Bigelf W/Priestess

Bigelf W/ Priestess

Manchester Academy 3

23/02/2010

****

Thomas Geddes

Going into a Bigelf gig as a newcomer, you’d be forgiven for expecting a rather serious, needlessly self indulgent kind of performance. After all, that’s prog. Quite a far cry from the reality of a genuinely impressive, crowd engaging slab of bi-organed lunacy.

Support band Priestess kicked off the night with a thunderous, fifty minute set packed with a surprising absence of filler. Hitting fan favourites early on and bringing the newer material in later; a wise move, seeing the crowd more involved from the off. The biggest highlight here was seeing their second album songs translate much better with the energy of a live show than they did initially on CD.

Bigelf were next onstage, fronted by top hatted, Damon Fox. Powering straight into the doomed sound which engulfs their set with ‘Evils of Rock and Roll’, it’s instantly clear that playing two organs at once, whilst also singing isn’t a gimmick, but a genuine spectacle. Fox commands the stage, from the three foot square he’s confined to. Having a seemingly endless repertoire of banter and amusing anecdotes to reel off between songs, he ensures there’s not a lull in the entire gig. There are certainly nods toward Black Sabbath, Rush and most noticeably, Pink Floyd, as Fox is quick to point out. “This song seems to have a line we accidentally stole from Pink Floyd... and YouTube won’t let me forget about it.” Fantastic, fun set to say the least.

With Priestess and Bigelf tipped for big things in the coming years, it would certainly be a shame to see the latter lose the intimacy which made this set all the more enjoyable. All the same, both bands deserve all the accolades and, if there’s any justice, should enjoy playing bigger venues the next time round.

Fear Factory W/Sylosis & October File

Fear Factory w/Sylosis and October File

Academy 2

16/02/2010

4 and 1/2

The majority of metalheads have been chomping at the bit for three long years to see Fear Factory’s industrial themed metal assault spring back into action. February 16^th 2010 was when it finally hit the UK again. Boy, was it worth the wait.

Fear Factory’s return has been long overdue (especially when you consider legal issues pushed this back another six months), meaning the support acts faced a difficult task in winning over an expecting crowd. Pleasingly, October File played a short rousing heavy set which provided as good an introduction as you could ask for to the night’s two main attractions. Succeeding them on the stage were perhaps the highlights of the gig, Sylosis. A young, technical thrash band who have seen a huge ground swell in the past year, Sylosis continue to show the crowds why they’re set to be one of the next big names in metal. Heavy, loud and confident, expect big things, if not huge.

With that kind of introduction, Fear Factory coasted into top gear. Not that they needed such an introduction. Playing a set of classics, spread out with much awaited new material from the upcoming Mechanize, they filled the room with an industrial groove metal sound that it’s difficult for any band to mimic, never mind equal. Dino Cazeres continues to be master of the riff, dropping hook after hook without flaw and also must be the only guy in metal to receive an affectionate crowd chant of “You fat bastard.” This takes nothing away from the rest of the band, who were also exceptional.

Pretty much the perfect comeback for the prodigal sons of industrial metal, helped out, in no small part by an on form Sylosis. Both bands have albums due. Based on tonight, avoid them at your peril!

The Stranglers
Decades Apart
4/5
EMI

When The Stranglers titled their latest compilation, an almost complete chronological retrospective of their discography, Decades Apart, it’s probable they didn’t realise just how accurate they were.

Not one’s for sticking to the sub-genre’s they’re assigned, this double disc takes you from punk to new wave, stopping off at hard rock on the way. The first disc includes the majority of the classics. Particular highlights being ‘Peaches’, ‘No More Heroes’, ‘Waltzinblack’ and ‘Golden Brown’, but they were always destined to be. Hidden gems are a-plenty. Recommended are ‘Something Better Change’, which is one of the better songs you’re likely to hear with synthesizers and ‘Strange Little Girl’, a particularly haunting number. The problem is though, these are all first disc songs. Whilst the second disc isn’t bad, the only brilliant song is ‘All Day and All of the Night’, a Kinks cover, so it’s destined to be the least played of both discs. Still, remember that once in a while, it is worth that play.

Whilst this is certainly an essential purchase on the strength of the earlier material, it isn’t going to fool anybody into thinking the Guildford rockers are still at their recording peak.

Tommy T - The Prester John Sessions

Tommy T

The Prester John Sessions

Easy Star Records

2/5

“Music inspired by Ethiopia” isn’t a buzz phrase you hear all too often, so you’d be forgiven for not knowing what to expect from Tommy T’s first solo album. Even more so if you’ve heard the madcap, lunacy of his usual day job, gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello. One thing that is for sure however is that you weren’t expecting a mixture of jazz, reggae and funk.

Largely an instrumental affair, The Prester John Sessions is surely set to be one of the most chilled out albums set for release in 2010. That isn’t to say there aren’t any hooks in there at all. The relaxing riffs of ‘Brothers’ and ‘The Eighth Wonder’ are fairly memorable, but are only asked to take command of an album with little else leaping out at you. The introduction of Gigi, a woman with an undeniably beautiful voice, on two songs does mix up the album a little, it still isn’t enough to make the album a must listen.

Whilst it’s unquestionable that the album is one born out of love for the Addis Ababa born bassists homeland, it doesn’t grab you with even an ounce of the passion of any of his other projects.

Interview with Micky Waters, bassist of The Answer

With two critically acclaimed albums under their belt, a fourteen month support slot with AC/DC just wrapped up and their first British sell out crowd waiting just metre's away, you might expect Northern Irish blues rockers, The Answer, to be living with their heads up in the clouds. On the contrary. "Can I get you guys a beer?", utters Cormac Neeson, a frontman barely returned from warming up 90,000 strong crowds halfway through my chat with bassist Micky Waters, before laying down on a sofa in the corner. Despite a promising future ahead of them, they're keeping themselves grounded.

"We've just played some amazing shows. You wouldn't believe how good playing New Orleans was. But we still remember playing some of Europe's shady toilets. And Leicester [laughs], Jesus, we were getting dripped on all through the show and so was our equipment. We kept getting these shocks through the gig. That was worse than some of the bars back home."

How has playing with AC/DC affected your performances and how were the crowds, I ask? "It’s definitely helped us be better performers in front of big audiences. We’ve played big tours before, but that one was everyday for fourteen months. It wasn’t just like a festival in the summer or a couple of shows here and there. Full on, there you go. Get out in front of 90,000 people and play every night.
I have to admit, we’d heard all the horror stories that the support bands get bottles thrown at them and all the rest ‘cause their audience are very hardcore and just can’t wait to see them. They hadn’t toured for seven years at this point. But we actually got a pretty good response every night. It’s definitely been really good for us."
Not bad for an band with two albums then you'd think, but Waters soon makes clear how hard they've worked to get it. "We’ve been around for a long time as well. We’ve been round for about ten years, but properly touring for five/six years." Still, when asked who else they'd like to support, you can sense a tongue planted firmly in cheek when Cormac chips in from across the room, "Fuck that, headliners all the way!"

It's undeniable that The Answer first burst onto the scene with the acclaim of their debut album Rise.
"It was, quite a surprise for us, its success. All the material we’d written in the first three/four years. Yeah it did really well [in Japan.] Our first show out there was a sold out 2500, at a time when we were only doing 200 or 300 here so it was quite a shock.
With Everyday Demons, we were under a little bit of pressure to write a really good album and I think we wrote a better one. The songs are better and our performances are much better on Everyday Demons. But yeah, we put that pressure on ourselves anyway. I think we’ve got the raw power and energy of the band on Everyday Demons, which we just weren’t able to do on Rise."

For a band who are so deep seated in classic rock sound, it's surprising to hear some of their influences. "These boys like Helmet and Tool. All the grunge stuff as well. Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden. Going back, we love The Rolling Stones, The Who, Free, bands like that. Basically all that, but mainly grunge" But there's no hiding they still enjoy the past more than the present musically. When asked the question of the moment, 'album of the decade', between them they rustled up a few names between them and the odd shrug of the shoulders. When decade was changed to 'ever', Neeson started an endless list. From the aforementioned grunge, to 50's blues, it's all there.

So, what does the future hold for a band who doesn't rest?
"We’ll do this tour and then take some time off over January and February and start gathering all the ideas we’ve had over the past 6 months. Put them together and start writing the album across January, February, March. Then do some tours in Europe and across America. Hopefully do the album sometime between May and September. It’d be great to get another album out by this time next year. We suspect we'll play the festivals too as we missed the season last year. I heard [Sonisphere’s] really good. We play a lot on the continent too."

For a band that's swelled so much in the past 3 years, it's encouraging to see they aren't showing signs of slowing down. It's going to be interesting to see what the future holds for a band who are bringing back the past.

Short piece on System of a Down - Toxicity

The student paper lot voted in Toxicity by System of a Down as the 5th best record of the decade, and seeing as I bloody love it, I wrote the short piece on why. Would I have put it higher on my list? Probably. Would it have beaten the 'number one album of the decade' which was a fucking Strokes album. Yes.System of A Down
Toxicity
2001
American Recordings

In a decade dominated by corporate 'hot-tip-for-this-year' blandness, SOAD managed to fly the flag for those who liked their guitars fast, their drums hard and their vocals, well, a little bit warped. Arguably the album that captured the personality of the band most, Toxicity not only includes their most well known song, 'Chop Suey!', but also includes 'Bounce', their silly side, 'Prison Song', their political side and 'Toxicity', their self-debasing side.

Perhaps there were metal albums musically better throughout the noughties, but this worked because it tapped into the feelings within the decade. Released September 4th 2001, the anger at political powers expressed on the record resonated with many throughout a decade itself steered by the following weeks events. The album is musically sound, but it wouldn't have worked at any other time. It's a soundtrack for the decade.

The Answer w/General Fiasco & Gentleman's Pistols

The Answer w/General Fiasco & Gentleman's Pistols
Academy 2
25/11/2009
Thomas Geddes
*****

Two months ago, you'd be watching The Answer from at least thirty metre's away, with rows of security between you and the band. Thankfully, having just completed their fourteen month support slot for AC/DC, they're back to more intimate surroundings, reaping the rewards of their well deserved publicity boost.

After waiting patiently through the two emergency support bands, (both previous supports splitting up/defecting respectively), The Answer burst straight into an energetic set of feelgood, 70's throwback riffs, outshone only by vocalist Cormac Neeson's constant care free dancing. Their confidence performing to their first British sell out crowd was noticable from the off, with Neeson even singing as he introduced the band. His powerful voice suits it though. It sits somewhere between Robert Plant and Paul Rogers, which definitely compliments the bluesy sound of the rest of the band.

There wasn't a dead spot throughout, which speaks wonders for a band with only two albums of origninal material and a handful of covers to pick from, and looking at their grins, they know it. Nor was there a bad word uttered, with the whole gig one of the most well spirited affairs imaginable. The set even finished with the up tempo, toe tapping, rendition of Preachin', one of their bluesiest songs, complete with beach balls being thrown to the crowd. Everything about the gig was about crowd pleasing, which is why they were being cheered well after their encore.

If there's any band in the classic rock vein set for big things, it's The Answer. They have the albums, they've had the exposure but most importantly, they still have the most fantastic shows. Maybe they'll be back to those stadiums again in a few years.