BEDFORD METAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS 07

 

The Bedford Civic Theatre, Horn lane St. Pauls Bedford. Saturday 15th September 2007.

Change Of Scene, Deviance, Perry Thomas Band, The Ramblers.

Heat 2. Winner - The Ramblers. Best New Band Winners - The Perry Thomas Band.

Heat 2

What a busy town Bedford is for live music, with more going on than one of the outer city's - Goth night down at The Angel, Bedford bands at The Cricket club, All day fest at Esq. Lev 2 and the bar, indie night at Esq. Lev 1 not to mention the various pubs. Even though unanimously decided not to do a gig on this particular day - the decision was forced to go ahead. Not expecting the greatest of crowds, we certainly had a lively one. Standing at the back made the room look a bit thin on the ground but with the scattered pockets of people up front, getting in to the party swing vibe, created what I thought was a good atmosphere on the night, which seemed to attract a predominantly girl crowd following. So a fun gig after all!

First up - A young Pop Punk 3-piece outfit from Nottingham

CHANGE OF SCENE who I had promised a gig ages ago, their songs were quite tuneful and there was a young up for it girl contingency up front and even an all girl stage invasion on one of their songs. The teenage pop punk vocals were a bit shaky at the start and reminding me of late 80's band Morrissey, while their well timed set ended on a fast one, it seemed criminal to stop them and to the total delight of their fans, there was time for just another song, they played well and interacted with the crowd who luckily were a happy and responsive one.



DEVIANCE replaced Cascade on the same morning of the gig, from Biggleswade and doing a bit of Black Sabbath during the line-check. I thought this band was the best on the night and had some faultless vocals which were heavy and melodic with his white flying V guitar and screamy (not screamo!) operatic vocals. There was some well timed drumming and a moving crowd and an AC/DC cover of 'TNT' from this older band who gave us some competent entertaining value.

Starting with a shy "Hello" THE PERRY THOMAS BAND then exploded in to their first song, - no build up, just crashed straight in to it and a good attention grabbing way to start. They are a fusion of indie, alternative, experimental folk, garage rock, new wave, punk pop Libertinesesq rock and all in black and white clothes like a zebra crossing on stage from an inspirational cast of band members.
Despite there being more movement from nodding heads all round, they gave us a lively party sound of infectiously groovy tunes (and you can quote me on that).



THE RAMBLERS I didn't think this was one of their best performances, the band may even agree. They know what they are doing by now and bloody go for it! Influenced by Pouges, Sex Pistols and Guinness and have a folk, Irish, punk, rockabilly sound . They have some slurred, we don't care what we sound like vocals to their songs about being pissed, enthused with angry poses while acting the part on stage also. Just when I thought the vocals aren't going to carry this off alone and missing the other rarer instruments, - out came the tin whistle which always adds just that little bit extra, including more people from outside running in, wanting to see the tin whistle playing live. Maybe they are saving their accordion for the semis?

Well done to the winners\ of each section who go through to the next round.



Change Of Scene

The Deviance

Perry Thomas Band

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

Keith www.bedfordmetal.co.uk