September 21, 2005
Sweetbriar
First act at Junktion 7 tonight are a band by the name of Sweetbriar, who use a mix of Indie and rock with very melodic and catchy songs to make a solid start to the evening. The drums and bass use fairly simple but catchy rhythms to drive the songs, whilst the keyboard and vocals carry the melodies. The songs are well structured and the guitar and soft keyboard, which mix simple chord sequences and building scales, make the songs, ascend through your mind with ease. The bass is deep and flowing and contrasts nicely with the bright and buoyant keyboard and guitar riffs. The vocals are very clear and have a nice tuneful feel with a slightly lazy edge to it. The vocal also have a constant pattern, which adds to the stability. Using some witty and sharp lyrics to add meaning to the songs, Sweetbriar perform a good rendition of this style of modern Indie rock. It also has some nice dynamic especially with the sweeping keyboards moving so well. It could do with some more injection of power at times from the guitar though, but the final 2 songs seemed to fulfil this need better. They have all the qualities that have made bands like Athlete, The Killers and Eels so popular in the charts over the last 5 years. If they can add the power a bit more often and work on their original edge, they could go far.
http://www.myspace.com/yeahsweetbriar
The Henry Road
Next up is a Henry Road who we saw a while back at The Malt Cross, where the venues poor lay out hadn’t given us a chance to really hear them to full potential so tonight’s chance to see them here at Junktion 7 was a good opportunity for a second look. The guitars and keyboards fly in with flowing and immense riffs and solos while the drums use a mass of dynamic to not only keep the sounds tight but add diversity. The bassist keeps the rhythm very tight and still finds room for the odd bit of soloing himself. It is all slightly crazy as Henry Road use trippy projectors and flashing lights to create a 70’s psychedelic atmosphere. The music also has a trippy edge with influences like The Doors, Pink Floyd and Bowie all showing. The beauty of their music though is the ease at which it switches from this almost improvised bluesy random jamming to tight, catchy pop rock songs. It is all quite original and Henry Road obviously know they are awesome musicians. They should never play The Malt Cross again! The only thing they lack is presence at times, they are so good technically but with a lack of movement on stage and with a definite lack of smiles and contrast, it gets a bit stale towards the end. Like going to the Circus to watch Disco being played by The Doors, whilst tripping on acid, seeing Henry Road is a right proper head fuck.
http://www.myspace.com/thehenryroad
Grain
To finish the night we finally get to see the thing that saggy-pants has had wet dreams over for many weeks, Nottingham’s own hoedown heroes Grain, with the sound quality of Junktion 7’s finest engineer. As the funky acoustic blues guitars bounce into the room and Grain’s diverse drumming mixed with interesting and weird percussion crash into earshot, it is evident that we are in for one hell of a party. With a frontman who has plenty of charisma and original, crazy vocals, their sound catches the attention of the crowd straight away. The riffs are upbeat and funky, and with the use of random harmonica and bongos, it is given a varied dynamic. It mixes funk, rock, country and folk to spawn an energetic and catchy hybrid of fun and funky songs, the sound of which you will never have heard before. Grain’s most recent addition is a new bassist, seems to have slipped in ‘eeeeasy’ adding more slick and subtle bass lines making the songs slide along really well. This mixed with the addition of a percussionist, mean that the founding members of Grain can experiment more and put on a very livelier show. The guitars have more space to solo and add tweaks and scales to great effect, as the bass gives the songs stability. The drums and percussion switch in and out and take turns to keep the rhythm tight along with that ever-present funky bass. The lyrics are clever and catchy and with the whole band seeming to really enjoy this show, Grain are quickly become one of Nottingham best bands. The crowd all have stupid grins on their faces, Grain all have stupid grins on their faces and we all had stupid grins on our faces. Go see Grain you will love it.
http://www.myspace.com/grainuk
Reviewed by: Gaz
