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| REVIEWS > Lancaster City Museum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Lancaster Central Library, Market Square, Lancaster Thursday 1 September 2005 at 7pm Thursday night, a sultry evening. The sound of a band tuning up drifted across Market Square. Lancaster’s music library was swarming with excited people, both young and middle-aged. Wow, what was this all about? The Battle Of The Bands competition! This had been organised by Stewart Parsons, head music librarian of Lancaster Central Library, and Island Records, the record company responsible for the likes of Bob Marley and U2. The first prize was two days recording at the Island Records’ studios in London. After several heats involving various bands from around the North West, the short list was whittled down to five groups. Inside the library, the atmosphere was raw, tense and sweaty. Each band had been allocated fifteen minutes to impress the audience of teenagers, their parents, the librarians, me and my mate, Kevin Coyle. First up were three clean-cut lads called Scratch Card Junkie “Oh well”, I thought as I went outside to light up a fag and take in some liquid refreshment. “Things can only get better”. And they did indeed... The second act was mind-blowing. They reminded me of the possibilities and talent that Britain still has to offer. Guilty Pleasure, a cross between good old British Punk and the New Wave of British Metal, were rough, intense and loud. A foursome with two thousand seriously distorted guitars, an arsenal of drums and mega-thumping bass lines, they rocked the joint while the yoof did some intense moshing Sadly, they were only allowed to play for quarter of an hour. For me and Kevin, they were definitely a good reason to stay on and see how the evening would progress. Another break, another fag, another changing of the bands. Third up was Asimov, a rock combo as exceptionally unexceptional as the writer Isaac Asimov, well ... I have to admit that as their set progressed, they did begin to sound interesting. They reminded me of old-fashioned prog rock in the guise of Radiohead Band four was, for me, the second great band of the evening, Nothing Less. A metal, rap, rock, funk outfit, they had everything: good tunes, attitude, two charismatic singers, a great rhythm section and a pretty outstanding guitarist. Combining the muscle of Rage Against The Machine Another break, this time nearly 30 minutes and ... ... eventually Loophole from Kendal appeared. They were professional, sleek, good-looking and alert. They delivered what can only be described as white-people-playing-black-music. Without the minimalist guitar riffs played by their singer, the music would have been exceptionally dull. Furthermore, the backing vocals were weedy, the bass and drums were played by numbers, the percussion was irrelevant and the less said about the keyboard the better.Still, they had rehearsed, they looked hip in a non-threatening way and the majority of the audience was their fans. The conclusion now didn’t seem that inevitable . And ... ? The result was swiftly announced and it was Loophole. They would soon be on the road to London and glory. This decision surprised many, not least Kevin and me. Ah well ... Disgusted by the wrong band winning, I went home, cracked open a can of beer and listened to Pretty Vacant Copyright © 20 September 2005 Humble Sam |
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