A (Tunbridge Wells Forum, 7/06/15)
A long overdue return to "the arts hole of Tunbridge Wells" last night for a rare opportunity to see the infuriatingly named "A".
First up are MassMatiks, who are clearly very young and clearly influenced by emo. Neither of those things are bad in themselves, nor is the fact that their music is largely unremarkable at this stage. What lets them down is their singer, who has no discernable vocal talent, yelping in a cockney whine over all of their songs.
Thank goodness then for Newcastle's Boy Jumps Ship, who are much more distinctive with a nice line in anthemic rock tunes. These chaps know how to write a chorus and their half hour set flew by. I will be checking out their stuff soon.
A were in short, rather good fun. It's pretty much the original lineup with Andrew "Shay" Sheehy from the recently disbanded Kids In Glass Houses deputising for Daniel P Carter. Sheehy stuck out like a sore thumb, looking (and probably being) half of the age of the rest of the band. There's a sense that these men in their mid to late 40s are getting rather too old for this shit and are aware of that fact. But they're still capable of delivering some top notch pop-punk/rock/electrorock/prog rock/hair metal tunes.
I'm woefully inept at accurately categorising bands but "A" have always had some involving in one of the above camps. The highlights were "Rush Song" (complete with a fancy laser pen to produce a pale imitation of a Muse-type stage show), the moody "Going Down", the rambunctious singalong fun of "Here We Go Again (I Love Lake Tahoe)" and the massive hitting riffs of "Nothing". The band remain impressively tight, even with Jason Perry's straining vocals. An affable frontman with at least two top class anecdotes, Perry promised an upcoming tour that might push what remains of his voice to the limit. But if this is the first and last I get to see of "A", I won't be displeased.
First up are MassMatiks, who are clearly very young and clearly influenced by emo. Neither of those things are bad in themselves, nor is the fact that their music is largely unremarkable at this stage. What lets them down is their singer, who has no discernable vocal talent, yelping in a cockney whine over all of their songs.
Thank goodness then for Newcastle's Boy Jumps Ship, who are much more distinctive with a nice line in anthemic rock tunes. These chaps know how to write a chorus and their half hour set flew by. I will be checking out their stuff soon.
A were in short, rather good fun. It's pretty much the original lineup with Andrew "Shay" Sheehy from the recently disbanded Kids In Glass Houses deputising for Daniel P Carter. Sheehy stuck out like a sore thumb, looking (and probably being) half of the age of the rest of the band. There's a sense that these men in their mid to late 40s are getting rather too old for this shit and are aware of that fact. But they're still capable of delivering some top notch pop-punk/rock/electrorock/prog rock/hair metal tunes.
I'm woefully inept at accurately categorising bands but "A" have always had some involving in one of the above camps. The highlights were "Rush Song" (complete with a fancy laser pen to produce a pale imitation of a Muse-type stage show), the moody "Going Down", the rambunctious singalong fun of "Here We Go Again (I Love Lake Tahoe)" and the massive hitting riffs of "Nothing". The band remain impressively tight, even with Jason Perry's straining vocals. An affable frontman with at least two top class anecdotes, Perry promised an upcoming tour that might push what remains of his voice to the limit. But if this is the first and last I get to see of "A", I won't be displeased.
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