I turned up at the phoenix this Monday to find it... surprisingly... full of people. And not the legions of mini-moshers I have come to accept as a fact of life, not pleasant but easy enough to cope with. No this night was a night of rock and I actually felt pretty young for a change.
The first band to claim the stage were 1 Match Inferno. They came across as a rock band with a healthy spoonful of mellow sections. The vocalist had a quiet melodic voice but it had slight tinge of gruffness that just helped to push the band along and give the more punchy moments that extra edge. Someone told me that their guitarist was very new and if this was the case I am very impressed at how tight they've become in such a short time. I'm not sure who's kit was being used for this gig but it sounded amazing and this really helped all the bands, not just this one, to bring out the best of their sound, someone did tell me what it was called... I can't actually remember what they said but it sounded impressive and it had the word custom in it and it was a yamaha ... I think. But regardless it sounded sweet. The only qualms I had about this band. Were their choice of covers. They did a Zeplin cover which I personally think is a mistake... although to be fair the vocalist did a good job. But the crowning shock and horror of the night was the dammit cover (shh mike calm now). I promised my mates I wouldn't go on about this but it is probably one of the 2 most hated cover songs of all time, along with Basketcase, (don't get me wrong they are both good songs... just awful covers) I was in shock for good 5 minutes after they played it. All in all though a good rock set
Next band were Mummy Smack (that's such a cool name!). A female fronted band who played pure rock. They had some really catchy guitar riff's and in general were a very talented group of musicians. The female vocalist had a very good voice although I personally thought that she could have done with putting a little more power into her performance. Never the less she was kind on the ear and had ENORMOUS boots. A little off topic I know but they were pretty big. I thought they were trousers ... ahem.. anyway. The coherency of their sound was very impressive and they got a good response from the crowd. There wasn't really much movement but this was the kind of music you could watch and just appreciate and not feel like you were insulting the band. From the sound of the clapping and cheering throughout the night I gathered the bands were being well received.
Band number 3 were the 24/7 Blueprint. This is a band I have been meaning to listen to for a while as I've seen there name everywhere and that normally means their either really good/really nice/or really tough. Fortunately for me and the rest of the audience they were from the first camp (although I am sure their nice too .. heh) and they played a very impressive rock set that had a slight emo tinge. They were VERY tight ...super tight like prom night you might say... and had a professional feel to their set. Some nice vocal and instrumental performances throughout made me glad I'd finally got off my arse and come to see them.
Final band of the night were Full Speed Alone (who I just found out used to be Neck 79). Another rock band that had a slight emo edge to their sound. Unfortunately for them they had horrific amounts of technical tomfoolery which meant that their set wasn't quiet as coherent as i'm sure they would have hoped. The drummer beat boxing was a good laugh though and surprisingly good. This helped to keep the crowd interested and when things were eventually sorted out I don't think they regretted staying through the wait. I didn't at least and Full Speed Alone stormed through an unbelievably tight set with catchy guitar work and impressive performances all round. They had some awesome vocal harmonies and all in all I was very impressed.
In conclusion it was a really cool night with enjoyable bands and a good atmosphere throughout. The only major down points of the night were the technical problems and dammit but the plus's far outweighed these. It gets a a big thumbs up and I hope we have more gigs of the caliber soon.
P.S if you read this whole review then I am very impressed... it's longer than I intended. If you see me tell me it was great... I like compliments... even if its a lie ... heh
Written by Mike Green
