Friday 20th February: Blimey! I nearly forgot to blog...
After the relative disappointment of last week's four bands for four quid, it was time to try again. Tonight saw us taking a rare trip to Fibbers to see The Summits, a band that I have previously been recommended and was looking forwards to see. So much so, that I even took Debbie along.
We arrived just before Jonny Dobbs took to the stage for a one-man acoustic set, but managed to not catch his name when he introduced himself. A quick scan of the running order put that to rights and also started alarm bells ringing - The Summits were not on it. (Subsequently, I have been informed that Mr Dobbs often plays with or alongside the Summits at the Melbourne pub, and a bit of investigation shows that they were also supposed to be playing Fibbers two weeks earlier but, t seems, had to drop out due to illness, so I assume the same applied tonight.)
Anyway, Jonny looks a bit like a certain James Blunt and, in style, sounds a bit like him too, just without the annoying voice. His songs were pleasant enough, if a tad simple-sounding and it was only with the last one that he introduced a mix (nay, indeed a melange) of playing styles within the song itself. He certainly got my foot tapping and, so, the evening was off to a good start, despite the disappointment of the main act not being there.
Next up were Seven Heroes, a foursome from Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham, although lead singer Dan Gibson seemed a bit embarrassed to announce that fact, which he only did after a bit of prompting from the audience. Not heavy enough to be full-on rock and too mainstream to be classed as indie (whatever that actually means these days...) they are likened, on their own website, to The Killers, The Cars and The Undertones. Being honest, I haven't heard enough of any of those to comment. I can, however, say that they were blooming good, with enough variety to keep things interesting in their all-too-short set. Quite early on, I had to have a wander round the audience to get a different view of the stage as I couldn't work out where the keyboard player was standing. After a few minutes, I realised that there wasn't one. It seems that David Smith, on lead guitar, played with some sort of device which made his guitar sound like keyboards (sort of Keane in reverse...) Whatever it was, it sounded good and the evening was getting better as it went along.
Seven Heroes have, apparently, completed work on their debut album - another one for me to look out for.
Finally, we had Modern Day Chicane, a slightly older looking and much more local band from somewhere called York.
Slightly heavier and louder than Seven Heroes is about the best I can do to describe them (it doesn't help that I'm writing this nearly a week after the event and I don't take notes...) I quite enjoyed the music, although it has to be said that the songs did sound slightly samey all through the set. There wasn't anything too adventurous and the vocals were a little muddy but, overall, there wasn't a great deal wrong with the music. I have to say, though, that I preferred Seven Heroes.
After the lights came up at Fibbers, we did the usual and headed off to the Roman Bath. Tonight's fare was Flashback, a retro three-piece, again from York, who specialise in the "beat" music of the 60's, as well as a bit of witty banter between songs. I'm afraid that this type of music, whilst inoffensive to listen to, does very little for me. I have probably heard a great deal of it, but almost certainly wouldn't buy any. Flashback were entertaining enough but, it has to be said, Debbie enjoyed them a lot more than I did.
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