Live at Ackroyd Street WMC on Saturday, 10th January 2004
So first things first I was slightly amused that four acts of this calibre had agreed to play the Ackroyd Street Working Men's Club, yet still due to the hype like many others couldn't resist the opportunity so bought a ticket from Crash Records for £2.50 (cheap cheap) just to see!
So I arrive and had a troop of OAPs warning people away from the noise and complaining they couldn't hear themselves think! I giggled to myself as I walked into the 'concert hall'.
On stage was Chris from Catylyst with his acoustic guitar screaming at the 250 strong audience 'Come on Morley!' His set consisted of a pleasant mix of original material and some classic acoustic covers.
The man is not just a singer/guitarist he is an entertainer and for one man and his guitar put on a huge show and built a great rapport with the audience. Inbetween the occasional 'fuck off' and 'we want to see a proper band' comments from the audience were some great songs and many well thought out comebacks. Good shit!
Next band on stage were Sawthroat, who I think were the band behind organising the gig. They opened with a short instrumental and the dance floor filled and the moshing began. I knew very little about this band but within ten minutes of their set they had won me over. The frontman's voice made the hairs on my neck stand up, full of emotion and power. Musically Sawthroat were more than competent, loud and fairly tight in comparison to most bands on the scene at the minute. The general rapport between the band was fantastic to watch. Overall a good all-round band with some really good melodic songs.
Fulc, who I had seen previously, were next on. Halfway through their first song they stopped and started again due to a technical fault with their guitarist, this looked entirely awful. Their set was somewhat bland: each song seemed to run into each other, apart from maybe two standout tracks which were in a different league to the rest of their stuff. The guitarist and bassist were the hook for me, not what they were playing but they just seemed to rock out harder then anyone I have seen previously. A lot of people left during their set, which I thought was a little unfair as they weren't bad just not nearly as entertaining as the previous two acts as they lacked that ability to engage the audience.
Last on was a band from London called Frowzer. By this time at least a third of the people who were there earlier had left and all I can say is more fool them. This band were fantastic, a really good outfit. Their sound and style was very erm... Tool. As a musician myself I noticed some of the clever more subtle moments in the set that your average fan would not hear. Technically amazing, but sometimes a little clever for their own good as they weren't super tight. A good set of songs though if you're into that type of thing, which I am, and they managed to re-engage the audience and had a pit comparable to the one Sawthroat had earlier that night.
Overall a good night was had by those who were there and long live the Working Man Club!
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On 29th January 2004 at 10:22 Anonymous 146 wrote...
Top stuff!
Big thanks to Chris for doing the set despite being completely bandless!! What a 'quality' night!
We'll be hooking up with Frowser very very soon - so keep your eyes open. 
woody - sawthroat
