BEDFORD METAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS 07

 

The Bedford Civic Theatre, Horn lane St. Pauls Bedford. Saturday 1st September 2007.

91 Pieces, F R E, The Escape, Ex-Nihilo.

Heat 1. Winner - Ex-Nihilo. Best New Band Winners - The Escape.

Heat 1

With a little help from one of the other bands coming to the rescue to an amp that just died on stage at one point 91 PIECES soon got back in to the swing of their set, I'm starting to recognise a lot of the songs in their set now, due to the volume of gigs they seem to get, well timed drumming and the vocals are indeed very authentically punk, with one brother looking to see what everyone else is up to, staring round all the time, while the other seems to competently just be doing his thing while delivering some crunching vocals with the needed attitude.
They don't seem to project them selves to the audience much while on stage and prefer to be looking around and behind them like a bedroom jam session. They are quite a fun band though with anything from punk/rock/reggae and indie influences shining through. 91 Pieces are a hard working band with much enthuiasm. They play a basic classic punk style, and would suit a rock style line-up also. Perhaps not with something that is going to outclass them like F R E who were a touch of class on the night, outsiders to Bedford hailing from Northampton and with influences of Under oath, Tiger Army, Thrice, Shai Hulud etc. and a set list written on their hand, looking older and more gig experienced than their 18/19 age range. A professional sound indeed, leaping all round the stage and a share on vocal duties from each. Their bassist putting in some coal mining like swings of his bass guitar. I can easily imagine these on stage at the Astoria London. I didn't think however that they pulled much else out of the hat musically after their initial brilliance, but a good set though for their first Bedford gig.

Sounding a bit subdued after the last band but at least facing the crowd THE ESCAPE - the youngest band and musically totally competent, all in 'Escape' T-shirts and a Beatles type on stage look, somewhat static visually, making up with their classy sound, now with all new material and leaving behind a lot of their earlier covers from their influences of early rock bands like The Who, Rolling Stones etc. There was a bit of a Spinal Tap moment when the banner started sliding down towards them on stage. They are a young band progressing nicely and receiving appreciative applause after each song. They were the band that opened Bed-Rock at the civic and again demonstrated a good tight sound to their set.


Ex-Nihilo had a certain buzz about them, with their groove/metal sound giving a Pantera, Killswitch Engage edge in to the mix. Their singer is able to give us some great prolonged vocals showing good singing talent The charismatic floppy sheep headed guitarist uses the stage well with a target pattern on his axe (to help him aim for the strings accurately? ha ha). Their drummer is so on par with the songs and second to none.
They all seem to contribute a star like quality while positioning them selves in metal band like poses on stage between movements on stage.

The mix style heats lended a good range to the sounds on offer, giving an evening of punk/rock/indie/classic rock and metal. Well done to the winners\ of each section who go through.










For more photos of this gig see 'Gig photos' button at top.

Keith www.bedfordmetal.co.uk