Thirst Club Esquires Bedford. Friday 15th April 2005.
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Were getting towards the end of Battle Of The Bands now with the first of the two semi finals starting with
Chavius
not to be mistakenly confused with any chav boy band image, in fact they will be changing their name and image soon as they take what they do seriously and are quite a good well rounded and entertaining band. I didn’t notice if they had a drummer/vocal swap like last time which added freshness. I’m not in to the more hip hop area of some of their vocals but have to admit that along with the bass and lead work, they have the ability to produce a good alternative heavy sound. They know both how to get the crowd going and bring a fair sized crowd with them, not a bad band to start a night with as they have a kind of party attitude on stage. I get the feeling they are saying “Look were having fun doing this – so should you!”. These guys are originally from Sharnbrook upper, which isn’t the most well known school for live bands at the venue, they also haven’t been going all that long and already have a gradually growing following. What I would say to this band is that with a few more gigs at this level, its not going to be long before you get a growing crowd that would be more in to your style than I am to appeal to – so keep up the momentum while its there.
Summerfall
never started their set, they just seemed as if they exploded on stage with a sudden burst of energetic fury, what a fantastic way to start. Its not all death metal growls though, they have so much diversity and a complex sound ranging from the melodic to charged emotional screams. With a one hundred percent up front crowd - their gigs are more of an event than just some live band. They have along with guitar work that just seems to get better, the added dimension to their sound by having backing vocals, which also comes from their drummer wearing an on head mic. piece, adding backing growls and other vocals in with the all to competent drumming. Originating from Bedford Modern putting on their own band at rock fests they have come such a long way, being quite a go - get, hard working band, spreading to further a field venues, other Battle Of The Bands gigs and even a feature on Cambridge radio recently. They also have a few demo C.D.’s out – ‘always a good sign for promoters’, which I noticed quite a few people clutching in their mitts during the evening. These are Bedford boys with the right attitude, willing to push themselves, enthusiastic and deserve the attention. Not the sort of band that would just call it a day if they won the final but would appreciate I’m sure, the extra studio time and investment which I would like to see help them go a step further towards the next level. (Did any one say I like this band?).
To be honest I really didn’t thing a lot of
Gain
the last time I saw them with such a ropey start that immediately put me off, although getting better as they went on. I was quite staggered then that they slid back in to the competition and got a support slot with Tokyo Dragons coming up! I thought ‘you better get practicing boys’!
Well they must indeed have been practicing, as their no fault performance showed on the night. They had these bursts of really heavy guitar work which sounded technical, fast heavy and just damn right good.
The vocals as ever fit in so well, with a kind of 50’s rock n roll vitality with a lot of energy put in to the singing, its straight forward classic rock style allowing the band to stand out more uniquely than the screeching emo fodder. They were either not playing as many covers, playing more of their own stuff, or were playing covers that I didn’t recognise. They are looking to be playing more small gigs in the area which will give them the added live experience and with more practice and more of their own material they should do well; Lets have more of those fantastic guitar sections. The upcoming gig with a bigger band will be a good opportunity for them for exposed recognition – lets hope they GAIN from it!
Fell Silent
is live entertainment, the live entertainment is a band, the band is a machine and the machine is a well-oiled fired up one and rearing to go. They sound like a ‘best of’ when it comes to local bands and easily fall in to the class act category. They seem to lack any subtlety however, going for the all out attack of relentless barraging of sound in the form of skilfully played guitars and thunderous drumming to give us the hard-core machine driven quality to their style. One of the most impressive things I noticed about their gig was that when I was just thinking that the crowd had died down a bit and starting to look a bit weary, as if to say no no no I’m not having that, the lead singer gestured with out stretched hands to stir the audience and like a grand master of puppets the crowd burst in to action and a mosh pit resurrected. It might not have worked but it showed just how much command this band has. Lets face it, even if you are not strictly in to this type of music, you would have to see for your self that Fell Silent do actually possess a really good front show man that engages with the audience and banters with them between tracks.
Because of the style of music I guess some of their songs started to sound the same after a while, I like the heaviness but like a more varied sound at a gig. I’m not going to bore you with a list of tracks and tell you what I thought each was performed like – just to say that the overall sound and performance, along with the crowd participation made it a spectacle of a live event, with no sign of the F.S. machine flagging.
Review by Keith www.bedfordmetal.tk