Tonight is my first gig off the year,
and I’m excited to get back into reviewing
and shooting bands but unfortunately tonight there’s
a problem with my pass (it doesn’t exist),
so after faffing about with queuing and waiting
around for people to try and sort things out I
had into the venue camera-less and ready to soak
up the atmosphere of tonight’s gig, which
has 3 awesome bands, first of which is Straight
Lines, this 4 piece from South Wales are one of
my favourite up and comers and over the past 3
years I’ve seen them about 7 times, and
every time they impress me and remind me how they
should be bigger than they are. But tonight they
are lacking, and it’s not entirely their
fault to be fair, it seems like the sound guy
has gone to the Spinal Tap school of sound engineering
and has decided to fob off levels and just turn
everything up to 11! The sound is awful, it pierces
your ears as it blasts out over the crowd, the
drums can barely be heard behind the screeching
of guitars and distorted vocals, and unlike most
gigs the sound doesn’t get better towards
the end of the set, which is truly a shame as
Straight Lines do try hard to get the crowd going,
with their normal rocking out with not too much
to say in-between songs. I also find it unfortunate
that they seem to have dropped most of their older
songs in favour of their latest album, which is
great but I still expect a few older songs to
placed in a set. They do try to make get the room
warmed up, and I’m sure if the sound was
better, then they would have done it with bells
on, but instead it’s the worst I’ve
ever seen them, here’s hoping they have
things sorted and are back on track the next time
they come around.
Yashin are up next, and again this 5 piece from
Glasgow/Florida are a band I’ve seen numerous
times over the past year and every time they get
better and better and after tonight’s opener
I fear for the worst, but I shouldn’t have
worried as all the sound problems from before
disappear and Yashin tear the venue to the ground!
They sound amazing, the levels are all correct
and the clean and distorted vocals of the two
singers Harry Radford and Kevin Miles cleanse
the room with their powerful harmonies. The rest
of the band sound equally good, with the heavy
guitar riffs blasting out, alongside the pounding
bass and thrashing drums. Harry wastes no time
with the small stage that they have to work with
and decides to jump into the photo pit singing
to the crowd whilst posing for photos with the
staff. He jumps back up onstage but does come
back and spends an entire song in the crowd with
the audience spread out in a circle around him;
it’s a slow and emotional song about a friend
who was contemplating suicide ‘stand up’
which gets changes the pace from the rest of the
set, but is equally wonderful. Yashin rap there
quite long set up with a cover of Linkin Park’s
‘One Step Closer’ and end with ‘Runaway
Train’. They do really well and have got
everyone psyched up and ready for the main act,
so well in-fact that they might find it hard to
beat!
We Are The Ocean, are now a 4 piece from Essex
(with previous member Dan Brown leaving back in
June last year), and are another band I’ve
seen quite allot in the past year or two. I criticised
them at Merthyr Rock as they were missing something,
but I did catch them again before the end of 2012,
and then they were on top form, so it’ll
be interesting to see if they’ve continued
that good run. They take to the stage in darkness
and then blast into the first two tracks from
new album ‘Maybe Today Maybe Tomorrow’,
‘Standford Rivers’ and ‘Bleed’.
They instantly have the crowd singing along and
are bouncing around the stage with smiles on their
faces. It’s clear to see from the start
that they’re continuing their transition
to a 4 piece in great style and with much aplomb,
very similar to Deaf Havana in that respect. They
sound great, with the crisp vocals coming smoothly
over the speakers, along with the harmonic tones
of the guitars, the rumbling bass and crisp drums
they show that they can headline a gig and do
it well. They don’t talk too much in-between
songs, but they do show there appreciation for
the crowd and thank them for sticking with them
over the past year. They pretty much play the
entire ‘Maybe Today Maybe Tomorrow’
album with only the title track missing, which
shows how much they want to progress and start
a fresh, but they don’t forget their old
stuff and play fan favourites ‘The Waiting
Room’ and ‘What It Feels Like’
which gets the crowd even more pumped up. The
set lasts a good hour, and after a break they
come back out for an encore and wrap up the night
with ‘Young Heart’ the crowd lap up
every second and come away delighted.
Overall I was worried that tonight wouldn’t
be all too great with the sound problems for Straight
Lines, but Yashin made up for it with a stonking
set that again I thought couldn’t be beaten
but We Are The Ocean smashed all my pre-conceptions
and showed me to never doubt them. They’ve
come a long way from when I saw them at Merthyr
Rock and have shown me that they can handle being
a 4 piece and that they are a new and improved
band that is ready to carry on rocking around
the world.
Straight Lines 1.5/5
Yashin 4/5
We Are The Ocean 4.5/5
Review By James Daly
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