Screaming In The Arena

Friday 19th March: First up tonight was a quick dash into taown after work to see my daughter and her schoolmates, along with children from three other schools, sing in York Minster. I have to say I was very impressed. The children, all aged around seven and eight, performed something in the region of fifteen songs (each school had one song to themselves and the rest were joint efforts) the vast majority of which were in foreign languages. It went some way to explain why Elizabeth had been walking around the house singing gibberish for the last few months. The whole thing seemed to go off without a hitch and everybody involved deserves masses of plaudits for the amount of effort that went into the event.

Then, after a quick tea with Elizabeth and Debbie, normal musical service was resumed with a trip to the Duchess for something a littlebit louder.

First up tonight was Scream Arena, a full on heavy metal band from the York area. I've not come across these before and lead singer Andy announced that this was their first gig of 2010, after a somewhat radical change in line-up. Everything about this band is big - big lads, with (for the most part) big hair and a very big sound. The fact that they were laying in front of tonight's lead act's equipment made them look like they were filling the Duchess's stage. Unfortunately we had, for some reason, decided to stand at the back and this made the vocals and, indeed, the music a bit indistinct which, possibly, gave me the impression that this band were more style than substance. The fact that some of the members seemed to have gone out of their way to dress like some of the more fanciful characters from metal was also a bit distracting from the act itself. The only song that stood out for me at the time was set ender House Of Pain, with incredible druming from Stix. Nothing else in the set really grabbed me and they are, perhaps, just the wrong side of too heavy for my tastes. (That said, I'm typing this while listening to the tracks available on MySpace and quite enjoying what I'm hearing - it's a lot more melodic than I remember tonight's set being.) I don't think I'd be first in line to see Scream Arena headline a gig but, on the flip-side, their being a support act wouldn't put me off. Scream Arena are currently recording their debut album and an E.P. is already available. It's entirely possible that more familiarity with their output could change my mind about their live act.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit nervous as Morpheus Rising took to the stage. This would be the third time I had seen them perform (which surprised me - I thought it was more) but the first time that Roj had managed to catch them. I was afraid that I'd done too much of a job of bigging them up and that Roj, who I would say has similar musical tastes to me but much wider appreciation and knowledge, would be disappointed. We had moved slightly further forward for this set and familiarity of the music certainly helped in this case - I recognised most of the songs from previous outings gigs, although I did have to check whether the last two were new as they didn't ring any bells with me. It turns out they weren't and that it was possibly just the better sound in the Duchess made them sound different. (Alternatively, my memory is finally failing me...) There was a moment of slight panic when I realised that Andy Smith wasn't playing bass - given some of the recent musical news around York, I was hoping that another band weren't going through a line-up change. However, it turned out that Andy was at Cheltenham for the races and Stealer's Andy Gooby was just filling in. Not that I noticed any difference, you understand. The full, although too short, set was made up of Save The Day, Brave New World, the soon-to-be-classic Fighting Man, Lord Of The North, Gypsy King and, my favourite of the night, Hold On. It's getting harder to find things to say about this band (particularly as I know that at least one member reads this blog regularly) but suffice to say that, as usual, the music was superb and the vocals were a lot better than the last gig down the road. An excellent set from an excellent band who I hope will be around for some time to come.

(Did Roj like them? Suffice to say, he was checking his pockets to see whether he could afford an album. Unfortunately, the debut has yet to be recorded. Come on guys - get a shift on...)

Headlining tonight were Gun, appearing in York for the second time in nine months and promoting their new mini-album (EP by any other name?) Popkiller and with a new drummer, Paul McManus. I saw them at the previous gig and thoroughly enjoyed it, despite not knowing any of their output. To this day I can't say for certain whether I remember them performing Word Up or the original version by Cameo. If Morpheus Rising weren't quite as heavy as Scream Arena, Gun continue the trend downwards - more rock than heavy. They are masters at what they do, though and have the audience (which seemed to mainly consist of hardened fans who knew all the back catalogue) fully engaged in the bands performances - arms were waving, hands clapping and lyrics being sung back at the band with gusto. Again, not too many of the songs rang bells with me but the new stuff sounded good - I particularly liked Seraphina and Let Your Hair Down (something I can no longer do, sadly...). Toby Jepson's vocals were clear enough that you could hear the lyrics even if you didn't already know them and the songs are catchy enough to dance (bounce?) along to. It may not be metal, but Gun certainly rocked the Duchess tonight.

The Rising Word

Saturday 2th June: We seem unable to manage to get all together for one gig at the moment. This weekend work and family commitments mean that Roj was at the Duchess on Friday (reviews usually appear sometime on Monday) while I was there on Saturday. The only constant was Andy. I'm fairly certain that I got the best night.

I was a bit late arriving at the Duchess and the first band, $lash Vega$, was already on stage. Indeed, I could hear them outside the venue. First impressions weren't good (the lead singer's covered in tattoos, has spiky hair and is that eye-liner he's wearing??? Yes, folks, I'm turning into my Mum...) but once I got a pint and started listening, I realised that you really shouldn't judge a band by what the lead singer's covered in. Hailing from Selby and Leeds and billed as Rock / Alternative / Metal, their output was a little too slash metal (the clue's in the name, I guess) for me to consider purchasing their album but, as a live act, they were a good opener. Ginna's vocals were strong but if I had to pick a stand-out musician it would be the guitarist in the hat (Robbie G or Oz, I don't know which) whose solos bordered on the incredible. This was the band's last gig with current drummer, Holmes, who is leaving after two and a half years and they are still without a replacement.

Next up were even more local lads - York based Morpheus Rising - and the band on tonight's bill that I knew most about. Their vocalist, Graeme Tennick, is a follower of this blog and one of my Facebook friends. We've even been to at least two gigs together. Well, I say "together" but I actually mean we've been at the same gigs. Aaaah, the wonders of social networking. Anyway, that begs the question of what I would write if I didn't like their set.

Thankfully, we'll never know. The guys produced a top-drawer performance that far-exceeded my expectations. Mind you, there's a bit of pedigree within the band - the bassist Andy Smith (yes, that Andy Smith, from Mostly Autumn) and we've seen Pete Harwood (guitars and guitar tech for Marillion) and Gibbo (drums) play with Freeway. Grae has been a member of several bands and I can't find any information about Daymo Sweeting (guitarist) - so it should be no surprise that this was a polished performance. Nor should it have been a surprise, given the band's influences, that I was immediately and powerfully reminded of listening to the likes of Saxon and Iron Maiden all those years back.

Grae has an incredibly raw voice which, the first few times I heard it (listening to their tracks on last.fm) didn't do a great deal for me. After I while, though, I realised that his voice fitted the style of music perfectly and live he seems to put his whole body behind it, producing an incredibly powerful sound. Again, though, it was the guitars that ruled the set. MR may be Pete's brainchild but, from where I was standing, it looked as though Daymo took the lion's share of the intricate solos (correct me if I'm wrong, guys), even if his playing was lost for most of one song. Anyway, whoever it was, they were superb. It has to be said that, for their biggest gig so far, the whole band played well. It was a very solid, very entertaining performance. Stand-out tracks were Fighting Man and Lord of the North. After their set, I bought a copy of their CD, introduced myself to my "friend" Graeme and had a quick chat with Pete. The band hope to get some proper recording done later in the year and that's another CD I'm going to have to look out for.

...and so to tonight's headline act, the newly reformed Scottish rockers Gun, with ex-Little Angels frontman Toby Jepson joining new drummer Gordon McNeil, original guitarist Giuliano Gizzi and nearly founder member Dante Gizzi on bass. I'm going to have to stop thinking that I know a fair amount about rock because it seems that everybody that I mentioned this gig to remembered Gun or, at least their cover version of Word Up and Wikipedia says about Little Angels "They were arguably one of the most successful and popular British bands of their time" (in the entry for Toby Jepson). I had never heard of Little Angels and couldn't remember Gun, although I do now remember Word Up.

Anyway, as with last year's Uriah Heap gig, this one was to take me completely by surprise. Full-on quality rock (which, I have to admit, sounded a little familiar) with great playing and superb vocals. It sometimes amazes me that a band with one guitar can produce such a good sound, but Joolz manages it. His brother is definitely not one of the inanimate school of bass players and new guy Gordon's drumming provided a good solid backing to the songs. As far as I can tell, all the tracks played were from the band's back catalogue, except one new one (Let Your Hair Down) which saw Jepson also take up a guitar. That was one of the best tracks of the set. With their vast experience, Gun are a band who know how to build a set to a close and this set definitely reached a crescendo with the second encore song, the aforementioned Word Up. I have to admit that both Andy and I noticed that the sound was a bit muddy during this set, but it was only when the band tried to quieten it down a bit.

Every so often, the Duchess excels itself. All three of tonight's bands, although performing slightly different versions rock/metal, complemented each other and combined to create a near-perfect gig. Best of the year so far.