Monday, 21 January 2008

Cos since I've come on home, Well my body's been a mess/And I've missed your ginger hair, and the way you like to dress

Friday 18 January – and down at The Roman Bath, the band de jour is Generator, a five piece with lead guitar, drums, keyboard, bass, and a girl singer. The keyboard player also played bass and the bass player also played rhythm guitar. Now I’m not sure of their names or where they came from, but I’m sure I overheard someone saying that this was their first gig. They played in a professional manner. The vocals were a bit strained but she did make a better job of doing the male vocals then female ones. Their choice of covers was, to say the least, eclectic. Among the tunes I recognised were: Reef (Place your hands), Who (Who are you?), New Radicals (You Get What You Give), something by the Foo Fighters (I should have recognised that!), Madonna (Ray of Light), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Dani California), Talk Talk (It’s your life), U2 (Vertigo), and Muse (Supermassive Black Hole). My advice (for what it’s worth), unbutton your cardigan if you’re doing lead vocals. Overall, quite enjoyable. I’d particularly thank ‘Cinderella’ for giving me a squeeze and making the other guys jealous. Actually, she looked like Kylie so I don’t know why we called her Cinderella!

Saturday 19 January – a rare second nighter, and we were in Fibbers where FK Music Management were hosting an event to support the NET Patient Foundation, a cancer charity championed by Paul Hunter who died in October 2006. So, first band up were the, somewhat awesomely named, Megawatt Winger Avenger. I liked the band, a lot. They were heavy, but in a melodic way. They did ballads (sort of), in a heavy way. MWA are a York band formed from the remnants of Knee Deep and Forty7three, they fit the long-hair-to-head-bang-with or bald-guy-with-goatee-to-intimidate-you stylee of heavy rock. The band consist of: Tupps (Tupplington) on vocals, Rosco on guitar and backing vocals, Pedro on Drums, Elliot on bass, and Ash (Ashley) on Guitar. Stand out tracks were: Want It For Myself, Found the Trigger, B I N, and Dioschorus.

Well, that got the evening off to a great start, but I sometimes get a horrible feeling when the first band is that good, maybe it’s downhill from here on in. Certainly, discovering that bottles of Newcastle Brown were retailing at £4 a pop, spirits were sinking fast. Next up were Sidewinder a 4-piece from Leeds. Brothers Nick and Chris formed Sidewinder back in 2004 as a rock cover band under the name Make Like Audio. The current lineup is: Nick Robinson on lead vocals and lead/rhythm guitar, Lee Kitson on lead/rhythm guitar, Chris Robinson on drums, and Paul (Dirty Burty) Burton on bass guitar and backing vocals. OK, there were superb widdly guitar solos, but the vocals were very muddy. Some of the song didn’t actually end, they just merged into the next one. A cross between Guns ‘n’ Roses and Motley Cru. It was a bit confusing and chaotic. I won’t be rushing out to see these guys again soon.

Finally, the headliners were Tidal Fury, a York band consisting of Graham on guitars and backing vocals, Mickoss on guitars and backing vocals, Fin on bass, and Ste on drums. I enjoyed Lay Down And Take It, Tidal Fury, and Dance Like You Mean It. They also covered AC/DCs Whole Lotta Rosie, but overall I liked the first band best.

Undeterred, we sped across the cobbled streets to The Roman Bath where The Fog (not to be mist) were playing. We only caught the last three-quarters of an hour of their set, but they did a range of covers that they played really well: Who (Substitute), Stealers Wheel (Stuck In The Middle With You), The Zutons (Valerie), Scissor Sisters (Take Your Mama Out), T.Rex (I Love to Boogie), U2 (With or Without You), Bryan Adams (Summer of ’69), Beatles (I saw her standing there), Kaiser Chiefs (I Predict a Riot), Proclaimers (500 Miles). You get the idea.

No comments: