overlap

In recent times I've become a bit less conscientious about catching support bands, which I guess is a function of age as much as anything else. Dropping down the stairs into the venue, I'm accompanied by a burst of harmony vocals that remind me exactly what I love about unfamiliar music, and why support bands are important. Even if I don't catch the full set, I still hate the thought I might miss out on something much, much more than I appreciate the lazy convenience of not getting myself together to get there on time.

Dead Against The Rest are blessed with a frontman who looks like Gaz from Supergrass doing an impression of Jack Black, and a bunch of musicians whose technical mastery of their instruments is more than enough for their purposes. There's a bit of that galloping Maiden rhythm thing, guitar solos that go diddly-diddly-diddly and when the guitarist layers his vocals around the frontguy's vocals they sound especially great. Despite the influences they list on their myspace, this is a band who sound remarkably British to me, with a hint of Steve Hawkins' power in the lead vocal and if anything this is the sound of classic trad Brit pub metal. And that's very much a compliment - I don't often feel compelled to compliment band members handing out flyers, but I really did enjoy Dead Against The Rest for their obvious sense of fun, and the not taking themselves seriously but definitely taking their material seriously, which is the perfect balance.

The last time I watched a band where no member had shorter hair than me is something I am having great trouble guessing but it has certainly been a while. Lethargy are blessed with waist-length hair in abundance, and a similar quantity of crunching riffs and vocals that veer between power metal and Metallica depending on who is singing. To be honest, it's not the sort of thing I'd rush out to listen to, despite my high hopes when the first riff of their first song is virtually identical to the Tygers Of Pan Tang's Love Don't Stay. Saying that, the vocal and widdly guitar solo quality around the riffs is unquestionable, and there's something very right about watching four musicians headbanging their way through their songs. Not for my repeat listening taste in the long term, but I like them and they are definitely doing a lot right.

Back in 2006 I saw Roadstar a couple of times, just after they'd changed their name from Hurricane Party. Another name change later, they are now called Heaven's Basement though by the time you read this they may have changed again - who knows?! My recollection is that I wanted to like Roadstar, but they somehow seemed a couple of songs short of an album. In the meantime I've been reassured from a couple of different sources that their newer material really is the business, and a quick spin through myspace before leaving the house vaguely raises my hopes.

Now, there's something about someone wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt when we are almost on the cusp of the second decade of the new millennium that makes it seem about as rock n roll as wearing the tie of the accountants' union golf club. This is very much not a compliment. The musicians are all competent enough, but it just doesn't quite work for me, and that's a lot to do with a frontman who comes over as Jizzy Pearl by way of Stars In Their Eyes, shorn of the mad-eyed staring and the possessed by rock vibe, and yet trying way too hard. I'm all for giving it some, and the line between enough and too much perspective is sometimes difficult to draw. I wanted to like it, I really did, but I left unsatisfied and without spending any money on the single and ep. Shame.

* Someone That You're Not is part of the chorus of the Heaven's Basement song Mirrors, one of their brighter moments.

Labels: Dead Against The Rest, gigs, Heaven's Basement, Lethargy

// posted by uber @ 12:50 pm