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 Ødegård 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.
