First on the bill was London quintet The Howling, I was really excited about
seeing these guys for the first time because everyone I know is raving about
them. As soon as they swaggered on stage it was clear they looked the part; 5
good looking guys with leather jackets, tattoos, and black skinnies all round…
Frontman Blacky
certainly had that ‘cocky London attitude’ about him and to be fair it suits
the bands new generation punk sound and brash in your face lyrics. Each song
they played had fast and furious guitars screaming out big bold punk style
riffs alongside thunderous drums and bass lines that added a classic rock vibe
to their sound. They interspersed synths and samples throughout which really
takes their music in a new direction. ‘Rock
N Rolla’ really stood out for me.
I’ll be honest, I felt like I was missing something
from these guys. For such hard hitting, energetic songs I thought their actual performance
and on stage presence was a little bit lacklustre. This could be that the
audience was very thin in numbers, or it could just be my expectations were too
high. Either way, I think these guys have potential; I’d like to see them with
a bigger crowd to see if that adds that little je ne sais quoi I was missing.
Next on was Canadian based Kobra and the Lotus, I was a little dubious about these guys
because I knew they had a female frontwoman and even though we need more women
who can rock, it’s seldom that a female voice actually has the power or presence
to do just that. However my doubts were quashed when the vibrant Kobra Paige took to the stage, she
looked like a Valkyrie warrior and she sang like one too!
The band were technically very tight and although
not the most original song structures, big gutsy metal riffs and pounding drums
were the order of the day; letting songs simmer just below the surface before
they bubbled over and unleashed boiling hot, high energy metal on their
audience. ’50 shades of evil’ and ‘Welcome to my funeral’ were both
incredibly catchy and started the first of the hair flicking and head banging from
the audience. Despite the slightly naff name, I really liked Kobra and the
Lotus.
Thankfully the audience had filtered in from the bar
by now and there were decent numbers just in time for the headliners Buckcherry to start! From the second
heavily tattooed frontman Josh Todd
walked on stage you knew he was going to own it; and he did.
The band weren’t scared to interact with the
audience, although Josh awkwardly introduced ‘Lit up’ as the first time he tried… cocaine... *waits for audience
gasp* (Which made him seem like a naughty 14 year old raiding their dads beer
supply) It didn’t deter the audience from singing “I love the cocaine” in
raised unison and by the time ‘Crazy
bitch’ was played everyone was singing along. Even dashing guitarist Stevie D and formidable drummer Xavier Muriel were throwing picks and
sticks out to the audience at regular intervals.
They played songs from their back catalogue which
included all the audience favourites such as ‘Lit up’, ‘Sorry’ and ‘Crazy Bitch’. Buckcherry still sound as good and relevant today as they did when
they launched in the 90’s, they’re not a band that cares about rules they just
want to deliver a night of down-right dirty rock’n’roll songs for their
audience, which they did - and more.
3 very different bands played, but I enjoyed all 3
of them and would definitely go to see them all again. It was an immense night!
Eleanor
Knight
