December 18, 2004
Starscreen have the honor starting, and immediately they consumed the crowd with their powerful, but soothing, melodic indie rock sound. The frontman’s distinctive, echoing voice won the crowd attention on the first note, and his meaningful lyrics came through very well. It began with intent, and they continued to put on a serious and passionate performance throughout. This was all very well, but so much concentration meant that the presence was compromised.As the set went on, audience attention was beginning to waver. It needed one of those prayer-worthy solo’s we’ve witnessed the lead guitarist pull off in the previous couple of times we’ve seen them. And it came, well a few came actually, but he was too modest, there were odd moments of brilliance to convince any doubters. Still there was something that lacked; something took the glory away from them. Maybe it was the sound levels, but they seemed in pretty good shape the rest of the time. I guess it was down to nerves.This wasn’t the best Starscreen performance we’ve seen, which is a little unfair, because we’ve seen them kick some ass, they still rocked the joint though, and definitely in with a damn good chance.
Abiotic seemed very popular with the local audience, so they had their point to prove, they didn’t seem too phased and proceeded with Some simple yet intelligible, Third Eye Blind type rock, with powerful choruses and some brilliant mellow interludes, plus spells of breathtaking lyrics, but also a fair share of cheesy ones too. There were some interesting instrumental lines, and great variation in tempo. The vocal lines let them down a little though, aside from the well-placed backing and occasional harmonising, they were a bit bland and unimaginative, nothing compared to the ever changing and busy music. There were sections of amazing guitar work, but unfortunately the bass wasn’t very powerful, and didn’t come through above the rest of the sound, which gave the whole set a very trebly thing going on. Each song was a bit too similar to the others, although all musicians were performing their own intricate pieces, it came together to sound samey and without distinction between tracks. All members moved around the stage well, this showed that they had a bit of confidence on their side. So Abiotic’s bid for the title was certainly a strong one.
It was The Heat’s turn to face the examination of the final. They struck me as Black Crows with a punk influence, with very prominent, very loud, and very beefy guitar riffs, which turned out to be kind of overpowering, but the awesome effects went down with the crowd pretty well. Someone had obviously knocked the volume up a notch because the original and creative vocal patterns didn’t carry the expression you got the feeling they were suppose to, due to their sheer level of noise. The backing vocal were astutely timed, and played on a great interaction with the lead. The drumming was simple, but varied, between songs, including well-used tempo changes and fills. Typical of the likes of Kings Of Leon and Primal Scream. The lyrics were strong and often leaning more towards the afore-mention punk influence, with rebellious and riotous prospects. It was generally feel good, satisfying rock and roll, and if you were in any doubt, they threw in. Go Johnny Go, just to get you…erm…going.
The Darwin Theory began their set without any vocal sound, but it kicked in half way through the opening song, they shrugged this discrepancy off and continued unabated. When we were able to hear the full force of their music it was certainly an upbeat and feel-good vibe, and refreshingly simple. Despite the simplicity, there was a great variation in songs, some more cheerful and some more subdued, together with plenty volume and tempo changes. Although the rest of the band seemed more than willing to entertain, there was a distinct lack of movement on the lead guitaristÂ’s part. But to give the guy credit, he was spewing out some lengthy and impressive pieces, as well as teaming up with the other guitar to play power riffs in unison. It was a tight performance, but with a few sections that sounded almost unfinished. Darwin Theory definitely went down well and being the last of the competing bands, may have a slight advantage over the others.
Brought in to entertain while the votes were counted, The Magic Heroes gave us half an hour of impressive Hendrix style vocals with modern day rock n roll vocal patterns, and a breed of Danko Jones, Jet, Black Crows guitar, which was most prominent, and with a great demonstration of how to use a tremolo. Although the fluctuating stage presence didn’t seem to match up with the style of music, or the name for that matter at first, the frontman created plenty of expression with both his vocals and movement, and eventually the presence improved as the set went on, and they caught the attention of the dwindling crowd. The focus for this performance and this band in general seems to be on the frontman, and he ended up proving why by playing a solo or two behind his head for good measure.
The votes had been counted by this point, and the results were as follows…
1st Place – The Darwin Theory 2nd Place – Abiotic 3rd Place – The Heat 4th Place – Starscreen Click here to view the pictures from this gig Review ~ Steph Photos ~ Glynn & Uche
Written By Steph
