Young Guns
Bath Moles
15th February 2012

Young Guns        
        

Bristol may hold the renowned Thekla in its impressive hand of venues but the nearby city of Bath also has an ace up its sleeve. Moles Club seems on the surface to be a small, two roomed bar disguised within Georgian architecture, as with all houses, shop, pubs and clubs within the city. It’s only hint at it being anything different than any other of the numerous bars, is a few names and dates decorating its interior walls. The club’s secret is the comfy chairs and small bar only serve as an entrance to a hidden underground venue. A place where the posh accents and proud heritage of the city can be forgotten, and some of the world’s greatest bands have come to grace the stage. Basic lighting, sweaty walls and a cramped stage may not spark excitement for many people on their entrance to this 200 person venue, but once a band hits the stage, all of these details are quickly forgotten. When that moment comes, the focus changes to the lack of barrier separating band and audience, the all-encompassing sound and the feeling that everyone on the cramped dance floor is here to have the time of their life. This gig was to be no exception.

Young Guns have had an awesome last year, culminating with the release of their second album ‘Bones’ at the start of the month. Since its release, it has been sitting comfortably at the top of the iTunes rock chart with no signs of going anywhere any time soon. Its success should come at no surprise, as Young Guns are known to be one of the hardest working bands of the current rock scene. Constant gigging, great song writing and some good PR including being the front cover of Kerrang magazine, all pointed to this tour being a massive success from its inception. The choice then, for this tour to be exclusively set in small club venues across the UK could be seen as controversial. With the music industry pushing bands to sell as many records as possible and playing to large audiences, maybe the band looked at this tour as the last time they may be able to get so up close and personal with their longest serving of fans. Needless to say, this was a sold out gig.

UK based ‘Polar’ and Australian female fronted pop punk band ‘Tonight Alive’ brought a good variety of musical styles to the varied age group of the audience. By 9:30 the crowd were well warmed up and eager to see the final act of the night. Young Guns took to the stage at 9:45 opening with their latest single ‘Bones’, the title track from their new album. I would have expected this track to be closing the show, but the choice to open with it was a great move, setting the tone that wouldn’t drop for the remainder on the night.

The crowd went wild within seconds of the band hitting the stage, with the front row instantly having to push back against the excited mob of fans behind them. The band didn’t shy away from crowd interaction, using the lack of barrier as an excuse to grab hands with as many of the screaming fans as possible. The smiles and enjoyment from each band member was great to see, including the face of drummer Ben Jolliffe, whose expression changes from pain, to focus, to euphoria every second. The stage did not leave the band a lot of room to move, yet front man Gustav Wood and bassist Simon Mitchell did not let this restrict their constant movement along the whole length of the stage. The band didn’t waste much time with small talk, instead knocking out track after track, maintaining the same energy that they started the night off with.

The bands constant hard work over the past few years was clearly evident; every track was a polished performance. By the third track ‘Crystal Clear’, the crowd were jumping around so much; that they collapsed liked dominos onto the floor and stage. This happened a few times, with Gustav having to ask the crowd to try and look after each other. As the tracks continued to be blasted out, the crowd did get the hang of moving as one entity, although there were still a few instances of fans ending up on the stage and even running through to the dressing room door at the back of the stage. It was entertaining to watch and be a part of, it was exactly how a small club show should be, and it was great to see the club security let the band and crowd manage themselves.

It was intimate and fun, everything that I am sure the band set out to achieve on this tour. My only reservation for the gig was the band were slightly too good. Over the past few years Young Guns have become accustomed to playing on larger stages to much larger audiences, their great stage act combined with their current publicity has earned them a celebrity status. Fans were fighting just to touch the hands on the band members, and were waiting outside the venue from early in the morning just to catch a glimpse of the band arriving. It is hard for a band to have such a status and then try and play on the same level and in the same conditions as much smaller bands. It doesn’t quite work, because although they were playing so close to their audience, they couldn’t step off the stage at the end of the set and have a drink with their fans, they would have been mobbed. Instead, they did what they always have to do; they went back to their dressing room, and back to having a controlled exposure to their fans.

I don’t want to say this as a bad reflection on the band. They seem like great guys, that have worked really, really hard to get where they are, but they now have to except, that with their constantly growing status, comes the downsides of not being able to be the band that plays such small venues and the band that can hang out with their fans on a personal level. If Young Guns do decide to do a small venue tour again in the future (and I sincerely hope they do) I hope that they make sure that each of the venues has a raised stage and a barrier, so they don’t seem like a big band trying to act like their new found popularity hasn’t changed them.

Young Guns 4/5

Review By Neil Oliver