Defenestration
Live at Snooty Fox (Wakefield) on Tuesday, 3rd August 2004
The Snooty Fox in Wakefield is slightly different to the majority of pubs that you'll will have no doubt drank in. Yes, it does serve beer, that is indeed one similarity, and yes it is host to that strange bearded man who sits and talks to his pint of double maxim (trust me, he was there when you left and he will still be there now) and yes there is a beer stained pool table with only one cue.
But what they also have, which is missing in most fine public house establishments is a really rather impressive stage set up. Unlike most lighting rigs that are to be found in pubs, this venue is not host to a static yellow, blue and green spotlight giving that 'classic disco' vibe, oh no.
What we have at the Snooty Fox is a couple of grand's worth of live music technology and stage rigging. Not only do they have a notable lighting rig; with sound triggered strobing and "lasers" (cue Dr Evil style voice and hand motions). But also pant wettingly cool DVD capabilities, which, with the help of five static cameras placed strategically around the venue creates your bands very own live DVD. This you can take home and proudly show off to anyone who unwittingly stays in your house longer than 30 seconds.
This aside, there were four other rather good reasons why a crowd of people parted with a pint and a half's worth of drinking money tonight. (No, not the barmaids, stoopid). It was of course the fine smorgasbord of bands that had chosen to descend to planet Earth and scare us (just a wee bit) with their vocal, drum-based and guitar-like weaponry.
The first band of the night to grit their teeth and threaten to kick the fuck out of us were the unrelenting and remorseless One Bullet Left. Despite being a singer down, they tore straight into their first song of the night 'Bleeding pride,' with its dark and wistfully slow intro only just managing to contain the ferocity that was bubbling underneath. Once unleashed however, this was a band that had no qualms about playing heavy music, with singer Luke Holmes forcing his lungs to give even Iron Monkey's late Johnny Morrow a run for his money.
With little hesitation and no bullshit 'cheers' as the guitars faded, the next song rapidly replaced the first. With this came 'Black Star'. A sludgy, suicidal, stoner, riff- monster whose chorus 'Kill your own Blood' stated the mood of the band perfectly. Here were four people who have undoubtedly been raised on a strict diet of heavy metal and weed.
What is amusing to note is that One Bullet Left share their drummer Rob Sayer with emo's unsung super stars Fifth Goodbye. Speaking to Rob about his side project he said: 'With Fifth Goodbye there's a more professional edge to the songs and the workmanship, whereas with One Bullet Left it's a chance to go balls to the wall, and play the kinda music I listen to.'
When asked whether or not the other members of Fifth Goodbye liked One Bullet Left's aggressive behaviour the sticksman laughed: "Its always the same, I get the usual y'know, 'yeah Rob it's good, but its not really my cup of tea.'" Just to see if we could start a band war I asked Rob who he prefers playing for and with a rye smile he just looked at me and said: 'bit of both really'.
It was interesting to see the talented drummer throw down some different and original chops to those he would with Fifth Goodbye, showing that he is definitely not a one trick pony and is comfortable playing a diverse range of music, whilst still looking like his kit has just knifed his only child and is now gunna pay for it.
It was cool to see each member of the band get more and more into he music as the set progressed, with last song, Simplicity seeing each members throwing their weight around. With a ferocious ending that only a few bands would be pushed to match, One Bullet Left are without doubt one of best unsigned hardcore acts I've seen in a long while.
Second on stage at the Snooty Fox tonight were Misled Vision who are quite simply, the sexiest band I have ever seen. Even male guitarist Eege was looking 'particularly horny' (as described by a lady friend of mine). With vocal duties by Jan, super-low slung bass by Kim, and looking far too sweet and innocent to be slamming behind the kit, was Heather.
Now I haven't seen these guys in about two years - probably more, but I have been hearing good things about them. (I have very extra sensitive hearing and can hear most things within a two hundred mile radius.) And most of what I had been hearing was pretty much verified within the first 30 seconds of being on stage. Gone was the inexperience and awkward stage presence, and its place was a band that looked as comfortable as someone who had just found themselves on the receiving end of a blowjob by Jordan.
With the sinister opener 'Light Blue' it was obvious that this band had taken a darker route into their musical experiment, with its oppressive and sombre riffs, Light Blue was as cheery as waking up to find your pet dog of 15 years 'rover', had died in his sleep. With all musical aspects of the band progressing and Jan's vocals tearing down the walls, here is a band that now has the musical talent to write whatever they want, with no constraints what so ever.
My favourite song of the set followed soon after with 'Perfect Tragedy'. Not only did this piece have all the finesse of a sledgehammer, but was made even better by seeing Heather, whose hair alone must make up half her body weight, kicking ass and stomping some mean double-kick fills through out the song.
With Kitty cover 'Charlotte' thrown into the set, it was good to see this band respect their forerunners, and manage to blend the song into their set seamlessly. With its morose sound the band played this cover with ease and looked to fully enjoy it as well.
'Empty Yesterday' saw again another great song with Eege and Kim's stage presence bringing the song to life. Cruising the stage like a slow-mo tomahawk missile, and just simply oozing sex appeal, Kim's bass must be the happiest instrument alive, but full credit has to go to Jan and her vocal chords. For the last song 'Azure' she dominated the song like it was a naughty schoolboy, switching between intense clear notes and rasping screaming vocals, by which even Phil Anselmo would be impressed. With gigs in and around Leeds most of the time, and an up and coming stint on the Newcastle circuit, this fine piece of eye candy is definitely a band to watch out for.
The support act for tonight's headliners was the super impressive Scurge. The first noticeable thing about these guys was how accomplished they sounded, with more ol'- skool licks and a great groove based rhythm, their opening song 'Taking care of business' immediately had everyone's feet tapping and heads rocking. It was obvious to see each member was a fully-fledged musician and that this was a band with many years of experience gigging.
Their second song of the night 'Horse', reminded me of an earlier Drowning Pool, Dave Williams era, stylistically sounding similar to the N.W.O.A.H that is solely propping up the metal scene at the moment. Vocally, Scurge have a great front man with a quality voice. If you can imagine the love child of Liam Gallagher and Kud from Mudvayne then your somewhere on the right tracks to describing this guy. With a bottle of Newcastle Brown in hand and a sneer on his face, the lead singer tore into 'Vein' (possibly my favourite song of the night) with an absolutely sick vocal onslaught that would have had any mere mortal wiping the lung blood from their shoes.
Not only did this band have a great sound and a good balance of riffage and melody, they also win my award for best song title of the night with the quaint and well-mannered 'Deep Throat Sluts', which was just a shot of pure metal adrenaline straight into your eyeballs.
With all the components then that one would expect to see from signed recording artists < < (note technical phrasing) the question has to be asked. For an established band that would be looking at distribution deals and indie label contracts; would I download they're music? The answer... no, I wouldn't.
Would I buy this band C.D from any good record store knowing that I had just parted with 15 dollars of my hard earned cash? Yes, I would. And I'm pretty sure that there are a fair few other Joe Publics out there who would also be quite willing give up their pocket money for this band. I mean, after all, I do like the American stuff that's around at the moment but guys, c'mon; there's nothing wrong with a bit of home-grown is there?
And last but by no means least on tonight's show, the band you have all been waiting for... Defenestration. Now to be honest, I hadn't heard of these guys, and yes I am hanging my head in shame as I write, but damn are these are a good band. Watching them play on stage was like watching a no holds barred extreme fighting match as Defen (as they're sometimes called) literally tried to take chunks out of each other with their instrument of choice. I was frankly amazed that none of the band members were beheaded by one of the constantly flying axes.
They kicked off the start to one of the best sets I've seen in a long time with 'pedal to the metal', which quite honestly had me slightly aroused. Riffs with more meat than a butcher's dog ensued with the glorious 'moment of truth', which contained some of the sickest breakdowns I've heard. The confidence in this band was great to see, with the onstage buzz slowly filtering through the crowd like some infectious musical Ebola virus.
With guitar's behind the head in true 'rock and roll' (adopt high pitched poodle hair rock squeal) stylee, The 'Fen (as they're not called too often) just destroyed with their next song 'Break the edge' This IS the new wave of British Heavy metal and it will make the N.W.O.A.H cry like a little girl who just dropped her ice cream. Seriously, these guys are gonna cause more ripples than Sven's Swedish bed covers ever could.
With songs like 'stitch' in their set, it makes you wonder why bands like lost prophets are even famous, with their brand of... hmmm how can I put this nicely?? Shite Welsh boyo music, they just don't compare. This band isn't about $70 hair cuts n wearing sweat bands half way up your arm, the 'stration (as they're definitely not called) are all about having a kick ass lead singer who has a voice that scares me (you can't imagine how her boyfriend must feel in an argument), a guitarist with hair like a man from the past, a ginger bassist, another guitarist with attention deficit disorder and a drummer who just kicks back and keeps it all together. Add a splash of Old Spice and the fact that these guys have already released material that's seen them on MTV and Kerrang! And why the fuck aren't you at this gig!? Why are you not!? Is there something wrong with you!!? You foolish imp of Satan!!!.... (Sorry, Sorry, {sigh} My apologies; I shall precede as planned.)
So yes, Defenestration are awesome, yes they rock my polyester socks and the only bad thing about the gig was knowing you're mates missed it, with a ten minute outro played with guitars between each other's legs to 'Glory' I can honestly say that that was the most insane performances I've seen whilst wearing trousers. And just for the hell of it, I reckon Defenestration have seen each other naked far too many times. There, I said it.
