory blue blazers. The stage looked very crowded and I was beginning to fear for the safety of both the audience and band members given how little space there was for both the trombone and Simon's guitar-playing. Thankfully, by the end of the night, there were no injuries and the brass section quickly mastered getting off and on stage quickly.

You don't see Hope & Social perform, you immerse yourselves in the performance. Whether it's singing the chorus to Red Red Rose, laughing at Rich and Simon's jokes and antics, performing the backing to Looking For Answers, engaging in banter or (and this is a new one to me) being part of the kazoo orchestra, you are a part of the gig. Tonight was no exception. As well as songs from the new album, we heard some from Architects Of This Church, including a proper acoustic version of Looking For Answers which seemed to be brought forward in the set to give Rich some time to sort out his pedal problems. As usual, some of the songs as performed live are quite a bit different than as recorded, with some very heavy extended musical sections, but they work just as well in both versions. The added brass also provided a new dimension to some of the songs, especially when they remembered to play... I don't think it's possible to see a bad gig from Hope & Social, but I do know that tonight's was the best I've seen so far.