Wednesday, 29 July 2015
El Blackbirds - Electricity (Single Review)
The track starts off with a deep sound on a distorted electric guitar; soon accompanied by the other punchy guitars and rhythmic drums, shortly followed by Hough's distinctive vocals. When the lead vocalist, Shaun Hough sings the first verse he mentions;
"The way you make me feel, I wanna scream and shout."
The rest of the song remains strong and speedy, with no lost energy. Which leads to the whole song relating back to this line as Hough shows his passion and affection for this person throughout the rest of the song through his vocals as he states;
"You make me feel like electricity."
Hough repeats this line several times throughout this song, which makes the track very catchy. I am intrigued as to what is yet to come of this band, as I think that they may have plenty more tricks up their sleeve. You can find this track on the link below. Good luck with your future endeavours, and I wish you all the best of luck. Watch out!
https://soundcloud.com/the-blackbirds-4/electricity
Sunday, 26 July 2015
Release @ The Underground - Hanley
Release entered the stage around 22:00, the first song that they performed was called 'Neat Seat'. 'Neat Seat' strongly introduced itself with a solid guitar intro, and Woody on backing vocals soon got the audience clapping. The heavy guitars and drums were shortly accompanied by Allport's violent punk growl. Allport was dancing straight away, which automatically interacted the band with audience and a mosh-pit soon ensued. The song was strongly finished by the guitars and it was a cracking performance for their opening song. I just wish that they had turned the backing vocals up.
The second song which they introduced was called 'C U NEXT TIME' the introduction included a very short quiet riff on the guitar for a few seconds, shortly followed by all of the instruments simultaneously creating a heavy format for the vocals. The audience got a bit too lairy on this song and even ended up joining the band on stage! All of the band members in Release interacted with eachother on stage, which shows that they obviously have a good off-stage relationship with eachother too. The song slowed down a little bit, but it soon picked itself back up again with the fast lyrics and indignation within Allports vocals.
The third song was called 'No Idea' and all of the bands crazy stage presence continued throughout. They had a very catchy & repetitive chorus which consisted of the line;
"Do it for me, do it for me, do it for me"
Being repeated several times, and I was very surprised that the audience didn't tag along. This song really brought out their punk edge and they sounded heavily influenced by the Sex Pistols. Allport's feisty stage presence appeared like an alter-ego, considering how much of a relaxed person he is off stage. It was a shame I couldn't see Price on drums due to the lighting but I could hear all of the effort he was giving within this exhilarating performance. The guitars closed off this song once again.
At this point Caleb announced to the audience how knackered he was which again, allowed him to interact with the audience. Before he introduced the next song, he stated how it is off their debut EP on soundcloud, which I also reviewed earlier on this year. As I reviewed their EP I obviously know this song. The song is called 'Bloody Monday' and it is a personal favourite of mine. Due to some of the audience already knowing this song, they were clapping the band on which quickly influenced their energy on stage. Allport got the tambourine out and Woody was clapping, and a friend soon came on stage and accompanied them, soon followed by more people getting on the stage once again. Also, this song allowed the band to have some time to shine and not just the vocals, so you got to see how talented the rest of the band really are. The drums and guitars simultaneously closed off this performance.
Before their fifth song called 'Cold Hearted Killa', Allport sneaked in some audience interaction again asking them if we were alright. There was a strong guitar intro shortly followed by the vocals; and the band started going wild again, which awakened another mosh-pit. This song definitely got your foot tapping if you weren't already a part of the mosh-pit. Nicholson on guitar and Roden on bass really stood out within this performance and the guitar riff sounded really effective. The bands energy influenced the audience massively and the drums repetitiveness towards the end did the song a huge favour.
'Back To The Old Routine' was their sixth song that they performed. The intro sounded slightly influenced by Peace due to their groovy guitars. However the drums soon builded up the tempo; but on the other hand the indie feel was still their due to the slow vocals, and as the song progressed it surprisingly alternated into the sound of The Blue Collars. I saw Release a few months back, and they have definitely improved; not just their stage presence, but their sound has also improved greatly. The repetitive instrumental did the song justice alongside the slower and powerful vocals.
"My hearts not in it, because my heads in my hands."
I often prefer the paradox's as it shows how versatile a band can be, and I definitely preferred this song over all of the others. I also thought it was the best vocal performance too, so well done.
The seventh song of the evening was called 'That Man' and the distinctive drums opened up the song, which were shortly accompanied by the guitars; leading to the tempo of the song increasing, which created a firm beat for the vocalist to begin performing. The paradox song was very cleverly placed as the audience calmed down a lot more, due to there being a paradox. The backing vocals were used most within this performance and they also had an incredibly catchy chorus to go with the song. Tom Price on drums gave a very strong performance, however Mayson Nicholson on guitar stood out to me the most within this particular performance. This song also went on longer than expected.
The second to last song of the evening was called 'Killing In The Name' which is a cover that they performed by Rage Against the Machine. Considering I don't know this song, it had a very powerful introduction and it kept going quieter and kicking back in again. Due to it being a well-known song the audience got more lively again, yet again it was cleverly placed like the paradox. The lights would go off on the quiet bits and flash back on again on the loud parts. This proved to be very effective within this particular performance;
"FUCK YOU, I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME"
The indignation in Allports vocals were there from the beginning right to the end of this performance, like usual. Due to that very powerful line it boosted the adrenalin of the audience, leading them to creating yet again another mosh-pit.
Their final song of the night is also off their debut EP, and it is called 'Spelling Out DOOM'. Before Allport went on to perform, he very kindly acknowledged his appreciation to the audience and thanked them for their support. Due to their friends in the audience knowing the lyrics to this song, they jumped on to the stage once more for Releases last song of the evening. Even though their friends were being a huge distraction and eventually got told to get off the stage by the security, the whole band remained incredibly focused and continued professionally. This was definitely the strongest performance of the night and it was also another strong vocal performance. 'Spelling Out DOOM' was an incredible choice of song to close their set off with. Congratulations on pulling off a fantastic gig lads, and good luck for all of your future endeavours with the band.
The only constructive criticism I would have is the elocution of the lyrics as I couldn't quite hear what you were saying, however it is punk so I wouldn't expect to hear every word crystal clear. The backing vocals also need to be turned up when you perform. Apart from that, everything else was spot on. Congratulations. My friend also enjoyed the gig and said that he would quite happily pay twice the amount to see you again, you have a bright future ahead of you. I would definitely recommend that you see them, because they have outstanding stage presence and perform like their life depends on it and I wish you all the best of luck.
Sunday, 19 July 2015
The Smyths @ The Sugarmill - Stoke
The Smyths are a well-known British tribute band, who recreate what it was like to see and hear The Smiths live. The tribute act formed in 2003, and have been very successful ever since. On the 11th of February, 1985 a fantastic album was released. That album was ‘Meat is Murder’ by The Smiths. Therefore their performance was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the album.
The doors opened at 19:30, however I entered the venue at 20:00 as The Smyths weren’t performing till 20:15. The Sugarmill was rammed with a very mixed crowd, of all different ages and fashions. I stood at the back for the first half, as there was no chance I was getting to the front - due to the audience hardly being able to move. Graham Sampson as “Morrissey” entered onto the stage with his hair slicked back like Morrissey’s traditional quiff, his over-sized glasses and polka dot shirt on.
The first song that the band performed that night was ‘The Boy with the Thorn in His Side’. I was actually very surprised as to how outstanding their performance was. The line in which the crowd got involved with was;
“If they don’t believe me now, will they ever believe me?”
This song was brilliantly executed and it received a well-deserved astounding applause from the audience.
‘Shoplifters of the World’ was the second song of the first half, and it is one of my favourite Smiths songs, amongst many others that they also performed. The guitar riff was absolutely spot on, and this song received an even bigger applause. On the topic of my favourite Smiths songs; they also performed ‘William it was really Nothing’, ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’, ‘Panic’, ‘Ask’, and ‘I Want the One I Can’t Have’ .
When ‘William it was really Nothing’ was performed, that was when I felt that the performance really began to kick in for me. Sampson was wafting his arms in the air all loose, very much like Morrissey. He even got the flowers out within this performance! Once ‘Panic’ began to play, that really got the crowd going and the majority of arms went up on the line;
“Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ, Hang the DJ.”
One of my favourite performances of the night would have to be ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ as Sampson started doing all of these quirky hand and arm gestures, expressing his passion. This performance also received an outstanding applause, like the majority of their performances. The song that particularly stood out for me would have to be ‘I Know It’s Over’ as this is when the other band members began to interact with the crowd and each other. The bassist began to sing and the guitarist was swaying along to the song, there was just something about this performance that stood out for me. ‘Meat is Murder’ was an extremely passionate performance. Sampson was gripped onto the microphone, pouring his heart out to the audience as he sharply and harshly pronounced specific lyrics. This song was fantastically executed.
However I think the crowd, was not particularly the best audience that the passionate tribute act could have had. When they performed ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ the audience were very dull as I don’t think that the younger generation knew this song, even though it is off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album. On the other hand, the crowd did appreciate their passionate performance so once the guitars cancelled of the song – they received a big cheer. The song that closed off their first set was ‘Nowhere Fast’ and the performers really connected with each other during this song. Sampson, as “Morrissey” handed the microphone over to the audience on specific lines such as;
“And when a train goes by, it’s such a sad sound.”
The performance began to get very intense when he added a swear word into the song, in order to express his passion as Sampson emphasises the lyrics of;
“The poor and the needy are selfish and greedy on her FUCKING terms.”
So to me this performance was one of their most powerful and passionate performances that I had seen so far.
After the short break when everybody went to the terrace for a drink and/or a cigarette, The Smyths entered the stage for their last set at 21:45. Sampson had changed from his polka dot shirt into a more stereotypical Morrissey, by wearing a thin cardigan with nothing on underneath it. During the second half they played quite a few songs, some off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album such as – ‘What She Said’, ‘I Want the One I Can’t Have’, ‘Well I Wonder’ and then obviously the more well-known, popular songs like - ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘This Charming Man’ and the last performance of the night to close their set off was ‘How Soon is Now’ which is also off the ‘Meat is Murder’ album.
The crowd got a lot more enthusiastic towards the end; due to the more popular songs being performed, and the crowd’s energy also heavily influenced the performers too. The bassist began to get a little bit silly and stuck his plectrum to his forehead; and Sampson’s cardigan was falling off one shoulder, as he passionately performed the songs.
Every song was brilliantly executed, regardless of the audience’s reactions. For me, the crowd make the gig as they create the atmosphere and their energy influences the performers. However, you don’t pay to see the crowd – you pay to see the band. They have definitely lived up to my expectations and that is why I am going to give them a 9/10. I would definitely recommend that you go to see them if you’re a big Smiths fan, as they aren’t expensive and they put on a cracking show!