Rattlesnake Remedy, Sacred Mother Tongue, Fifth Quarter, Ruby Shoes.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2 6th April 2007.

REVIEW 1 BY Karen Jones.

I must admit I was not looking forward to tonight. That was before I found out that RUBY SHOES were playing. The last time I saw this lot was supporting the mighty Towers Of London in Luton a couple of months ago. I like The Datsuns and this lot have the same sort of old-fashioned rock sound, but in a good way. They do play a song called 'Prince Charming', but thankfully it is not a cover version! They also have some interesting hair going on. I cannot look at the guitarist without thinking of old clips of Rod Stewart on TOTP! Hair aside, they once more got on with the job of entertaining a woefully small crowd. Jet take note - this is what you should sound like.

The second band on were FIFTH QUARTER (or as they will probably be eventually renamed by the EU - One Point Two Five). I have also seen this lot before in the bar downstairs. Only a couple of covers this time - a bit of Muddy Waters and Hendrix. Mainly one for anyone that is impressed by a great deal of widdling, some of the songs did seem a tad lengthy. A real treat for the guitar nerds amongst you, but I feel they are better suited to the laid back Sunday afternoon crowds.

Odd band out of the evening were Northampton's SACRED MOTHER TONGUE. Nothing wrong with the band itself, but a bit heavier than anything else on the bill this evening. Indeed I felt that a couple of the more mature punters may have been a little bit frightened. With nods to Rage Against The Machine and Metallica, its nice to see a band where the singer does just that instead of screaming a bit. Also welcome was the use of the Eddie Vedder stance - a highly underrated stage move!!

The headline band were RATTLESNAKE REMEDY, making a return visit to Esquires. This was the bit I was fearing as I was there the last time and also saw them recently in London ('cos Zodiac Mindwarp was playing). Best described as a Quireboys tribute band, this is a dangerous game in Bedford as I did spot a couple of Quireboys looking on. They churn out the sort of bluesy rock thats been kicking around for years. They don't seem to bring anything new or original to the party and the singer doesn't half fancy himself (and wearing a very fetching sort of safari jacket!). The crowd, which had grown a bit during the course of the evening, started to thin a bit as most of the younger people sloped off into the night (or possibly downstairs). I don't have anything against blues influenced rock (I like AC/DC and The Doors), but this just wasn't for me. According to the local rag they are popular in Russia. So are potatoes.

REVIEW 2 BY Christene Miller.

Tonight, Paul Craven’s One For The Underground takes on a decidedly rock ‘n’ roll twist courtesy of The Ruby Shoes, Fifth Quarter and headliners Rattlesnake Remedy, while odd-band-out Sacred Mother Tongue ensure that Bedford’s metal lovers get their weekly fix too…

Perhaps it’s the sunny start to the bank holiday weekend that has slowed people up this evening, an as THE RUBY SHOES take to the stage at 8.40pm, fans are just beginning to trickle in. The Ruby Shoes, though, don’t let this phase them, leaping straight in with their raw, whiskey soaked sound, bursting with big, catchy riffs that emulate the trendy retro sound of Aussie rockers Jet, or the hip-shaking, head spinning hooks of The Datsuns. Throughout the spiky ‘Black Honey’ and the AC/DC stomp of ‘Hot For Your Love’, The Ruby Shoes inject a healthy dose of well-deserved swaggering self-confidence into their set, before brining it to a satisfying and gutsy close with the cheeky, ‘Rubber Love’.

As FIFTH QUARTER take their positions, complete with paisley jeans and tie-dyed t-shirts, it’s as if someone has flicked a switch and sent Esquires back in time some thirty or forty years. Like some of Bedfordshire’s other young bands, such as Love Muscle, or the mighty Hekz, there’s a maturity and precision in Fifth Quarter’s tastes and talents that sent them apart from other teenage bands; here Fifth Quarter look the part of sixties and seventies rockers as the Bedfordshire and Brighton-based three-piece deliver their perfect performance of old school blues rock ‘n’ roll, whilst guitarist Ben Poole unquestionably steals the show with some frankly jaw dropping lead work. As the band groove through their take on Muddy Waters’ ‘Mean Disposition’ and what has to be a fifteen or twenty minute Hendrix cover, nobody (including the three members of Rattlesnake Remedy who are watching Fifth Quarter with obvious amazement) seems to mind that the evening is running nearly half an hour behind schedule…

SACRED MOTHER TONGUE might have been forgiven for feeling a little out of place tonight, or equally, for feeling a little daunted at having to follow the somewhat intimidating virtuosity of Fifth Quarter, but in reality, Sacred Mother Tongue have no reason to feel nervous; here is a band whose bone-crushing metal has recently earned them recognition from Kerrang! Radio, Total Rock Radio, and even praise from the legendary Bruce Dickinson; they are a band standing on the brink of metal stardom. Tonight the band live up to that promise, and unleash their mix of powerful driving metal, melodic riffs and soaring choruses on the Esquires audience In many ways, perhaps being the only metal act here tonight works in their favour, showcasing their talent particularly well amidst this evening’s rock ‘n’ roll setting.

When I spoke to RATTLESNAKE REMEDY during an interview they seemed a little wary to discover I would be there to review the gig, since their last visit to Esquires saw them labelled “a poor man’s Quireboys”, whose “bog-standard bluesy-rock” was done much better by AC/DC; yet they obviously didn’t let last time’s slating hold them back this evening. Okay, so the lead singer is a dead ringer for the Quireboys’ Guy Griffin (who along with keyboard player Keith Weir is in the audience tonight) and has obviously taken more than a few pointers from the Spike school of fashion, but let’s be serious for a moment, Rattlesnake Remedy are heavier than the Quireboys ever were; there’s no honky-tonk, piano and Faces-esque pop-rock here, just screaming guitars and chunky, dirty blues riffs, that throw Guns ‘n’ Roses, AC/DC and the Quireboys into the mix before taking the sleaziest, dirtiest, heaviest bits of each, the result of which is a deliciously retro, sexy and exciting performance. Most importantly though, I think it’s a while since The Quireboys or AC/DC have undertaken a 150+ date romp around the country, such as Rattlesnake Remedy’s 2006 ‘Drag You Down’ tour. So you see, that’s the bottom line; Rattlesnake Remedy aren’t trying to be original (because let’s face it, they certainly aren’t!) but they do put on one hell of a rock ‘n’ roll show and help to fill the void of genuine rock ‘n’ roll bands that have been sidelined for emo/screamo types in today’s music scene.

Review by Christene Miller.

REVIEW THREE BY Tracey Minutillo.

First up on this night packed with music were THE RUBY SHOES. This was the first performance I've seen with their new drummer, whose name I couldn't find anywhere on their MySpace page, so my apologies, Mr. Drummer, for not mentioning you by name if you happen to read or get wind of this review.
Despite some early technical difficulties with Cris's (though his name is Riley on his personal MySpace page) bass which made him lose time and his flow, and some problems with lead singer Matt's microphone, which didn't want to stay put, these guys played a solid and fun set.
I'm used to seeing the boys full of energy from their first song, but everyone except the new drummer seemed a little subdued and did not appear to start enjoying themselves until a few songs in when Cris/Riley's problem was sorted. After that it was all systems go for the full 'Shoes experience. The introduction of the new drummer has injected the boys' songs with a whole new lease of life which, I noticed, encouraged some nice improvisation from guitarist Adam in their song 'Prince Charming'.
Personally, I thought this was an entertaining show, and their glam rock music may well be, to partially quote one of their songs, 'the sweetest thing you'll ever get stuck on'.

Next up was THE FIFTH QUARTER and I was totally blown away by just how talented these boys are. They are all studying at Music College so it's no wonder they were so technically accurate, from Ben Poole's crying guitar right down to Marc Golding's perfect drum dynamics. Their music was very bluesy with a Led Zeppelin influence and the drumming often taking a jazz tilt.
The bass player, Jonny Chase, is a classic rock and blues bassist: he kept his playing constant and unfussy for the majority of the time. The lead guitar spiralled in some intricate solos, the drums were allowed to shine but they were anchored by the rhythmic bass. Jonny did throw in the occasional flare, but he mostly remained the stabilising force.
The Fifth Quarter are still a relatively new band with roughly half their set being made of original material and the rest comprising of covers including songs by Gary Moore and a spectacular Jimi Hendrix finale.

SACRED MOTHER TONGUE, the third band to take the stage, were apparently a last-minute addition to the line-up and the singer admitted they were put on the wrong bill. Their music appeared to me to be a fusion of hard rock, late 80s technical metal, brutal metal, with the odd cheeky funk bass pattern sometimes thrown in, so they were much heavier than the rest of the groups on the night. That said, they were very professional and what they do, they do extremely well.
All too often when a band decides to play metal music the vocals are dominated by incoherent screaming. This was not the case with Sacred Mother Tongue. Their vocalist (again, I had difficulty finding names) demonstrated throughout the set that he can actually sing as well as scream from deep within his throat. He had a strong voice and he recognised when to pare it back to achieve the greatest effect. In fact, the band as a whole knew when to be full-on and when to back off with some songs being quite in-your-face and others, such as 'Down' being mellower and reminiscent of Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters'.

Headlining the evening was RATTLESNAKE REMEDY. Lead singer, Lee Stone, has a voice that sometimes sounded like Steven Tyler and at others more like Axl Rose, though when he spoke he had a Brummie accent more like that of Ozzy Osbourne.
The band's songs are quite typical of the sleaze rock genre with sex being the main subject of many. I found the material quite generic and unremarkable though it was played and sung well. The lead guitar was a little over-indulgent: it was evident that Ben Bartlett is a skilled guitarist but his playing was over-complicated and sometimes pushed the rest of the band slightly out of time as well as overshadowing them.
Rattlesnake Remedy's set was at least twenty minutes too long and some of their songs seemed more like 'filler' tracks and did not hold my attention. Maybe they can afford to play such an extended set to their home crowd where they are well-known and loved, but I thought their performance dragged and I just wanted it to be over.

Review by Tracey Minutillo.