The Cambridge alt-rock quintet Mallory
Knox graced Plymouth's White Rabbit tonight. Having
listened to their Debut album "Signals"
quite a few times. If you've listened to it as
well (and it would be odd reading this if you
hadn't) you'll probably agree that it's got a
very polished sound and some mature song writing.
Needless to say the clean and refined sound puts
a lot of pressure on a live performance.
Normally
you'd expect a much larger stage with a lot more
equipment to help an older band secure such a
sound. With high expectations I struggled to get
near the stage of the sold out venue, more packed
than I've ever seen it. There was a massive cheer
as the band took to the stage, eliminated only
by a small red light. Opening the set with "Hello"
it was immediately obvious this wasn't going to
be one of those gigs where the vocals were turned
down and buried. In fact Mikey Chapman seemed
to get his vocals to climb above the band and
the crowd with ease.
The sound seemed pretty spot
on, even off to the side well away from the sound
desk. "Wake Up" followed with its beefy
opening guitar riff coming off far more powerfully
than in the CD. With the crowd clapping along
and the sound close to that of the CD with a bit
more umpf and a bit more character, it was off
to a flying start. "Misdemeanour" kicked
in big, with Guitarist James Gillett standing
up to the crowd on one of the speakers at the
front. The set slowed down for a moment as they
played "Maps" off the deluxe version
of "Signals", as the guitars where a
bit quieter it was then that I noticed just how
hard Dave Rawling was smashing away at the back
of the stage. "Beggars" picked up the
pace again and got the crowd attempting to jump
up and down, however there wasn't enough room
so it was more like a sporadic Mexican wave of
heads. Mikey unleashed a bit more of a scratchy
vocal tone remising of Dave Ghrol. The set carried
on in a pixies style "Quite, Loud, Quite"
with "1949" and "Wolves" following.
The energy continued on and off stage, and it
was clear to see the band were enjoying it with
the grins on their faces. A friend of mine always
calls Mallory Knox "Average" whenever
I'm listening to them, but if I had to pick one
person to be at the gig with me it would have
been him over all the friends of mine that are
big fans. Simply because I know after the gig
he wouldn't refer to them as "Average"
again. The sheer force of Joe and James guitars
shocked me, with a beasty tone like that and the
anthems vocals of Mikey reminds me of Not Advised's
gig at SlamDunk 2011, or Young Guns. Each with
clean yet forceful vocals over a wall of sound,
and no top of that each is impeccable live. Throughout
the set Mikey's control over the crowd was simply
effortless, getting the crowd to wave along with
tracks and put their arms round the people they
most love to sing songs with them, throwing in
a few words between tracks maintaining a good
flow through the set.
Taking a step back to the
bands 2011 EP "Pilot" for the next two
tracks kicking the set up a notch. Mikey swivelling
his finger round and saying "I want you guys
in the pit to go around and around" was enough
to get a circle pit going wall to wall in the
middle of the room. Prompting the rest of the
crowd to sing the "Woah Woah" found
in the latter part of "Oceans". The
lights dropped as "Resuscitate" followed
with its heavy guitar and dominating bass, not
to mention having the entire band jumping around
in a more lunatic fashion than before, in a show
that was far from short of energy on the stage.
The lights mimicked strobes further emphasising
the flurrying on stage. Sam threw in some fantastic
harmonies in the backing vocals in-between bouncing
around the stage or standing on the speakers.
"Signals" followed with its scratchier
vocals before the band performed the new track
"Ghost in the Mirror" with its heavy
drums and roaring guitar. The set finished in
the intimate and energetic manner it had all the
way through, with James hi-fiving crowd members
a faultless sound and the crowd singing there
heart out. The vast crowd cheered for more with
a half hearted effort as everyone was aware they
were going to come back, especially given "Lighthouse"
had yet to be played, but the second the band
started to take the stage there were screams that
were literally painful to hear. The encore started
with the soft "Creeper" featuring another
epic blast from Sam's pipes. Not to mention the
power and emotion in Mikeys voice as it breaks
into the big long notes. No matter wither there
playing the softer slower songs or their faster
heavier tracks the sound was truly phenomenal.
Getting the crowd to hold out lighters or phones
up in the air and side to side.
What better way to end the set than with one last
explosion of energy for "Lighthouse"
which the band were recording a video for. With
its catchy bass and peaks and troughs. There were
a few crowd surfers being pulled on to the stage
and away to safety, with everyone else singing
the chorus at the top of their lungs. With the
whole band bouncing around the stage, with James
and Sam still managing to find something left
in the tank in spite of barely being still. Sam
dove into the crowd, whilst Mikey stood on a speaker
leant right out into the crowd holding himself
up using the ceiling overhang.
The show had so
much energy, intimacy and a bit of humour as well
but above all else exceptional sound. It's hard
to find a fault in the set, and having written
it out I'm finding it difficult to justify only
giving the band four out of five. There have been
some great bands in the White Rabbit, and the
venue's been much emptier than that, and when
asked most of the crowd said they'd seen Mallory
Knox before. I will be again. Hopefully before
they outgrow that type of venue.
Mallory Knox 4/5
Review By Marc Rich
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