BritRock at JB's
Went to BritRock at JB's tonight as a friend was playing, so we went to be supportive.
Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the band that were on when we arrived, however they had a female lead-singer who not only wasn't much cop at singing she had absolutely no charisma and made no attempt to interact with the audience. She did, however, manage to do some 'mom dancing' on the stage. The guitarist, who was also the lead male vocalist on several songs, had much more stage presence and did talk to and interact with the audience. The musicians were decent and songs weren't bad and overall I felt that the band were okay, but needed to improve to really impress any of the audience who weren't friends and family. I think someone said they were called Abigail's Mercy although since the band never mentioned their own name it could've been anything.
The next band to come on were "(Al Atkins) Holy Rage" the Al Atkins part coming from the lead singer, who was the original singer in Judas Priest, which he made sure he mentioned. Personally I felt that unfortunately tonight Al Atkins had very little stage presence, I couldn't understand what he was saying as he seemed to be mumbling away very quickly to himself rather than talking to the audience, other than calling out to people he knew personally. Mick Hales drumming was excellent, even on the less than wonderful 'festival kit' that all of the frummers used, although fortunately they were able to add in their own cymbals and I did notice Mick had added in his own Tom. The mixing desk also had the levels wrong so what we could mostly hear of the drums was the cymbals and the bass, the toms were hard to distinguish and believe me Mick is a hard hitting drummer, we should have had no problems. Vocals also had too much bass on the mix, we couldn't hear the top and mid range too clearly despite the singer appearing to be singing his guts out. The band were well rehearsed and tight, but the material was a bit old-hat. It was easy to tell this was a singer routed in the 1970's who hadn't really moved on. We did speak with several of the bands later on and the person to whom I took a dislike was Al Atkins. He came across as rather rude and arrogant, perhaps he was in a rush but certainly if you're trying to persuade people to buy your music I would have thought a little more politeness was called for. I felt myself fighting a desire to point out that Judas Priest had only made it big after he'd left the band...
They were followed by Rekuiem, headed by the most animated singer up to this point. The band were very tight, well rehearsed and had a good relationship with the audience. However out of the bands I saw I would have to say that I thought theirs was the weakest of the drummers, despite an impressive musical history. Maybe he was just having an off night. When we spoke to the singer afterwards it was to say that we thought they'd had a really good set. The singer was very pleasant to talk to and had good rapport with the audience. Again, the mix could have been better, but that was down to the resident mixing desk guy not any of the bands.
Then came 'Demon'. This band were incredibly tight. Seriously. Very well rehearsed and all were good musicians. The music while listenable did however remind me of a horror movie sound-track. By which I mean it was a little on the cheesey 1980's side. Since this band have been around since at least then with much of their materials actually written in the 80's it was always going to have that feel to it. There are a lot of bands from the 80s that I absolutely love, but Demon isn't one of them. One of the people with us however had come specifically to see Demon and left almost as soon as they had finished their set. If a lad who is barely 20 years old thinks that much of them, there must be something there! All down to personal taste and certainly if their style of music is to your taste, then they are a good, solid band to watch.
The final band we saw anything of was 'Hostile'. Now I'll say first off that I've never been much into music that makes Slayer look like fluffy pop music, however they were all fantastic musicians. The drummer especially was fantastic and I mean that in all honesty, completely loved his double bass-drum. The bass player and guitarists were also very good. For me the weakest link was the lead singer, possibly because I just don't like that style of music, just too heavy for my tastes. As I say, Slayer is about as heavy as I get, as I really do like to be able to actually hear and understand lyrics. Anything heavier to me sounds largely like shouting rather than singing. I always remember a friend bumping in the lead singer of Napalm Death and saying that he loved a live particular song, especially the lyrics. The singer just looked at him and said "You taking the piss mate? I don't actually sing the lyrics I just grunt loudly" which cracked me up and it's exactly how I feel about this genre. I would have no hesitation in recommending this band to anyone who likes that particular genre of music though, as frankly they were fantastic.
We left without seeing anything at all of Oliver/Dawson's Saxon so I can't say how they went down.
What I would say is that Midlands audiences are as hard to please as ever they were. And sadly, while it's becoming increasingly popular to watch covers bands sing someone else's lyrics and profit off someone else's hard work, the amount of people going to see smaller bands who actually write their own lyrics and music is seriously on the decline. This was demonstrated not too long back when a Led Zep covers band had them queing down the street while a few doors up Robert Plant and a variety of other famous names played to a half-empty room. Mr Plant himself made the same point during his set.
Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the band that were on when we arrived, however they had a female lead-singer who not only wasn't much cop at singing she had absolutely no charisma and made no attempt to interact with the audience. She did, however, manage to do some 'mom dancing' on the stage. The guitarist, who was also the lead male vocalist on several songs, had much more stage presence and did talk to and interact with the audience. The musicians were decent and songs weren't bad and overall I felt that the band were okay, but needed to improve to really impress any of the audience who weren't friends and family. I think someone said they were called Abigail's Mercy although since the band never mentioned their own name it could've been anything.
The next band to come on were "(Al Atkins) Holy Rage" the Al Atkins part coming from the lead singer, who was the original singer in Judas Priest, which he made sure he mentioned. Personally I felt that unfortunately tonight Al Atkins had very little stage presence, I couldn't understand what he was saying as he seemed to be mumbling away very quickly to himself rather than talking to the audience, other than calling out to people he knew personally. Mick Hales drumming was excellent, even on the less than wonderful 'festival kit' that all of the frummers used, although fortunately they were able to add in their own cymbals and I did notice Mick had added in his own Tom. The mixing desk also had the levels wrong so what we could mostly hear of the drums was the cymbals and the bass, the toms were hard to distinguish and believe me Mick is a hard hitting drummer, we should have had no problems. Vocals also had too much bass on the mix, we couldn't hear the top and mid range too clearly despite the singer appearing to be singing his guts out. The band were well rehearsed and tight, but the material was a bit old-hat. It was easy to tell this was a singer routed in the 1970's who hadn't really moved on. We did speak with several of the bands later on and the person to whom I took a dislike was Al Atkins. He came across as rather rude and arrogant, perhaps he was in a rush but certainly if you're trying to persuade people to buy your music I would have thought a little more politeness was called for. I felt myself fighting a desire to point out that Judas Priest had only made it big after he'd left the band...
They were followed by Rekuiem, headed by the most animated singer up to this point. The band were very tight, well rehearsed and had a good relationship with the audience. However out of the bands I saw I would have to say that I thought theirs was the weakest of the drummers, despite an impressive musical history. Maybe he was just having an off night. When we spoke to the singer afterwards it was to say that we thought they'd had a really good set. The singer was very pleasant to talk to and had good rapport with the audience. Again, the mix could have been better, but that was down to the resident mixing desk guy not any of the bands.
Then came 'Demon'. This band were incredibly tight. Seriously. Very well rehearsed and all were good musicians. The music while listenable did however remind me of a horror movie sound-track. By which I mean it was a little on the cheesey 1980's side. Since this band have been around since at least then with much of their materials actually written in the 80's it was always going to have that feel to it. There are a lot of bands from the 80s that I absolutely love, but Demon isn't one of them. One of the people with us however had come specifically to see Demon and left almost as soon as they had finished their set. If a lad who is barely 20 years old thinks that much of them, there must be something there! All down to personal taste and certainly if their style of music is to your taste, then they are a good, solid band to watch.
The final band we saw anything of was 'Hostile'. Now I'll say first off that I've never been much into music that makes Slayer look like fluffy pop music, however they were all fantastic musicians. The drummer especially was fantastic and I mean that in all honesty, completely loved his double bass-drum. The bass player and guitarists were also very good. For me the weakest link was the lead singer, possibly because I just don't like that style of music, just too heavy for my tastes. As I say, Slayer is about as heavy as I get, as I really do like to be able to actually hear and understand lyrics. Anything heavier to me sounds largely like shouting rather than singing. I always remember a friend bumping in the lead singer of Napalm Death and saying that he loved a live particular song, especially the lyrics. The singer just looked at him and said "You taking the piss mate? I don't actually sing the lyrics I just grunt loudly" which cracked me up and it's exactly how I feel about this genre. I would have no hesitation in recommending this band to anyone who likes that particular genre of music though, as frankly they were fantastic.
We left without seeing anything at all of Oliver/Dawson's Saxon so I can't say how they went down.
What I would say is that Midlands audiences are as hard to please as ever they were. And sadly, while it's becoming increasingly popular to watch covers bands sing someone else's lyrics and profit off someone else's hard work, the amount of people going to see smaller bands who actually write their own lyrics and music is seriously on the decline. This was demonstrated not too long back when a Led Zep covers band had them queing down the street while a few doors up Robert Plant and a variety of other famous names played to a half-empty room. Mr Plant himself made the same point during his set.