Blondestein + Sunshine Poet + Kiss Corona + The Fix |
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| Aurora Promotions @ The Duke of Wellington
24th October 2009
Photos & Review by Pete |
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I needn't have hurried my vegeburger tonight, turns out the advertised cheap entry before 8pm was for students only. That's OK, though and the full whack of a fiver is reasonable enough if a promoter can make enough to actually keep on putting on gigs in this City. But as far as the Trades Description Act goes I'd say that billing the night 'Alt/Indie' was far more dodgy. Alt?! There wasn't even a bleedin' xylophone in sight all evening.
Promoter Dawn does a good job to big up the bands immediately before they play, and she's up on stage to give a little bit of history first. Turns out Kiss
White jacket, white plimsolls, sunglasses and chic scarf it was Sunshine Poet, James Spring, former Kensal Rise (The Kennys) guitarist next up, all solo like. A
Talking of ambitions, Blondestein had clearly made the sensible choice some years back and got rid of most of theirs. They are grown ups and look like they have careers and mortgages and even kids. With ego issues brushed aside by real life they looked like they were here just enjoying being a band showing what
Some more photos at www.shinephoto.plus.com website.
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Band Websites: |
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In my haste to arrive early and save myself two quid it did result in what turned out to be a vast, interminable eternity of waiting (longer than that even). I was beginning to worry I'd have to leave for work on Monday morning and miss all the bands (well, the ones that showed up) .... when finally youngsters The Fix were on stage and all lit up. I'd liked their only tune on Myspace 'Lightweight Cheater' more than enough to make it along tonight and it was deffo worth coming to see them play. Liam, Ronan, Jack, Danny and Ryan must be seriously failing all subjects at school this year judging by the level of development that's gone into this band's sound already - but hey, don't listen to your parents and teachers, it's all gonna be worth it in the end. Not to say that it's all in place just yet and in fact the opening number ended with a bad case of mis-timing but hey it had been good up till then. They explained, 'That's our first song in the world famous Duke of Wellington.' which was kinda sweet and yeah, many, many fantastic bands have indeed played that same stage, both from round here and from round the world. It's got the history. As for The Fix, the standard is very high, all the guys do what they do and they do it well. Lush bass-lines interlinked nicely with the impressive stick-work at the back and the lead guitar playing was precocious, admittedly to the point of the technique almost getting in the way at times - but no doubting the massive commitment to have got that far so young. The singing and lyrics are cool and especially 'Lightweight Cheater' - that's quality song-writing, keep 'em coming.
Corona played at her Trav's night a couple of years back when they were This Day Remains, and they've come on a lot since then. What they are now is a band with a Stateside look and college rock sound doing nicely. With a Rock City gig lined up for January, Phil, Luke, Steve and Sam do indeed look like the finished article. It has to be said, the hairstyling is completely sorted - and with their comprehensive clean, fresh-faced good looks they certainly come across more Los Angeles than East Midlands. OK, for my taste I have to say the songs are undemanding and unremarkable but clearly put together very professionally and marketable. Not aimed at me but teen-friendly with lite lyrics like 'Where did my dreams go?' (Answer: you sold them out?). And 'I'm sorry for this, I'm sorry for that' - there is plenty to appeal to 14 year old girls and their 15 year old gay schoolmates. They even have a half-decent vocalist so it might only take a few decent breaks and this band could actually have a fair bit of success. They were joking about wanting to be like Westlife or The Backstreet Boys (I was thinking maybe McFly) and it was all quite fun till someone shouted out 'Take That' - which soon got 'em playing again and so hastily that for the first time some distortion and feedback blighted the set. Catch them on Siren FM in a couple of days time (Oct 26th) and see what you think. Oh, did I mention the hair? It's amazing.
lifer on the local music scene the styling is now less parkas and Manchester and East London lad heading up Camden Lock for the night. He's mental this boy and with such a bad rep but hey, checking his sound levels with a Smiths tune softened my heart. And to tell the truth, whenever I've seen him play I keep expecting some kind of bitter, exciting truth, my own fault then. He is clearly much loved by some off his estate and they showed up in good numbers for him. Unfortunately the blokes were mostly supping lager and nattering by the bar through most of his performance. More unexpected though was how many of them, especially the girls, KNEW THE WORDS. The actual sound is harmless acoustic guitar with some kind of girly lullaby folk-pop singing - and yeah it is a tragic waste. No doubt about it, his dedication to making music is phenomenal it's just not got there yet, not got anywhere yet. It was a long, disheartening set and as the acoustic guitar was unplugged at the end of it the geezer next to me mumbled to himself 'Thank fuck for that'. A big-hearted mentor made his way to the microphone to give us a proud eulogy but I have to argue that the word 'soul' was never used more inaccurately. His mates love him, so much they'll never make an impassioned appeal to ditch the sentimental posturing, the retro influences and somehow find the nerve to say something real. That might just be something special.
they could do to family and friends. For sure the standard of playing was seriously high class throughout AND with the essential added bonus of well-judged feeling. It's unfair to pick anyone out for particular praise as it was all skillful but the drumming, played with some seriously weighty sticks displayed stylish technique and a beautifully clean touch. As a dad rock band probably playing only the occasional gig they were surprisingly slick and managed to pull a whole bunch of sounds from their repertoire, one minute psychedelic rock giving it plenty of wah-wah pedal to some almost-convincing heavy metal attack - but their front-man was simply too sane and normal-ish to supply the necessary wrath and posturings of madness so it inevitably fell a bit short. Still, while lacking the necessary firepower vocal I did feel that if this outfit were maybe ten years younger they almost certainly would have garnered themselves a seriously hard-core fan-base playing so well.This page was last updated Monday, 11 January 2010
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