December 7, 2006 @ The Maze
O’ Lovely Lie
Well it is another fantastic line up tonight from Andy and Will of Audio massage and I Am Not From London, with some well loved Nottingham bands (or former Nottingham bands in Love Ends Disasters case) and a band with former members of UK rock heroes 80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, in Vile Imbeciles. <br> To start the night I have my first look at O ‘Lovely Lie. This 5 piece have been around a fair while but I don’t think they play Nottingham that much and so this was my first viewing. They certainly look the part, with 3 female members and frontman Richard all dressed in black and looking dark and almost gothic, which works well with their style of music, they take to the stage and kick in to their deep and powerful mix of rock! <br> It is hard to put a finger on the exact style but it is hard rock with grunge, punk and even folk influences, I guess. The bass lines are heavy with big moody and hard hitting guitar riffs that move really well. The keyboards add a weird gothic and almost more uplifting edge as well as giving the sounds depth and atmosphere. <br> The vocals were very impressive, with sibling front duo, Gemma and Richard Upton, spliting vocal duties. The harmonies sound really great and both of them have strong voices that can carry the songs. This is also were the folk feel came in for me, with the vocal harmonies. <br> If I were to try and compare O ‘Lovely Lie to other bands it would be fairly hard but I guess there are hints of Placebo, Smashing Pumpkins with a weird more down beat version of The Cure or a more energetic version of Nick Cave and The Badseeds breaking in from somewhere! <br> The one thing I did feel was that they could have more movement in their performance and maybe some more crowd interraction but O ‘Lovely Lie are a fairly unique band (especially on the local scene) with a good depth and lots of power in their sound!
http://www.myspace.com/olovelylie
Lo-Ego
Next to take the stage are one of Nottingham’s better known bands, Lo-Ego. Now I have heard (and been blown away by) their recordings but this was my first time seeing them live too! <br> The sound is very full yet atmospheric live just as on the CD with soaring melodies and random outbreaks of heavier rock mixed with a almost psychedelic backdrop. Booming drums and bass hold down the songs whilst the guitars drift, building and smashing down the melodies again and again. <br> The vocal hooks are pretty catchy though I felt got a little lost at times over the music and my major downer on Lo-Ego was their lack of stage presence. I have heard so much good stuff about this band and have heard many people say they are one of the best in the city (which on record they probably are) but live they lacked passion a little and even though their sound is original, complex and played note perfect, they were very static and didn’t really interact with the crowd much. <br> However Lo-Ego mix some great sounds and build atmosphere and emotion in their sound, maybe this was an off day for their stage show?!?. Still one of the best sounding bands around these parts and I would certainly go check them out again!
Love Ends Disaster
Third on the bill tonight are Love Ends Disaster, Nottingham boys now mostly living down in London! <br> Now I had seen this band before and had really enjoyed it! They have a sort of progressive indie rock sound, the guitars interlink well and with some random tempo changes and odd song structures, that wierdly work well, they have a sort of At The Drive In meet Franz Ferdinand and win the fight sound! <br> Tonight’s performance wasn’t as energectic as the last night I saw them but I think the frontman has good presence and tried hard to get the crowd going. The songs are played really well and with some more interesting influences slipping in (one song sounded very 1950’s rock n roll!) they are diverse and yet stay catchy whilst still keeping a fairly commercial appeal.<br> I didn’t think the sound was amazing for LED tonight as you couldn’t always feel the power and divercity of their guitar riffs but this was still a good performance again showing a fairly unique and original rock band playing tight and passionate music!
www.myspace.com/loveendsdisaster
Vile Imbeciles
So finally we have Vile Imbeciles, coming from Brighton, made up of former members of the cult rock band 80’s Matchbox B-Line Disaster and here to rock Notts!! <br> They certainly look the part with punky, gothic haircuts, dirty, ripped jeans and junkies faces! As they take the stage you can see the B-Line connection. The music also starts with that dirty, raw feel and as they start moving around it has energy. <br> Sadly though I felt that was it. The music mixed punk, metal and noise but to a fairly flat effect. The guitars were just noisy, which isn’t always a bad thing but I felt the riffs weren’t really that incapturing and to many songs sounded to similar. <br> I didn’t really think this band was that tight, even though when I saw B-Line Disaster I never thought they were that tight but they had so much attitude and presence which sadly Vile Imbeciles lack. <br> Finally the vocals…..well…I couldn’t hear them…..they had interesting patterns I think….when he screamed/shouted/membled into the mic …..well to be honest it sounded like he was making the words up on the spot…or having a fit….sorry guys but for me this was a pretty lame band just living off past glory. Listening to their myspace I was expecting Mr Bungle mixed with early Pixies and some Melt Banana thrown in, what I got was abunch of drunks messing around with guitars and microphones….maybe I didn’t get it…maybe I wasn’t paying attention…but for me the one thing this band showed was that Nottingham has a great rock scene at the moment, as the ‘big name band’ tonight was completly outshone by the 3 more local bands! <br>
http://www.myspace.com/vileimbeciles
Reviewed by: Gaz
