October 14, 2005 The Brit Club (Nottingham)
Well we are losing our virginity here tonight, in more ways than one, its our first time at The Brit Club, our first review of a Fly On The Wall promotion, the first time we have seen 3 of the young bands playing tonight, and the first time we have been drunk and seen Weeble, wait no…not that last one.
For those who have never been to the Brit Club, it is a pretty good venue, situated on the banks of the Trent, it looks more like the bat cave than a venue but with a good sized stage it is very nice and there is plenty of room not just for the bands but also the crowd to move around. With old favourites Weeble headlining we know it will be a good night. The nice thing about tonight is that the acts supporting Weeble are all young bands who haven’t been around long so its a good chance to see what they are made of.
The Fallen Story
Up first are The Fallen Story, who mix some fast and furious punk with a more modern emo and rock feel. The guitars interlock well and with a very solid and driving drum and bass they move well. The vocalist also has a strong voice and even though they don’t have masses of confidence they show a lot of good potential with a nice mix of music and some good solos, catchy songs and strong performances from every instrument. The Fallen Story put on a lively and very professional performace for a young band, with more time and work on their original sound and with a frontman who not only has a good voice but a cool image they could do well.
http://www.myspace.com/thefallenstory
Hi-Jack
Next up Hijack and these guys have a few familiar faces with the drummer from Cerebral Vacation on bass (figure that one out) and Stef from Weeble standing in on drums. Hijack do have a sound all of their own though with a interesting mix of male and female vocals. The set tonight was mainly comprised of covers but they were well performed and seemed to get the crowd going. The female vocalist who had a very melodic voice which contrasted well with a male vocalist who mixed fast rants with one of the fiercest screams you’ll ever hear. We felt that they could work on their stage presence and a few more harmonies could work well but they showed good potential. It’s sometimes hard to know how good a band are when they do covers, but Hijack seemed to have good knowledge of their instruments and with the duel vocals they had a good feel, it will be nice to hear some more of their own material in the future.
http://www.myspace.com/hijackuk
Long Drop
Third to take the stage are Long Drop, now these guys really are young (barely 14) and as they take the stage you find yourself wondering if they are big enough to keep hold of their guitars for the full set, but not only do they show they can hold them guitars but they can really really play em too! Long Drop kick straight in with a mix of fast and furious ear friendly pop punk thats really catchy, the guitar bounce along well and interlock nicely with the bass. The drums are really tight and keep all the songs held together. This is quality pop punk in the vein of Blink 182 (old stuff), Fenix TX or MXPX and really gets your feet tapping. The vocalist might look like he is gonna have a voice higher than the Beegees after inhaling Hydrogen, but his vocal is quite melodic and Long Drop showed massive potential. With some nice guitar solos, catchy songs and good movement they really got the crowd going and put on a show that was first class for a band of their youth. To top it all off they pulled out a fucking brilliant cover of 99 Red Balloons, really showing punk bands many years their senior how it is done. Look out for these guys they could be superstars in the making!
http://www.myspace.com/longdroprock
Weeble
So after giving the kids a chance to shine, Weeble take the stage and we get a chance to see the masters at work. Weeble seem to get better each time we see them and lately they seem to have a whole new dimension to their mix of punk ska with a slightly heavier and fast ska-core edge build in. As the big catchy shouts pound out and the bouncing guitars and bass interlock, we once again know that Weeble are here to throw a party. The young crowd seem to love it and go mental as Weeble mix up old favourites like Hooked up and Get Up with some really great newer tracks. Weeble really are a great live band with lots of movement and with songs that not only stick in your head but show variety and originality mixing all elements of the punk and ska genres, it is a brilliant end to the night. To make our night complete Weeble show us some new versions of some older material, which us here at Saggy Pants haven’t heard for a long long time and we couldn’t stop singing, dancing and grinning for half an hour
Fly on the Wall put on a really brilliant night here and we loved the fact they got some lesser known young bands involved. The crowd was young too but it was again great to see youngsters taking an interested in the local music scene, and it keeps em off the street right?
Reviewed by: Steph
