Faux Feet/The Fortunas/Vellocet @ The Underground Hanley, 26th February 2009

Review by Liam Kelly

Photo by Leo Mazzocchio

Tonight was my first viewing of support band Faux Feet and I must say I was pretty impressed. It seems that female vocalists seem to be on the rise in Stoke on Trent and Sian Matthews is the most talented I have come across so far. Not only did her melodic voice carry the band throughout the set but she had the stage presence and confidence of an artist twice her age. This is to take nothing away from guitarist Ben Finney, bassist Carl Howe and drummer Jamie O’Neill who support her superbly. On listening to the way Sian belts out her vocals its easy to forget that you are watching such a young band and with the quality to pull of a cover of the Cold War Kids track, ‘Hospital beds,’ expect big things from them.

Next to take stage were the increasingly popular lads from The Fortunas. Since first seeing these back in September last year it seems that the band’s fan base has increased tremendously and it’s easy to see why! Frontman Elliot Wilcox has the confidence and vocal style similar to that of Alex Turner to add to his display of neat guitar riffs. The band were clearly up for it from the off and tracks such as ‘For our eyes only’ and ‘Mister Bagguely’ sent the large crowd into a frenzy much to the delight of fellow guitarist Addison Brown who demonstrated some furious playing throughout. The band pulled off possibly the best cover I have witnessed from any band in Stoke in ‘Not nineteen forever’ by The Courteeners which saw every member of the crowd bouncing and screaming back the lyrics to Elliot. Finishing their set with the melodically delightful ‘Will you?’ the band may have just added a few more fans to their ever increasing support.

Headliners Vellocet took to the stage minus front man Ryan Barker. After a powerful and striking instrumental from the other band member, Ryan took to the stage with the confidence and rock & roll attitude you would expect to see from the likes of Liam Gallagher. The band is clearly popular and brought a near sell-out crowd to witness their first headline gig; they were not to disappoint. Starting with ‘Messiah,’ the song has the kind of hooky chorus you are sure to be singing for days after. Jordan on rhythm guitar pulled off some of the most impressive and thriving guitar riffs I have seen in some time.

These lads are band with serious confidence and it paid off with a frantic crowd reaction to each song and in particular ‘Be my fight’ which saw a number of lighters held in the air. Vellocet know just how to put on a show! The ferocious drumming of Leigh Dewey is the platform for the band and their sound is unique combining Oasis style guitar riffs to the vocal energy of The Stone Roses. The boisterous chorus of ‘One and only’ made leaving the Underground tonight without humming the words to each Vellocet track an impossible task. Crowd favourite ‘Hallucination’ shows a slower and more tuneful side to these boys. But Vellocet clearly saved their best till last and with the final track of their set ‘We are the frontline,’ the crowd really responded. Every member yelled back the chorus to Ryan and Jordan and this is a track that has the potential to be released as a successful single. A brilliant gig from a band that I believe is the ‘next big thing’ from Stoke. In 2010 expect to see these lads to shine with a number of headline gigs booked already.

Talk is Cheap / False Pretense / Sold out Story @ The Sugarmill 20th February 2010

Review by Sian Eardley

Photo by Wayne Upton

It was a big night for local acts at The ‘Mill, with first support act ‘Talk is Cheap’ releasing their first EP, as did headliners: ‘Sold Out Story’; currently doing a circuit of gigs in the area to promote their tracks.

Much of a muchness, last night’s Saturday performance saw 3 punk-rock bands play fantastically well, but was overshadowed by the weakness of vocals (which cried out for some punch, maybe even an American tarnish to make this punk real!). This really was a shame as it’s so promising that Stoke is pushing out such good rock music once again: powerful drums, catchy riffs and generally strong material overall, but again, we needed the love from the vocals!

What particularly interested me was the performance given by the second support act: ‘False Pretence’, more so than top act ‘Sold Out Story’. They just had that ‘something different’ spark, to set them apart from a very average delivery from the subsequent bands, including a storming rendition of ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja’, which certainly got the crowd going. They do have that twang of early Lost Prophets material, and obviously regard the Welsh rockers as a high influence as the main singer Adam Willden set to working the crowd, very much in the fashion of Ian Watkins.

Willden can definitely hold a note too. You had to give them a while to warm up, but by the time they reached the chorus, they’d built up that gusto and some beautiful voice notes flowed in the air, amongst songs ‘I Waited for a Sign’, and the finale: ‘Running Away’, featuring on their EP ‘Holding Me Down’, which they were also pushing.

It was a pretty decent night, with some pretty decent output. ‘Talk is Cheap’ showed something different (and did quite well considering their rhythm guitarist turned up halfway through the set), and ‘Sold out Story’ delivered to the audience, (note the Pantera-lookalike, guitarist enthusiastically thrashing about), for a night of upbeat pop-rock tunes.

Midlake @ The Sugarmill January 25th 2010

Review and Photograph by Simon Bamford

Midlake are in Hanley tonight to promote their new album “The Courage of Others”. The ‘Mill is pretty much full, it's a good turn out. There’s a mix of ages but the balance leans to a more mature audience. I am unfamiliar with most of their material, but sometimes, in my experience this is the best way to first hear a band live. The Texan band take to the stage with something missing, a band member, he appears seconds later and joins his buddies. Unfortunately as they progress through their set it feels to me as if there’s still something missing. We are treated to skillfull musicianship, rich harmonies, triple flute arrangements and even the odd bit of jovial banter.

There are influences in their sound ranging from Southern American rock and country, through Celtic to British folk. They are a good band no doubt, but for me they never quite hit the spot. I want to like the band more than I do tonight, it just seems to lack a certain sparkle. They peaked with the instantly recognisable number Roscoe and finished by not leaving the stage to do their encore. They simply explained their intention. The problem was for me that their seemed to be nothing memorable in between these points of reference; perhaps I'm the only person to feel, this or at least in a minority. I certainly enjoyed the gig but the band seemed tired, possibly from touring. Maybe I'm missing the point and that’s what Midlake's music’s all about.

All that said, it was a robust performance and enjoyable enough. Early in the set I ventured to the front to get a photo. There was a large semi-circle of free floor space in front of Singer Tim Smith. Are the band so unapprochable? I ask myself. Tonight I always felt there was a certain unbridgable gap.

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Midlake

Giro Junkie @ The Old Brown Jug 20th January 2010

Review by Charlotte Lunt

Photo by Leo Mazzocchio

Having seen Chris Moralee and his band in several guises over the last year, it appears that they have settled on being a 3 piece. With the less conventional line up of semi acoustic and electric guitar and djembe they appear to have found the balance of sound and structure.

Opening with his 2009 single Chris and Band (Kara and Kris) combined close harmonies with fragile emotional lyrics, setting the scene for a emotive set. Building on this they delivered a thought through cover of Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” which they had thoroughly made their own.

By layering simple structure and building in intensity, the group arrive at a more organically complex sound, and through the sharing of lead vocals give an auditory as well visual symmetry. Closing with an ironically self described “depressive number” which again showcased the harmonies and propensity of the band to emphasise central themes through repetition of lyrics and increasing volume, they finally lost themselves in the trance like nature of their songs, before waiting for the songs to reach the end of its journey.

One of the difficulties of playing in pub venues is that the audience can have the tendency to regard the performers as a jukebox , however Chris demanded attention which was revealed by the audiences gathering cross legged on the floor in front of the stage.

Giro Junkie stepped up to the stage in his first role as headline, which for my money has been a long time coming. Kicking off with his eponymous track, recounting the tale of a man on the dole dealing with the monotony of his life, Rich has developed this song over time to include a number of jazz breaks in it which take the song to a a darker place, almost as if giving us a subliminal insight into the mind of the subject.

Giving a very physical performance, Rich used every inch of the stage embodying the frustration he appears to feel with the characters in his songs. Continuing to juxtapose some traditional folk hybrid with heavily jazz influenced breaks he stormed through two more tracks, revealing the infrastructure of the songs and showing how the tracks have developed over time. In “Feeling not fearing” a decidedly grungier sounding track, Rich has tried to encapsulate the process and frustration of trying to write a song that never reached fruition.

With a generous amount of banter with the audience who had come out in force to support him, Giro Junkie’s performance is more than a mixture of music and story-telling, his take on the ‘man in the street’ provides social commentary that is particularly pertinent to this venue. Definitely an act to look out for.

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Giro Junkie

Chris Morallee