DUNDEE LIVE - BANDS TO WATCH!!
RED BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2008 - SEMI FINAL #2
SAFE2SAY + QUIVER & THE LADYSNATCHERS + SHARP EDGE + THE WYRE + MOTHERS RUIN - Dexters 12-11-08
SAFE2SAY
I owe a debt of gratitude to these guys for alerting me to the fact that there was a second night of this contest and then for getting me on the guest list - which I why I feel crap to have to say that my timing was off and I only caught the last two numbers!! But what did become apparent from these tracks was that you have a lead singer who's really letting go, clearly with a lot to get off his chest, as it were, as he sings but belts out the lyrics in a manner to which you really take notice. Over this, the band unleash a sea of splintered rhythms and a maze of riffs that stop, start, shudder, thunder and generally flare from the PA. The way the songs are arranged, allows the band to drop back only to erupt subsequently, although the only real flaw here is that when they do explode, somehow it's with a bang rather than a sonic boom and I think the drummer just needs to hammer down harder and the bass pound mightier for these dynamics to work to perfection. The singer's got a strong sense of impassioned anger to his vocals, givingt a vibrant performance somewhere between sung and shouted. All in all, a heady band who I'll catch somewhere down the line, for sure.
QUIVER & THE LADYSNATCHERS
Right from the start, this Arbroath band reminded me of a band around today whose name I just can't get into my head. The first thing you notice about them though is the lead vocal, and corresponding harmony and backing vocals, which provide gerat depth and incredibly "now" sounding, so much so that the nearest thing I could think of was a mix of Arcade Fire and Fratellis, but this is not quite right. Anyway, with strong drumming and bass work providing rolling rhythms and a neat guitar break that's there but not obtrusive, the opening song is a mix of hooks as verses, verses as hooks and has a seriously mesmerising quality to it, "quality" being the key wordhere, as the band hold their collective head above many a more famous current indie band. Hard, fast and energetic in a sort of tightly controlled and laser-guided focus Grace Emilys manner - excellent stuff.
A kind of indie-reggae intro rolls into harmony-laden guitar on a superb sounding mid-paced number with more emphasis on dynamics, upfront vocals ensuring the song does the business over a crystal clear band backing. Then the song accelerates a notch to become harder edged and spirited until it finally blasts out asa supercharged slice of modern indie songwriting that comes to an abrupt end but you have to admire the arranging skills. On "Paris", the lead track from their demo CD, the vocal is the key on a song that's got a really flowing, addictive quality to it with more great harmonies, driving rhythms as the vocals soar with richly textured grace, passion and strength on a song thast blends choral bliss, energetic drive, depth of guitar riffing and some of the best vocals you'll hear. The next track proved to be a right old mix of styles, the song moving through all manner of riffs and rhythms, encompassing everything from hints of Arctic Monkeys to latin-tinged indie salsa, but all played with conviction and a true BAND performance. The singer once again does a powerful and moving delivery as the occasional guitar break provides the contrast, chugging beats and soaring harmonies occupying either end of the strident song.
The fifth song was sheer class - fast, hard but structured with that glorious vocal positively daring you not to get hooked by its splendours and strengths. The band tear through a song of such quality you'd almost imagine it was a cover rather than a band original such is the writing strength on display. Finally the band ddeliver "Midlife Crisis", also on the CD, a vibrant, energetic slice of indie dance in the vein of Weekend Pickups and The Draymin only more fractured and lurching, less overtly "rock" with a great guitar break, insistent rhythms plus tremendous driving lead and harmony vocals. Overall, a really refreshing and quality band.
SHARP EDGE
Don't ask me why, but I was expecting a rather rough and ready UK punk band - sort of thing. But when they began the set with a blast of a track that was more MC5 than Clash, I was immediately hooked. Imagine a slightly less intense "Kick out the Jams"-era MC5 with a more explosive Flamin' Groovies and add the explosion that is modern indie-punk and you're close to where this band's opening track's at. The first thing that captures you is the guitar riffing, deep, hot and hard, while the drumming fairly rattles along as the rhythm section burns and a Tyner-esque vocal delivers a strong opening song. That the next track is faster, punkier and even more explosive, this time sounding more "British", with red hot guitar leads rising and falling over the stirring sea of riffs while the drummer really cuts loose driving it all headlong into infinity, the bass forming the glue that keeps it all together. OK, so it's a cover - never mind who - 'coz it's done hard and fast, so much so that the "cover" aspect is only a marginal concern, hanging together in its short, sharp and nuclear powered life.
The third track opens with a thunderous roar as a solid wall of rhythm guitars fires up over the rampaging drumming and that MC5-esque vocal returns on another slice of '70's tinged, supercharged rock 'n' roll punk given a contemporary makeover. Fourth in and it's a massively fast blast of a punk rock song, a bit like Dirty Wee Middens at their best, with a scorching vocal performance taking off like a rocket as the band attack the song like a pack of wild dogs, the whole thing starting intense and threatening to self-destruct at any minute. But they hold it together, rampage through it and emerge victorious on another short but incendiary gem. The fifth track started fast, got faster, charged ahead and blasted out in a blaze of guitars, rhythm thunder and taut lead vocals, veering between nuclear chorus and solid driving verse. Slightly loose, but exceedingly powerful, they nevertheless sound like a band you wouldn't let your daughter go out with!! Superb stuff - gotta see them again!!
THE WYRE
What I love about these "Battle" events is that you can have a band like Sharp Edge co-existing next to a band like The Wyre, a combination that only someone as crackers as me, would ever dare to put on under normal circumstances - and even then, I'd think twice. The Wyre immediately set themselves up as something very different from what had gone before - the first track opened with strummed acoustic guitar, lurching drums, airy Pink Floyd-esque guitar, an emerging throbbing bass line as the guitar coalesces into something more solid, and the band deliver a song that's got its roots firmly planted in the '70's but with added bite as native drumming and deep bass underpin crisp acoustic guitar, ringing sonorous lead guitar and the vocalist intones the lyrics before cutting loose with added background vocal for increased depth, the song flowing along on verses and things resembling choruses, sounding rather fine. Second track heralds an instrument change, with added keyboard, begins a bit "Kinks-meets- Supertramp" (ask your dad, kids!!!) with added harmonica for a touch of Dylan. Vocally sounds uncannily like Drew our of Luva Anna and the song is actually the sort of flowing, jaunty slice of folk-rock that you could just imagine Luva Anna actually playing, in many ways quite scarily close, and a really catchy song to boot. Addedd vocal harmonies give depth and grace, there's an addictive hook, the electric piano gives extra texture and a stirring, chiming lead guitar break puts the icing on the cake. A really well written, well arranged song performed to perfection, a gem in anyone's books.
Third track is a choppier, more powerful, angrier number with impassioned lead vocal, flowing el piano and rolling rhythms as it all drops down. An electric piano lead paves the way as the guitars provide the texture. The song veers between driving and decelerating before ushering in a soaring, floating wah wah guitar lead which soon dies away to leave an undercurrent of organ, only to return as thw whole thing oozes mid-'70's from every pore, with a full sound and purposeful playing, a really lengthy song almost liek a harder edged mix of Caravan, Streetwalkers and Brinsley Schwarz (ask your dad, kids!!) in there too.
Up next and it's a return to Luva Anna territory only slower with chiming guitar and harmonica opening proceedings, less intense, more relaxed despite its strident pace and emotive lead and harmony vocals. Bass is well to the fore as the chiming guitar takes up the solo role over the chugging rhythms before the singer's intensity returns. Electric piano emerges and takes the lead as the song accelerates a tad before droping back to reveal a soaring lead guitar as the cycle completes and the song returns to where it began, very much a cross between The Goodnights and Luva Anna. The fifth and final song started chopy with broding, powerful vocal, deep, chugging bass, crunching drums and distant rhythm guitar, plus spiraling electric piano. The backing vocals kick in to provide added strength but in many ways it's quite a "dark" song, gradually growing in angst and passion as it goes. The song flows to what turns out to be a false end that leads into a furiously flowing finale and you realise only at this point why it's the set closer - the whole band join forces as the song flares up and drives forward. In fact, far from the end, the song goes through all sorts of changes, solos and textures. Again turning into a seriously lengthy piece, it seems to go on forever (in a good way if you like '70's stuff) with a rhythm section chugging away purposefully in an almost Can-like manner as the song becomes a mantra of almost psychedelic proportions, the band fire up more and more, wah wah guitar takes hold amongst twists and turns until it all eventually does stop. OK - sticks out like sore thumb, perhaps, in this arena, but for a '70's influenced modern band, you'll rarely hear finer.
MOTHERS RUIN
I'm a fan of Classic Rock and heavy metal - just one of my many tastes in music. So, while this band failed to make it to the finals (no surprises there), I thought they were absolutely stunning (no surprises there!!)
A trio of two electric guitarists and drummer (yes, no bass), they actually pulled off a set of instrumental seventies-influenced heavy rock with finesse and fury. Throughout the set, the playing from all three musicians was superb. The opening track proved to be fast, furious and bluesy with excellent lead guitar work and one corker of an opener with a great riff and quite short. Second track was another tight, sharp and strong instrumental with the sheer depth of the guitars sounding more like five players rather than just two, the riffs still there chugging underneath a the drums drive it all forward in a blaze of crashing cymbals and solid kick drum allied to booming drumming backing up this highly addictive melodic brew of Classic Rock structure as an incendiary lead guitar solo is fired off with emotion and sharpness to end another stormer of a track.. Third track starts heavy, drops back to powerful melodic, then the lead guitar just blows a superheated steam of riffing and rhythm over the scorching undercurrents, the track veering between emotive melodic metal and explosive rock intensity. A searing electric guitar solo ignites as the rhythms roll and thunder, not a note out of place or wasted and a supreme sense of energised metal that would make the likes of Satriani, Vai and Malmsteen, green with envy.
The final three tracks are every bit as exciting and brilliantly played as the rest, twisting anf turning like a country road, only with structure, emotion, melody and direction, solidly heavy and metallic but wtih a heart and soul beating away to. In a field of music that's been done to death and you'd think had little to offer anyone these days, these guys have got it absolutely on the money, the mix of heavy metal riffing, thunderous rhythms, soaring guitar work and incisive, instinctive, razor-sharp tightness of playing & writing dyanmics, al making it simply awesome and a headbangers delight as well as serious listening pleasure in its own right.
(For the first of the the two semi-finals, see my review here)
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