November 26, 2004
Beginning another night of live music at the Old Angel,Alcohol presented their stylings to the audience, and sadly, trying to hear past the ridiculously loud vocals was apparently going to be a bit of a challenge. The drums seemed to be quite a focal point in Alcohol’s music, they were never repetitive and switched between simple punk rock to tribal/industrial sounding with a very prominent and well used bass drum. These drums were accompanied by a heavily distorted, rumbling bass and some chord thrashing guitar during the songs, but the frontman turning his hand to some impressive rock n roll intros to most songs. The sound let Alcohol down, the vocals were too loud, and they sounded monotonous and expressionless at such a level. There was no criticising the music though, it never stayed the same, and sounded busy and undoubtedly rock and roll throughout.
On second were Bad Habit with their simple teen punk, with a slight ska kick. You cannot fault these guys for energy, from the start through to the end, the stage was a hive of activity, but it was lacking a little coordination, with several incidents of tripping up, banging into each other, and a rather annoying spell of the frontman taking his mouth away from the mic before finishing a line. It was a general angsty, punky sound. With steady, fast paced drumming, single string bass-lines, and repetitive vocal patterns. Each song was a short, loud repeat of the last, although they covered a couple of songs including Greenday’s When I Come Around, and also Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones this happened to be the song that they performed with the most competence. There was a lot of time wasting between songs, and even more during the songs, with lengthy clapping sessions in which only their mates joined in. The frontman was on some kind of dictatorship rampage, demanding applause, and shouting at the small audience whenever possible. A set that was aimed at their friends far too much, the rest of us didn’t get it, and we got told off for it.
Felicity Kicks were the last on tonight, and you knew they meant business as soon as they got up there. American rock/metal influenced music, with long, busy metal riffs, and some great variations in tempo and volume. This had already turned into a slightly over serious and very grown-up performance. The drummer surrounded himself with cymbals and used them effectively. The low, loose, and simple bass made its presence felt. Unfortunately the backing vocals were lost in the volume of the guitars, but there was certainly great technique shown by all members, shame about the lack of movement though, the stage demeanour was less than captivating. The frontman had that James Hetfield vocal thing going on, which suited their music as well as it does Metallica’s, the music wasn’t as heavy as that, but half the time it didn’t need to be, especially with “Spite” a song featured on their site, which starts with a slow and almost beautiful intro, which slipped into their set really well. They showed their roots a bit by including a cover of You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC, not that I think that’s a bad thing one little bit.
To see more pictures from this gig click here Review ~ Steph Photos ~ Glynn
Written By Steph
Photos ~ Glynn
