Fueled Hate, Red Neck Jesus, Eden's Eyes, Mighton.
Esquires Dannys Bar Lev 1 Esquires Saturday 6th June 2015.
Quiet is, some people say, the new loud. However, for this reviewer, loud is still far and away the best. Tonight we had loudness in abundance in the Esquires bar, some all too rare earsplitting brilliance. It was a pleasure to attend this gig and a special thanks must be afforded to our visitors from Northamptonshire, namely Fueled Hate and Red Neck Jesus. The latter had played a show in Kettering earlier and stepped in at the very last minute to replace The Crushing Depths who had pulled out earlier. Knowing that tonight was going to be on the heavier side it was a masterstroke to start the evening with an acoustic performer, especially one that could trade lighthearted banter with the various metalheads in attendance.
MIGHTON opens the evening. A proud Scotsman, you could almost hear him say Rabbie Burns, Robert the Bruce, William Wallace look at me now! Tall, angular with short sandy coloured hair and an armoury of tattoos, the overwhelming impression is his jovial and relaxed personality. He's deadpan when explaining why he is playing tonight "at a hardcore metal gig"! He is well known locally as a member of the celtic folk ensemble Get Tae Folk. As he introduces "Holes" Mighton is typically self effacing. This starts a set that mixes his own compositions as well as a couple of covers. "Verny Lee and the devil" is a more than affectionate tribute to someone well known here at Esquires. A cover of "Donald wheres yer troosers" is incredible, a song that I'm sure has never been performed here before(?). The old classic gets a great reception. A contrast is the recently written "The door" which is a song about the serious subject of mental health issues. Mighton then lightens the mood considerably with "Dog eating beetroots". The lyrics and introduction are just too graphically explained to enlarge upon for a family audience. Just think of a call of nature!
EDEN'S EYE were, I'm afraid, the proverbial fly in this musical cuisine. This band and their entourage fled well before the hardcore headliners detonated the room. I felt that they were a rather strange and baffling addition to the bill. This female fronted five piece stated defiantly that they have played here a couple of times before. Indeed, gazing upon the attendees tonight, they failed to recognize anyone (apart from BAM's Keeef). Well Rhiannon (their vocalist), the feeling is mutual. They are from Hertfordshire and this post hardcore band speak only occasionally. With a nod towards wanting to be like Marmozets, the songs fail to register in my memory for more than a few seconds. Where is the harmony? Not in these compositions, probably just the hairspray of the same name. That is where Eden's Eye do score highly with their tailored look and stage presence. I feel perhaps it would be best to judge this band on an evening more suited to their genre because tonight certainly wasn't it.
Much more to my liking were RED NECK JESUS. Wow! What an Esquires debut. How cool are this trio as they bizarrely concoct songs about, amongst other things, stalkers and shopping. They are a most difficult band to pigeonhole, but there are the obvious influences of say Dinosaur Jr or TAD. This band look, act and sweat rock 'n' roll, even down to their baseball capped drummer who was struggling to get to is stool at the start due to having a pint in each hand. "Hey ya" is fast, frenetic and fantastic, but thankfully not the Outkast cover! This band are technically gifted, aurally superb and, as stated earlier, have saved our day. We are very honoured fellas. At times some of us muso fans got slightly over obsessed with watching the tall bass player's hand. Phew, it moved like a blur. "Witch doctor" follows "Chairs" and it starts almost as if Lemmy was singing a Mudhoney song. This was my first taste of Red Neck Jesus and I eagerly anticipate my next one. Great stuff.
Battle of the bands competitions are, at times, a total lottery and its probably why Esquires thankfully ditched them about a decade ago. A few weeks ago I saw FUELED HATE compete in the Metal To The Masses competition in Luton. This gives bands a chance to perform at the awesome Bloodstock Festival in August. Unfortunately they failed to make the final, but these 'lucky losers' were offered a gig at Esquires instead. Needless to say they jumped at the chance to play here for the first time. Hailing from Corby, Fueled Hate are all about controlled aggressive music. How can I describe them? Well , very loosely like Eminem fronting a hardcore metal band. Opening with "Random thoughts", their whole set from start to finish is gloriously brutal. There is to be no compromise and the small, but hugely energetic, mosh pit laps it up. Even a familiar Esquires local has decided that this is finally a band that he can air guitar to at this venue. "Iron fist" and "Begging me" pulsate with dynamic power. There is so much love and respect between band and crowd that Fueled Hate give us a most welcome encore. With the Corby crew (both musicians and supporters) saturated in sweat it was finally time to say goodbye shortly after midnight. Time for Fueled Hate to start up their large blue van. Even for this old soak it was quite a night to remember. Fueled Hate left their mark in Bedford.
Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk