The band got together only this year which is hard to believe as they play such a tight set. According to the band they sound like, “Iron Maiden raping Judas Priest while Dragonforce and Black Label Society watch and have a wank. With extra solos”.

Aces High are Robbie Letelier-Hay on vocals, John Jackson and Stu Gillies on guitar, Lee Blades on bass and Andrew Jackson on drums. Andrew is the newest member to the band, as the others were brought together almost three years earlier while studying sound engineering at college, which is where I first met them. Already talented musicians, they became friends and eventually came up with the idea of forming a band together.

This night however they are not the only band playing, they are on fourth in a succession of six bands all from the local area. They are however the only band with a dressing room. A privilege one of the band members abuses by later destroying it. When I first walked into the dressing room, straight away my eyes were drawn to the bottles of Aftershock, and surprisingly a smiley face on the wall made up of pink icing sugar from a Barbie birthday cake.

They may be down to earth, happy guys but they love their metal. Their influences include; Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Black Label Society, Manowar, Motörhead, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, Dragonforce, Aerosmith. Among their many slogans they insist on “death to false metal” (Something that is later written on a bin in permanent black marker pen by guitarist John).

And death to false metal is exactly what they carry out when on stage. These guys can really play their instruments. There’s no messing about. In his leather trousers, Robbie is looking every inch the rock star. There is a genuine chemistry between the band members as they played their set. They feed of each other’s energy and relish in the admiration of the crowd. At least, Robbie certainly does.

There is a scream from one young female fan standing at the front. Robbie had splashed bottled water into the crowd. Apart from that outburst there is a lot of love between the stage and the audience. Robbie hi-fives many members of the crowd while everyone else sings the words to the songs back to him. There is even an emotional moment when Robbie jumps down from the stage and walks though the crowd.

Guitarists John and Stu take centre stage many times showing of their almost unbelievable talents. John takes it upon himself to jump on top of some amps and batters out a truly inspiring solo.

The potential for what this band could become is shown here tonight. Each member is comfortable on stage and shows no sign of nerves. While speaking to the band earlier in the evening, John had said that, “it’s ok to be arrogant as long as you can back it up on stage.” And back it up they did. They have every right to be arrogant. Death to false metal indeed.