 This
is the second time ive ever been to this venue,
and both times they looked different, im sure
there were steps on the left hand side of the
stage, when i was last here.
First up were Templeton Pek, with there brand
of hard rock, the lead guitar player, could strum
his instrument pretty fast, but todo it for all
the songs, then when he finally slowed down for
a bit of melodic picking, all the songs sounded
the same, it was like listening to one continuous
song, the only thing that separated the tracks
was him saying cheers after every song, which
got annoying also, it seemed the band were only
concerned with a wall of noise approach, everything
seemed very repetitive, thus very boring after
the 3rd song was played.
Next up were, Failsafe, a band that ive seen
once already this year and the impression they
left last time wasn't too good, things that hadn't
changed were obvious, still very energetic, i
don't think they played any new tracks, although
i cant remember what they played last time, one
of the tracks played was mirror mirror, and i
have to say the vocals didnt sound too good, the
one thing i picked up on this time, instead of
last time was a bit of synth on the songs when
the singer moved to a keyboard next to the drums,
and it sounded rather decent, other songs they
played included, 'only if we learn', help your
self and 'Hope' which was the set closer, the
crowd seemed to respond well to them, but my feelings
on the band remain the same.
 Scottish band Twin Atlantic were the headliners
this evening at the Hare and Hounds in Kings Heath,
Birmingham, the security, well there wasn't any,
i walked in to the room unchallenged during soundcheck,
no one bothered asking who i was, an what i was
doing there before the gig started, shocking!
This was there 6th time in Birmingham, and right
from the off they reminded me of Biffy Clyro,
although as the songs progressed, there no where
near as complex, the songs were packed with quality,
decent riffs, solid drumming. The band themselves
were very lively, which is good to see, one of
the songs that they played, seemed to have bad
parts to it, almost as if they ran out of ideas
an just threw some kind of filler riff in there,
very odd. The songs in the set included set opener
Light speed, I cave in, Old grey babe, human after
all, What is light and set closer and fan favorite,
Audience and audio, the crowd left pretty happy,
and i missed my bus home, but i enjoyed the last
band after having a not so good 2/3rds of a gig!
Templeton Pek 2/5
Failsafe 3/5
Twin Atlantic 4/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
