Friday 15 February – and down at the Roman Tin Tub are Megawatt Winged Avenger, a heavy rock/metal band previously seen at Fibbers where we thoroughly enjoyed their set. Tonight they were playing their own stuff alongside heavy rock covers such as; Judas Priest (Breaking the Law), Guns ‘n’ Roses (Sweet Child of Mine), Metallica (Enter Sandman), Bon Jovi (Bad Medicine), Stereophonics (Just Looking). Yes, I know, it’s that last one that encapsulates the problem. They play their own stuff with grit and honesty, and they are good. But, the covers are played a bit tongue in cheek and they just didn’t work. The ambience wasn’t right either. The stage area was so dark that we could hardly see the band (no problem in hearing them of course!) and for some bizarre reason they seemed to attract “the pink and the p*ssed”. I’ve no problems with people who butter their bread on the other side (anything that tips the balance of male/female in my favour generally gets my blessing) but I feel uncomfortable when they’re touching each other up and engaging in the fairy-wrestling that they seem to think passes for dancing. Bit of a naff night then. Still, there’s always tomorrow...
Saturday 16 February – “man doth not live by rock covers only” (Deuteronomy 8: 3 but bent to the author’s will, ha, ha) and so we find ourselves at Fibbers for the Levi’s One To Watch showcase, three bands that we hadn’t heard of before. Our expectations were as high as the entrance price, £8. A tad on the steep side we thought. First up, and we caught them about half-way through their set, were Ox. Eagle. Lion. Man. (Revelations 4:6-7 “6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. 7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.” It’s not a blog it’s an education!), risen, I’m informed, Lazarus-like from the ashes of Les Incompetents. Hailing from London, OELM consists of: Frederick Blood-Royale (Vocals/samples/fake surnames), Jareth (Guitar/Effects/lost surnames), Thomas Günnzs (Bass/Keys/umlauted surnames), and Eduard Quarmby (Drums/just daft names generally). Three songs is not really enough to judge a band on but just to give you a flavour of their act... Jareth had a skein of hair that he must have stolen from Rapunzel and hung it over his guitar at every opportunity. Frederick sort of semi-spoke the words, which I have to say were very clear and showed that mumbled vocals are a performer’s choice at Fibbers, not an aberration of the acoustics. Each song was like a mini-play or rather musical. Very theatrical, not my cup of tea, but there you go. It was an interesting start.
Oh dear. Second band were the Cazals, billed as a London/Milan band. A bit ’80 synth, only heavier. A bit Sham 69, without the tunes. It all started to go downhill after the second song, a cover of Spandau Ballet’s To Cut A Long Story Short. The final track was Life is Boring and contained the lyric “What’s the point?” What indeed!
At this point we were approached by a member of the bar staff and asked if we would provide feedback on the bands at the end of the gig, to which we agreed. Apparently Levis like to get real audience reactions to the bands they showcase.
And so to our final contenders, Cut Off Your Hands, a flock of Kiwis selling their own brand of dance-pop-punk, bit like The Klaxons and The Pigeon Detectives, allegedly. Allegedly was in fact the operative word. Expectations was almost OK, but generally their front man sound like Robert Smith and their whole sound was a bit like The Cure. There was also a hint of New Order in there somewhere, but far too many oh-oh-ohs. To add insult to injury, they played a short set ending at 22:15 instead of 22:30 and there was no encore.
So, feedback on the Levi’s Ones to Watch? Well, Three To Avoid actually. I bought my ticket for the Mexicolas whilst we were there, it cost me £5 and I know that I’m going to enjoy them. £8 for three unknown bands that are rubbish and finish too early? We was robbed!
It was time to drown our sorrows so we beat a retreat across York to The Roman Bath in search of salvation. At least it would be free! Playing tonight were Full Tilt a rock covers band from Sheffield. We arrived just before they started the second half of their set, which went on for one and a quarter hours! They performed a vast range of material: Thin Lizzy (Rosalie), AC/DC (Whole Lotta Rosie), Bad Co. (Can’t get Enough of Your Love), Deep Purple (Smoke on the Water, Black Night), Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit), Puddle of Mudd (She Hates Me), RaTM (Killing in the Name), Kinks (Really got me going), Guns ‘n’ Rose (Knocking’ on Heavens Door). Seven encores. Now that’s what I call music. Even the presence of the crazy dancing bloke with a miner’s lamp around his neck couldn’t ruin that kind of gig.
