November 25, 2005
Well, we ain't been here before! But with regular gigs with The Ambassadors on a Friday night, the Rose of England on Mansfield Road has a very nice little room upstairs with a good sized stage and there is quite a few people milling around. To start tonight off we have two guys called Jamie and Gaz, who are jamming some tunes with the odd bit of help from their mates in The Ambassadors and a keys player. Using bluesy riffs on a acoustic and the other providing the lead overhead with a heavier electric, they have quite a deep and powerful sound and still keep a fairly traditional blues feel. The vocals are nice and deep too and add to the power element. The lead guitar provides some quite beautiful and funky solos and breaks to bring diversity and while keeping a fairly straight forward blues feel, it still has a nice ring with the added upbeat riffs and consistent groove. They played mostly covers tonight but they were well performed and especially when the bassist and drummer from the Ambassadors and their friend on the keyboards joined in for a few numbers, they had had a good flow to them. With a bit of work on the vocals, which struggled at times, and more members and original material, on tonight's showing there is no reason why these two can't form a very decent band.
Next up are one of Nottingham's more experienced and genuine bands. Not only do The Ambassadors always come across as guys who just love playing music but they also always seemed to play with excellent bands, and are in fact (despite being fairly humble about it) a great band themselves. Using really driving and flowing drum and bass sections to hold the songs steady and keep a flowing back drop with a bluesy edge, The Ambassadors inject energy into their music with bursts of power from the guitars, keyboards and vocals. Their songs are based round straight forward but highly effective melodies that build in repeating patterns into funky and catchy gems of pop rock music. The drumming is powerful yet simple and with the moving basslines and atmospheric organs and keyboards, they give the frontman a wall of sound on which to spray his graffiti of guitar riffs and vocal lyrics. The guitars have a dirty edge which takes The Ambassadors sound away from the bluesy basslines and into a more rock n roll genre, with the keyboards adding diversity and feeling and the catchy vocal hooks giving them a pop edge, the Ambassadors mix 60's blues rock a la Doors, with a more modern indie feel. The song structures are pretty straight forward, but by building and changing the dynamic, mix powerful blasts of rock with chilled out moments. It is all very tight and this band are always so professional, with catchy yet never overly complicated songs that you can't help but tap your foot to. Some of their riffs maybe repetitive and even though, with the acceptation of the frontman, the band are fairly static, the Ambassadors always put on a upbeat, catchy and professional show.
For the finale, a band who have made waves in the local scene for a while now, The Magic Heros. The first thing you notice about this band is always the hair, with the guitarist and bassist sporting two of the greatest afros you will see this side of The Mars Volta, this however is all they really have in common with the afore mentioned band. The Magic Heros are one of those band who live to rock. Using powerful basslines and funky drums to build their songs around, they are given a huge dose of emotion and feeling by the soulful and powerful vocals. Using controlled screams and growls, the vocalist mixes passionate yelps with soulful melodies to really give their sound a 70's edge. It isn't quite Hendrix, but you can certainly hear that sort of influence mixed in with a bit more funk. The dynamics and variety are added to by the bursts of energy from the guitar and the clever and inventive drum fills and changes. While the bass stays strong and steady at all times. The guitar mixes riffs that contrast and interlink with the bass really well and with some nice screaming solos and clever tempo changes from the drums, they really do have a diverse yet catchy brand of rock. The vocal patterns have a slight Cream or The Kinks feel to them, but with the added energy and a dirty edge, The Magic Heros have created a hybrid of that passionate raw 60's rock n roll, 70's funk and drug induced 90's garage rock. It is not often you get such flowing rock n roll played with such a passion and conviction, but with plenty of movement both on stage and in their music, The Magic heros bring the ghosts of the 70's rock gods back to life with a constant groove. The only really thing I could pick up as a negative was that some more backing might add to the vocal structures and passion, but this band really do have a great sound and even though it isn't totally original, it mixes all elements of good rock music from the last 50 years to create a awesome sound. In short The Magic Heros will rock your socks off, and they will do it instinctively without ever breaking a sweat.
Reviewed by Gaz
Written By Gaz
