BEDFORD METAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS 07

 

The Bedford Civic Theatre, Horn lane St. Pauls Bedford. Friday 5th October 2007.

Alchemy, Sandbuzzard (disqualified), Fit To Be Tied, Attika, The Measure.

Heat 5. Winner - The Measure. Best New Band Winners - Fit To Be Tied.

Heat 5

ALCHEMY are a four-piece, traditional metal band (think Maiden, Priest, Dream Theatre) formed last year. Standard rock sound and not a great deal of stage presence at first I thought and one guitarist needs to realize which way the audience is and what way to face, but later thought it was good to see the front man taking the chance to chat to the audience between songs, also as the set went on, the style seemed to get hypnotically better and more instrumental like which made for an interesting sound.

SANDBUZZARD (Disqualified) Squadgie pedal effects, funky grooves and a sound that interests the listener, with ska, two-tone involvements in with some gorgeous gallops of guitar work in to the mix also. There were some pockets of crowd that couldn't help bursting in to skank dance movement to them. Only a three piece with cross ranging influences form both 60's and 70's music. They have appeared on MKTV and were also Chiltern fm's band of the week. They have had quite a few gigs for Bedford Metal now and I'm sure miss the dcor of the Ath. Venue we used previously. I've watched their sound develop from a more punk like edge to the funk infused rock that it is today. They never really got anywhere before in these competitions and had only attracted four people on the door, they wanted to use their own equipment which gave them 3 choices of using the house amps, shipping out altogether, or using their kit but not legible to be voted for. They opted for the latter, - providing us with a good gig of their own styled sound but depriving bands on the reserve list who would want to play the rules and be part of the compettion.

I was actually blown away by how good the next band was. FIT TO BE TIED - their first ever gig as well. The right to be nervous but it didn't show, although being a surprisingly good singer, their front man was great at conversing and commanding with their mini bus sized crowd. The vocals are kept sounding fresh by adding death metal growls but predominantly normal singing. They have the advantage of actually having some really good material including a killswitch Engage and Roni James Dio cover. Who would have thought I would ever hear 'Holy Diver' live at a local band gig! - excellent stuff!!
They must have put a lot of practice in to their set as it just all seemed to work so well, they even moved around well on stage also. I'm sorry I can't think of any tips to give them on how they could improve, all I have to say is, that I would defiantly like to see this band live again.

ATTIKA have an awesome new guitarist, he looks the part and fits in to the sound well. They have some second to none drumming which makes it more easy for the band to be this good and have adopted the usual metal band like visual posses and on stage movement also.
They have some Goblinesque style vocals reminding me of the band 'Accept' and induced some interactive movements from the energy fuelled happy crowd of which Attika are easily able to engage with - whether it be the wonderfully British eccentric bassist or the sheer force of the music.
At one part of the night I thought what the bloody hell's going on and saw an amazing sight of the whole audience walking round the room in a single line doing the macca bloody rama! - who says our nights aren't fun?

Unlike the ignored by Esquires Attika, I could easily see THE MEASURE with a surviving band-member from Last Man Standing being continually overplayed- in a new groove formation kind of way. Appreciated better with a fully warmed up crowd as they had here, with a full party atmosphere that held the crowd attention, everybody seemed to know how to dance and move about to them, making me wonder if they had even hired their own dancers. They have a jazzy groovy sound played by true musicians. The sound quality of The Civic seemed to really stand out with the great quality of this particular band, never more so than during their 'Purple Haze' Hendricks cover. I have never seen The Measure before but predict a great potential to do extremely well.

No Ollie And The Wallies as advertised, but to make up for a late pull out due to illness (get better soon Ollie) we asked for someone from the audience with the name of Ollie and an umbrella to replace them with 'Ollie and the Brollies'. All in all I have to say quite a fun gig and a high level of talent on this heat.

Alchemy

Sandbuzzard

Fit To Be Tied

Attika

The Measure


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

Keith www.bedfordmetal.co.uk