SAZ + HENNISI + GAMBLE< GAMBLE & DREVER + SHOTGUN LIBIDO - Hustlers, Dundee 16-02-08
The first in the 2008 season of Mermaid Rock Promotions - dedicated to featuring Classic Rock in all its forms - proved to be a remarkable success with Hustlers witness to a three-figure audience and some seriously on-fire performances.
SAZ opened the evening, their first gig of the year, and turned out a rip-roaring set of killer songs. With Amy and Nicola on vocals, they turned the power up to eleven and hurled out this massive mix of metal, punk and pop to provide the audience with a real blast. Most songs are led by guitarist Kev, unleashing a monster riff to herald the new song as Marina on mighty bass work and Ritchie on powerhouse drums, provide the foundations along which the expres train flies. Amy's voice is a really strong mix of gothic and metal styles, delivered with a passion that sets the place alight, while Nicola's spot-on timing harmonies, soaring choruses and solid-sounding leads, provide the perfect vocal counterpoint to Amy, and it's this remarkable combination that makes the band so unique sounding. Add that to a set of songs that can't fail to hang around in your head long after they're gone, and you have a stunning band. Tonight, for the first time in a long while, they unveiled a new track, a typically powerful number where the vocalists shared the limnelight and just as you think it's hit its peak, Richie delivers this spiralling sea of powerful drumming, mid-song, to take it even higher as the whole thing leaves you awestruck at the potential this band has.
Hennisi gig so rarely - which, on the evidence of this performance, is a crying shame.. Tonight they played as a quinetet, the guest player, being Neil (of local electronic project Box) on fx, joining Cath on drums, Michael on guitar, Dave on bass and Don on vocals. What they play is absolutely unique - a mix of Crimson-esque metal, Hawkwind-esque sonic brew, contemporary indie song-delivery and Krautrock drumming - and the sort of band that would turn the heads of young indie audiences and older rock audiences alike, with all points in between unfailing to be blown away, too. The whole band is a focal point - the dreadlocked Cath hammering the drums and also providing some tasty beats along the way, while Don does his best Bill Wyman job and stands there expressionless just laying down the all-important foundations, allowing Micheal to make the muscular guitar work look easy as he saunters around stage left, leaving Neil to sit down and provide the swooshing fx. This leaves Don, the epitome of a seriously visual frontman, from which all of Dundee's indie bands would do well to look and learn as to how stage presence should be done. Delivering the songs with a vocal intensity that makes him one of the best singers on the scene right now, yet also with a clarity of approach that allows you to hear every word, he gives a visual performance that's positively hair-raising, making you think that he's about to leap off the stage any minute and lay into the audience. The songs themselves are a potent mix of indie and rock but like nothing else you've heard, and it's this that sets them apart. A stunning set greeted with enthusiasm by a large audience - you can't argue with that!
If SAZ and Hennisi as local openers got a rousing reception, you might have been forgiven for thinking that Glaswegians Gamble, Gamble & Drever might fare less well - no such thing!! A smoking trio of tremendous musical virtuosity who played a set that ranged from storm-force through anthemic to restrained, the guitarist, bassist and drummer started with an instrumental that showed that this band can really cook, the guitar work seriously solid as the le3ads flew from the speakers, while the bass and drums thundered underneath. The track itself, twisted and turned, something typical of the approach this band has to its rock, something more akin to the '70's and '80's styled progressive metal. From there on they played a 40 minute set that had the audience completely wrapped up in it, the two guitarists sharing vocals, lead and harmonies, while the lead guitar work was both tasty and powerful, unleashing a time-warp of seventies-tinged rock that really hit the spot. The only cover, a version of a Journey classic, proved irresistible to the Classic Rock crowd and garnered a wealth of applause at such a hard track to pull off, delivered so expertly, while the rest of the set's originals really made everyone sit up and take notice that, in the realms of seventies-styled bands playing prog-metal that's absolutely addictive and totally riveting listening, this band deserves to be huge.
Shotgun Libido headlined and took the path of providing the audience with some wild and rousing fun. With nothing to prove and an audience to thrill, they provided a whirlwind of a set that saw this barrage of sleaze-rock guitar come blasting from the PA as vocalist Ryan tore through tracks that made him the star of the set, while the rhythm section thundered away as thought he devil himself was on their tail. Although quite a loose performance, designed to give the crowd something to shake to, as, in neat contrast with the virtuosity of the GGD guys, they ripped through a familiar set with enthusiasm and roaring intensity, almost falling apart at several points along the way, but that was the joy of it all.
With a seventies and eighties rock and metal disco till 2.15am, this was over 5 hours of classic rock, and just the start!!