DEAD SONS
with Big Deazy, Reporters, Rusty G's.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2 Friday 8th March 2013.

After a lengthy absence, one of Bedford's premier promoters The Pad Presents returned to Esquires and delivered one of the hottest and most urgent new bands of 2013. They are DEADS SONS. On a purely personal note, this reviewer finds the band name somewhat distasteful and one of the most hideous names I have had the misfortune to come across. I have my own reasons to state this and certainly would never buy any merchandise brandishing this most inappropriate name.
Dead Sons have their roots firmly in desert rock, a genre of music curated in the mid-eighties by cult exponents Yawning Man, a band who were 'highly' inspired by those special mushrooms! Since then, and especially nurtured by Josh Homme, this form of music has flourished. Dead Sons are a veritable musical angel cake of ideas. Three layers of inspiration spout forth in the form of QOTSA, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Arctic Monkeys. Like the latter, Dead Sons hail from Sheffield and memorably supported Alex Turner and the boys last year in their home city. Bedford Esquires represents the first date of their extensive nationwide tour. It's sad to report, but hardly surprising I suppose, that little interest has been generated in this town as the venue is only about a third full. Atmosphere, especially for this kind of band, is naturally lacking. A few people do tamely 'mosh' at the front, but most folks stand towards the back and nod heads or tap feet.
The five piece noise merchants contain Tom Rowley and Joe Green who were part of Milburn (a band who surprisingly never played Esquires). As well as the tour the band are showcasing their debut album entitled "The Hollers And The Hymns". Tonight they more than live up to their pre-tour mantra of 'no talking, let the music speak for itself'. Apart from an early "How ya doing?", Dead Sons are pretty much a non-stop forty minute incendiary blast of noise which detonates and explodes constantly around the four walls. Their inspired use of an auxillary sticksman is genius and adds so much more supreme power to the overall sound. This flexible fella also doubles up with a twin handed shake of the maracas, how's that for variation? This constantly blends in with the heavy grinding riffs that encapsulate this dark and moody band. Whether they can emulate their Sheffield buddies is very much for the future.
Dead Sons set list:
1. Ghost train
2. Last man standing at the wine till noon inn
3. Bang on full turn
4. A love as good as ours
5. Black hole machine
6. Electricity Encore. The hollers and the hymns
7. Room 54
8. Junk room 9. Shotgun Woman
10. Hangman
11. Stuck in a maze

The show opens with RUSTY G's who, except for a few mates, are playing to a great big empty space in the middle of the room. This trio engineer a classic rock sound but a touch faster. Although efficiently performed, it just seems to lack something. It's all a bit autopilot. The singer has his moments, but just doesn't seem 'dirty' enough somehow. "Nothing" is their current single and features on the band's EP which is plugged throughout. Cans of beer are endlessly swigged, no bland water for these rockers. Although most of the songs are of a standard duration, their last one is long and a tad tiresome. They practically milk it. Plenty of annoying stops and starts and then the guitar widdling begins. The vocalist appears to be trying to channel his inner Hutchence (Michael), but we are not too sure if that was before or after he died!!

This is REPORTERS debut appearance at Esquires. A bit of hype has come to my ears in the past few weeks about them and they have brought a few fans with them who immediately sprint to the front. There are lots of whoops and cheers when the bequiffed, leather jacket wearing singer announces "Hi we're Reporters". They are a two piece, which seems to be the in thing at the moment. This is a very brave venture for the youngsters for what I sense is very much a 'work in progress'. They have a very retro feel for most of their set. Why, it is almost 'indiebilly'. "Last of the lonely" is their next single and rivals "It doesn't matter at all" as the pick of their compositions.

As with all of the bands on tonight before Dead Sons, BIG DEAZY had their drummer pitched on the far right of the stage. This Luton quartet incorporate a wide variety of styles (far too many at times). It's an Arctic Monkeys bassline before they veer into RATM territory. The vocalist is a touch annoying as he not so much sings, more like expelling a lot of monotone ranting. Because of their musical randomness they are more of a Jack of all trades band, but dare I say masters of none! Oh well, at least the bass player had some proper rock star hair.