With everyone involved in local music always seemingly going on about the lack of venues on the island, it is always nice to see another place open its doors to live music.
One place that has in recent weeks is Barbados, normally more of a regular nightclub venue they have reserved Sunday nights in October and November for ‘Guernsey Rocks’ nights of live music.
First on stage on the October 19th 2008 event was solo singer/songwriter Lydia Pugh who provided a great mix of covers and originals to a mixed audience, some of whom didn’t even to seem to realise the music was coming live from the stage!
Despite the slightly odd crowd and being roped off like some kind of museum exhibit Lydia played some fantastic songs, with her own compositions and her version of Incubus’ ‘Wish You Were Here’ really standing out.
The only real criticisms of I can find of Lydia are that tonight she was maybe too mellow for such a late slot on a Sunday and that her performance, while technically proficient, can sometimes lack a little soul.
Tonight’s second band were making their live debut tonight and About An Hour really showed signs of good things to come.
Kicking off with their version of ‘Maniac’ they played a selection of fantastic dance along pop-rock, with a hint of punk that sounded like the perfect marriage of the members previous bands Third Time Lucky and It Still Stands.
With a really fun style and presence on stage, thanks in part to ever-charismatic front man Danny Phoenix, About An Hour even managed to get a few people dancing and really seemed to ‘click’ together on stage.
Getting rid of the rope between them and the audience definitely worked to the bands advantage and despite the slightly odd vibe in Barbados the band played like they’d been playing together for a long time and were used to this venue too.
With a debut EP already recorded and due for release soon and more gigs in Jersey and over here in the pipeline it seems About An Hour could be heading for great things.
Showing posts with label rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock. Show all posts
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Peppered Ant Legs and Swallows - 15/10/08
With the Thomas De La Rue fast becoming the premier venue for live music in St Peter Port many had gathered there, despite it being a ‘school night’, on Wednesday 15th October 2008 to see a rare appearance by ‘lady-rockers’ Swallows and some old school hard rock and pop from the Peppered Ant Legs.
Swallows kicked the evening off with their take on the indie rock style played by many super trendy bands at the moment.
Despite a slightly slow start, the band were soon flowing well and if it was true that they hadn’t had much time to rehearse for this gig it didn’t show.
What really struck about the band was the sense of fun and humour they add to a style of music that can often take itself too seriously and become somewhat po-faced. This was really shown by singer Rachel and guitarist Lisa who’s on stage interplay really provided an entertaining show.
Following their set I was left wondering how many of the songs were covers and how many were originals because, Swallows did that rare thing of managing to own every song whether they be their own or not.
It’s just a shame this band don’t make more appearances, as it is always a refreshing treat to see them play.
After Swallows came a band who have been appearing fairly regularly in recent months at various venues, the Peppered Ant Legs.
Playing covers ranging from the spaced out heavy metal of early Black Sabbath through to the upbeat pop of the Dave Clark Five they are an undeniably unique proposition, and tonight they were on entertaining form.
The band really come into their own on the rockier numbers where they come across in a much more confident light, however the pop tunes, including tonight a great version Manfred Mann’s ‘Mighty Quin’ add a real sense of fun to proceedings - even if there were a few too many extended moments retuning and changing guitars.
The Ant Legs real highlight tonight though came in the form of their closing salvo of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Communication Breakdown’ and Neil Young’s ‘Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)’, a rarely heard gem, which rocked the night well before a run through of rock classic ‘Voodoo Child’ which seemed to leave all in the pub satisfied.
Swallows kicked the evening off with their take on the indie rock style played by many super trendy bands at the moment.
Despite a slightly slow start, the band were soon flowing well and if it was true that they hadn’t had much time to rehearse for this gig it didn’t show.
What really struck about the band was the sense of fun and humour they add to a style of music that can often take itself too seriously and become somewhat po-faced. This was really shown by singer Rachel and guitarist Lisa who’s on stage interplay really provided an entertaining show.
Following their set I was left wondering how many of the songs were covers and how many were originals because, Swallows did that rare thing of managing to own every song whether they be their own or not.
It’s just a shame this band don’t make more appearances, as it is always a refreshing treat to see them play.
After Swallows came a band who have been appearing fairly regularly in recent months at various venues, the Peppered Ant Legs.
Playing covers ranging from the spaced out heavy metal of early Black Sabbath through to the upbeat pop of the Dave Clark Five they are an undeniably unique proposition, and tonight they were on entertaining form.
The band really come into their own on the rockier numbers where they come across in a much more confident light, however the pop tunes, including tonight a great version Manfred Mann’s ‘Mighty Quin’ add a real sense of fun to proceedings - even if there were a few too many extended moments retuning and changing guitars.
The Ant Legs real highlight tonight though came in the form of their closing salvo of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Communication Breakdown’ and Neil Young’s ‘Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)’, a rarely heard gem, which rocked the night well before a run through of rock classic ‘Voodoo Child’ which seemed to leave all in the pub satisfied.
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