Brudenell Social Club is an institution, known across the nation as one of the remaining best independent venues for alternative music in the country. I've not been to a gig here for a few years now, but that feeling of familiar comfort mixed with excitement immediately hits as I walk through the door. It's been a crazy hot and sunny day, which made the matinee performance sweaty enough but, if anything, this evening it's a more intense heady mixture of humidity and anticipation.
Read MoreMunicipal Waste could quite easily have taken the easy route. They could have stuck a couple of identikit, but inferior, thrash revivalists on their undercard and jobs a good un. But not only is there a real desire to provide, in these troubled times, real value for money but Municipal Waste are more than happy to be given a run for their money each and every night of the UK tour.
Read MoreWhat do you call a supergroup made up of members of other supergroups? Well it turns out that the answer is The Winery Dogs. For the uninitiated, this is what Ritchie Kotzen, Mike Portnoy and the legend that is Billy Sheehan do when they are not noodling around with other projects. It is very much a muso's project, pitched at those who like their rock complex, luscious and full of virtuoso flourishes.
Read MoreIt’s Friday night at the Waterloo and there’s a real buzz in the air for tonight’s co-headline show, that delicious electric anticipation you get before a night of rock n roll, this time round with a Southern edge.
Two of the most precious commodities in the rock world are credibility and authenticity. Ephemeral but vital, like trust they’re hard to gain and easily lost. Warner E Hodges has consistently had both across his entire career, whether it be with Jason & The Scorchers, Homemade Sin, The Bluefields (still in the top ten of all the gigs I’ve witnessed) or, as tonight, with his own band.
Read MoreWhen I revealed to my kids that the band I was reviewing this evening was less than a handful of years older than they are, there were much cries of derision and solemn predictions that I would be the oldest person in the room by a good few decades. The actual truth is Metal's evolution is a funny old beast and alongside teens worshipping at the altar of artists old enough to be the Grandparents, it is also as usual to find a room full of seasoned metallers getting rather overexcited about a bunch of younglings chronologically able to be their grandchildren. Tortured Demon have both outgrown and discarded the novelty tag.
Read MoreI last saw Kim Jennett a mere couple of months ago on this very stage, supporting local Blackpool legends A’priori. On that occasion it was a much more understated acoustic set, but tonight backed by a full band, she seems firmly in her natural environment of full-on rock star and relishing every second.
Taking to the stage with a ferocious intensity, Kim is a whirling dervish, a blur of movement, colour and vocal histrionics. The Myke Gray penned ‘Psycho’ is an apt opener, Kim’s almost manic energy firmly in line with the lyrical content. It’s a heavy riffing number, Kim snarlingly delivering the lyrics, whilst poised on and over the barrier, pulling the audience into her orbit almost literally at times as she is within touching distance of the front row.
Read MoreWell tonight gets off to a strange start when security allow me in early and there is some sort of VIP reception underway. Feeling out of place in this small gathering of goths (not sure what the correct phraseology is there… flock, brood, cloud??) I am introduced to someone who I am clueless about, but who I suspect will be appearing on stage later. I’m thankful my Type O Negative beanie gives me some kudos but sidestep away from the action and head to the barrier…
Read MoreYou know when you are in for a good night when members of the audience are bringing in plastic bags full of foam penises. There ain't no party like a Party Cannon party, and the dedicated followers of Slam are proudly wearing their party hats and tooting their party blowers like their lives depended on it. For the northern leg of the very short “Partied in Half tenth anniversary tour" (as Scots it must pain them to call Manchester the northern leg) they have plumped for a distinctly Northern undercard.
Read MoreAnother first for me tonight, a gig at Satan’s Hollow and not just a gig, reviewing a gig no less. I haven’t stepped inside this venue since probably 2010/11 after Jilly’s Rockworld closed and those years have certainly flown by. I even got asked for ID last time I came here, though the Jilly’s membership card was the giveaway that I was definitely over 18 (and over 21, and over 30)!!!
Read MoreWe make our way into the bar and down the stairs into the basement, a fairly tiny room by all accounts where we are greeted by Divided by Design noodling through their impressively technical instrumental proggy-tech-metal (despite some early technical issues). There’s an array of impressive guitar-work on display here, with fretboard skimming and blisteringly fast tapping, but it never seems to become overindulgent and the whole demonstrate an energetic stage presence.
Read MoreOriginally a supergroup comprising of members of Hardcore icons Turnstile & Trapped Under Ice, Baltimore collective Angel Du$t have undergone their fair share of lineup changes since its inception in 2013. Turnstile’s monumental rise from scrappy basement dwellers to the Grammy nominated mainstream behemoth they are today has meant that original Angel Du$t members Pat McRory and Daniel Fang have had to put their Angel Du$t commitments aside to fully focus on keeping the Turnstile Machine ticking on further.
Read MoreA thudding drum beat and great washes of keyboard herald the arrival of White Skies to the hallowed Waterloo stage. A band I’d never seen before, (or to be honest, knew a great deal about), they are purveyors of melodic rock in the grand tradition of soaring vocals, big riffs, and even bigger choruses. ‘What Do You Know About Love’ is a great start to the set with all of those three elements firmly present and correct, with tonight’s crowd very receptive and obviously firm devotees of the genre (as becomes even more apparent later on when Romeo’s Daughter perform).
Read MoreWell, I’m going to cut to the chase… the highlight of the night happens within the first hour. The Picturebooks, tonight’s support act are outstanding. I suspect the sizeable crowd that have already gathered at the earlier than normal time of 7pm, have anticipated this too. This dynamic duo from Germany have 6 album and having only ever heard them on the radio, it is a delight to see them tearing up the stage tonight with their blues/ rock n roll goodness.
Read MoreWe manage to grab some quality interviewing time with As Everything Unfolds (here) and Lake Malice (here) before the show. Both interviews are both fantastically fun and interesting, but it does mean we end up missing tonight’s openers Tropic Gold. By all accounts their set went down great with the sold out crowd though, so we’ll be sure to catch them next time.
Read MoreThe template for a UK tour by a stateside metal icon is a tentpole London show and then, if we are lucky, a couple of reconnaissance trips into the provinces. Obituary have, as ever, decided not to play by the rules and since late August they have been haunting every byway and layby of this fair country. We as fans have responded to their commitment by getting out of the house and getting down in front.
Read MoreA suitably cinematic sunset is casting its final rays over Lancaster as I finally set foot in The Pub (despite the best efforts of Friday night M6 traffic and Lancaster’s circuitous one-way system). The only things that could have made it even more appropriate would have been a pair of swinging saloon doors, a spittoon by the bar, a table of disreputable poker players and a dodgy honky-tonk piano player, for an evening spent in the company of the Gypsy Pistoleros.
Read MoreThere is something nourishingly cathartic about unadulterated noise. To the ear of the uninitiated, this four-band bill probably sounds like chaotic clatter, a cacophony of unconnected hullabaloo with no discerning rhythmic touchstones. However, there is an utter beauty to be found within music that skates this close to being an unrefined racket but still manages to maintain a coherent shape and form.
Read MoreAfter what seems a severely long break away from reviews I am back, and tonight is a new venue to review in for me. Club Academy is almost completely empty on arrival and the first band are on at 7.30pm. Playing to a couple of people are Lost Romantic. Formed only last year this London duo (drummer and singer) state it’s their first time ever in Manchester.
Read MoreWe've managed to catch Harbinger this summer headlining Tech Fest and putting on a killer main stage performance at Radar. Tonight, we get the treat of a much more intimate affair with our favourite tech-metal boys. They're on fire once again, and each of them is clearly revelling in the chance to play to the ever enthusiastically rabid Slamchester crowd.
Read MoreOne guitar and one voice.
Sometimes that’s all you really need to deliver a great set, and that’s precisely what Dan Byrne delivers tonight. Proving once again, that he possesses one of the finest new voices in rock today, his performance tonight is an exercise in control, power and delicacy.
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