Wednesday, 2 December 2009

I've been this way ten years to the day, Ramble On, Gotta find the queen of all my dreams.

Friday 27 November - and we're taking a punt on three bands that we've never heard before who were appearing at The Duchess. First to take to the stage were York four-piece The Leads. They consist of: Rob Lettice on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Tim Creasy on vocals and lead guitar, Gordon Ritchie on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Corr on drums. They started off very strongly, sounding a bit like Lit. The edgy, early tracks did soften as they went on, ending up sounding like Wheezer or Busted. But hey, we all love a cheesy, catchy tune. The only bad thing I can say about them is that they had zero stage presence. Basically they were four blokes playing their instruments for us. They could have been in my front room. Anyway, definitely a band to watch out for.


The second band up were more like an Oasis covers band, except they didn't play covers. The Lookout are a four-piece from York consisting of Rich Wheeler on vocals, Jon Thompson on guitar, Marc Johnson on bass, and Jon Mellin on drums. In contrast to The Leads, lead man Rich swaggered back and forth across the stage like Ian Brown (of The Stone Roses) and sang up into his microphone like Liam Gallagher. Musically they sounded like a raw Oasis practicing in their bedroom. Not bad. Not as good as the first band, but still worth watching out for.


Finally, the headliners, The Crookes who hail from Crookes in Sheffield (thanks to Lynn for spotting that). They have released a couple of singles through the Too Pure Singles Club label and play a melodic, folk-influenced, Indie rock. Although, to my untutored ear it sounded like Morrissey doing 50s skiffle. The Crookes consist of: Russell Bates, Daniel Hopewell, Alex Saunders, and George Waite. I think, but don't quote me on this, that Russell played drum, Dan and Alex were on guitar, and the crooner with the bass and toy guitar was George. Sad to say that they weren't really my cup of cappuccino, but for an encore they did come amongst the audience and performed acoustic/acapella in our midst. They had great voices. For lovers of Noah and The Whale I understand.


Due to a combination of late finishing at The Duchess and early finishing at The Roman Bath, we only caught a couple of Led Zep covers from femme-fronted Remedy (who were in the Bath). They sounded brilliant and I hope we get a chance to see them again soon so that I can write them up and provide more details.

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