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Saturday, 18 January 2014

Greedy Jesus - Good Friday - Dukes of Hawk, Hyper Magic Mountain, Kalandra, Atlas, Indigo Moon, The Inkhearts and Electric Lips - The Zanzibar - 17.01.14

Greedy Jesus
Good Friday Dukes of Hawk, Hyper Magic Mountain, Kalandra, Atlas, Indigo Moon, The Inkhearts and Electric Lips

The Zanzibar
17.01.14


ELECTRIC LIPS                         

https://www.facebook.com/electriclips

Listen here: To Lighted Paths by Electric Lips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFZ_8gqwym8

Like most gigs they never run on time and this one was no exception, however when ‘Electric Lips’ hit the stage it was well worth waiting for and what we witnessed was some really strenuous heavy psychedelic rock that really paved the way for this Good Friday event.

 Paul
Andy & Nathan

The band played two covers ‘Daytripper’ and ‘War Pigs’ (two of my all-time fave classics from The Beatles and Black Sabbath respectively) and Electric Lips really did a good job on them, but I much preferred the bands own material which was equally as strong, powerful and delivered full on! Andy is an exceptional guitarist he just captured the moment and could manipulate the strings to perfection.

Solid and uncompromising set from the band and really enjoyed it although there wasn’t a lot there at the Zanzi for their set which was a shame but sometimes the way for the first band on – but Electric Lips had the flavour of rock psychedelia all sewn up and captured it neatly within their blazing and impressive set.

8½/10

Set List:
Serpentine
Foolin’ Yourself
Lighted Path
Day Tripper
Evil Ways
Paths
War Pigs

Members:
Andy Hinton – Guitar/Vocals
Nathan Jones - Bass
Paul Wren - Drums

******

THE INKHEARTS                        


Watch here: Home by The Inkhearts

 The Inkhearts


It wasn’t that the band didn’t play well, but for me it was just the fact that the genre ‘Indie’ has never quite sat right with me, sounding far too mainstream for my liking. Lauren sang and played guitar, which is a hard combination to do and she excelled in that, but the tracks all tended to sound similar to me, and ran in the same vein with nothing unusual to make it stand out, which is why I usually steer clear of ‘Indie’ bands. However they seemed to have a good following so maybe there is something I am missing here – or maybe, and more likely, I am just a rocker come metal head who likes a bit more meat on the bone! Or at least something that bit different!

4/10

Members
Lauren Shaw – Lead Guitar/Vocals
Ryan Ward - Rhythm Guitar
Ben Warburton – Bass
Matthew Wright - Drums

******

INDIGO MOON                           


 Indigo Moon


Well the band’s sound check sounded quite good, well the bit I heard anyway, but on hearing them live things sort of fell apart, sounding misplaced and didn’t seem to go anywhere. It was a bit like an orgasm that never quite reaches its peak! (And we all know how frustrating that can be – don’t we?) They class themselves as ‘Fuzz driven Psychedelia’ but this was more fuzz than anything else and its progressive stance did little or nothing in the bands favour, so there wasn’t much to latch onto and as with the previous band the tracks tended to sound like one song continuously played over which became slightly monotonous, which was a shame as they did have a good crowd in and they were clearly liked by a lot of people there, I however, sad to say wasn’t one of them.

4/10

******

ATLAS                                      


Listen here: To Escape Artists of the Sixteenth Century by Atlas

 The multi-functional Sam
 Atlantis
The superb Leigh Angel Bevan

Superb band indeed despite having the term ‘Indie’ lodged in their genre :O !! Although not sure where the punk fits in! But this was not just some typical ‘indie’ band - from the start they were engaging and pulled together a strong set. The songs held a lot of diversity and they have a female drummer called Leigh Angel Bevan who is absolutely brilliant at her art, in fact the whole band worked their magic to a very high degree and produced some amazing tracks that held great catchy hooks and barbed riffs that played highly on the senses.

The band’s music simply coaxes you out of your shell and seduces with reinforced ferocity not a still body in the house and chorus's to die for!

One track that especially stood out for me was “We have not yet agreed Thatcher State Funeral” superb bass hooks started and then it spiralled to new heights with a colossal sound that had everyone moving - great track!

There were some slower more thought provoking moments but they didn’t last long and it was a great ride with plenty of rhythmic content and ravenous grooves that bored deep into your head. With great tongue in cheek titles for their tracks I have a feeling we ain’t heard the last of Atlas. Indie with a lot of diversity! – This band knows how to manipulate!

9/10

Set List:
Hydroponic Grow Store Blues
Perhaps serial killing would help?
Life in a wheelchair isn’t as limiting as you might think, once you’ve learnt all the moves
(That’s right!) Candles for Men!
Cycles
We have not yet agreed Thatcher State Funeral

Members:
Sam Jones – Guitar/Vocals
Leigh-Angel Bevan – Drums/Vocals
Alex Newton – Guitar/Vocals
Joe Mannion – Bass/Vocals

******

KALANDRA                               


Watch here: Sell your Voice by Kalandra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_VTPlBm58

The haunting Kalandra

If you ever feel the hair stand up on the back of your neck, your skin hurts when you touch it, you can’t breathe, your spine is bombarded with haunting chills that run up and down with regular occurrence, then and only then have you experienced the delights of Kalandra. Your emotions will go into overdrive as the first note is struck. Kalandra is one band you don’t want to miss!

It has to be said that I would walk over broken shards of glass and jump through hoops of fire to see this band perform live and if it was not for clicking on a simple link on Facebook I would never have known about them – so it is always worth checking out links!



They will make you sing, move and dance – they are just such a commanding force. Every track demands you to watch and listen when they are on stage. Kalandra will toy with you and make your head spin, make no mistake. You won’t know what hit you once you see them live. With an angel on vocals it isn’t surprising Katrine is simply spellbinding and will captivate the most hardened of metal heads as soon as she opens her mouth to sing. Helen the bands superb keyboard magician, really came into her own last night, playing and singing with so much soul, so much so, it made my eyes water with emotion. It’s so hard NOT to get emotional when hearing Kalandra. Florian and Jogeir worked their timely magic to staunch perfection, whilst Andreas and Hamish added to the contents with their own brand of stark intensity.






The tracks are all so cleverly written and performed and tell wonderful stories, if you listen carefully you find you become a part of them or at least can relate to them in some way or another.

Andreas & Kat

After much pestering Kalandra now have a 2 track single out with two beautifully designed covers made by Kat herself and on sale for just 2.00 – definitely a steal!! And also released a video of ‘Not some Fairytale’ which has hidden agendas – so check it out!


Well of course I got mine signed :D

No doubt after last night’s exploits Kalandra will surely have bumped up their fan base, because the word on everyone’s lips last night was Kalandra.

10/10

Set list:
The Siren
Rest your Soul
Not some Fairytale
The Loss
Home is where you make it
Sell your Voice
Onto the Fire

Members:
Katrine ØdegÃ¥rd Stenbekk – Vocals
Florian Bernhard Döderlein Winter - Guitar
Hamish Gore – Bass
Jogeir Daae Mæland - Guitar
Andreas Voie Juliebø - Drums
Helen Morrisson – Keyboards/Vocals

******

HYPER MAGIC MOUNTAIN         


Watch here: Superhuman at Oxjam 2013 by Hyper Magic Mountain

 Super Matty & Joe
 Tom
 Ryan, Matty, Joe and Sam
Ryan, Matty & Joe

This band are something else! Sam Jones who incidentally, also plays for the brilliant band Atlas gave his all last night with both bands! The Zanzi was heaving and rocking out to these guys who add flute to their tracks courtesy of Matty, which really gives it a varying haunting sound and they all lend a hand on the vocal content which is a strong contender for diversity! Their rock psychedelic brand of music was powerful and exploded with sheer abandon.  The band used every bit of the small Zanzi stage and lived every moment of their seven strong set.

Riveting and compelling the heavy riffs just rained down on the gathering crowd who were strutting their stuff at the front. Matty’s voice was engaging and hard to dismiss, not that you could, as together the band worked extremely well and produced a very memorable set that ignited the audience and gave everyone something to ponder on.

The strings from the mighty Joe and Ryan were mesmerising and uncompromising and a tempered addition to the storm they brewed up on stage.

A very imaginative band, but not sure what the reason was behind the orange legwarmers shared by Joe and Matty was all about! Maybe we shall never know!

Orange seems to be the colour of the year!

9/10

Set List:
Shapes
Two Brothers
Olympus Mons
Tears
Superhuman
Bosses
In the Woods

Members:
Joe Hutchinson - Guitar/Vocals
Tom Shand - Drums
Ryan 'Ray' McElroy - Guitar/Vocals
Matty Hughes - Vocals/Flute
Sam Jones - Bass/Vocals

******

THE DUKES OF HAWK                        


Watch here: Shoot you Down by The Dukes of Hawk

 The Dukes of Hawk


Quite disappointing truth be known although I expect it was a bit daunting going on after Hyper Magic Mountain.  The band are good musicians and can play well but there was just something missing from their set that didn’t quite hit the mark.



By the time the band went on stage which was about 11.30pm there were very few people left to witness them so maybe that was a factor for their lack lustre set.  Their faces didn’t show any emotion at all and they didn’t move around the stage and really get into what they were playing and so the few who did hang on just got a band on stage going through the motions.

I know it is difficult being the headline band as this is what you are normally faced with and some bands when they see nothing in front of them do tend to give up the ghost, but nothing was really forthcoming to make the set memorable sadly.

4/10

Members:
Chris - Guitar/Vocals
Ste - Bass/Backing Vocals
Andy - Drums


*** Special mentions to Greedy Jesus for a superb night’s entertainment. Tony - as always, Pat for the superb sound as ever, Paul for always being my cuddly teddy bear, Toffo for being the barer of drinks, Gani and Cuzzy for their wonderful company for the evening and always making me laugh. Emma and her friend who joined us, and really got into the swing of things, Natalie for her good conversation in the loo! and to at least 4 of the bands who made the evening something special to remember: The Dukes of Hawk, Hyper Magic Mountain, Kalandra, Atlas, Indigo Moon, The Inkhearts and Electric Lips.

2 comments:

  1. Remove the words 'PSYCHEDELIC' and 'PSYCHEDLIA' from the Electric Lips section.
    IF YOU LISTEN TO THEM, YOU CAN CLEARLY HEAR THERE IS NOTHING "PSYCHEDELIC" ABOUT THEM.
    Regards
    FAN FROM THE GIG

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for your comment but we all hear different things within music - I can hear it - but appreciate you taking the time to comment!

    ReplyDelete