There seems to be something of a rock renaissance in the Preston live music scene with this the fourth gig ROCKFLESH has reviewed in the town in recent months. At the forefront of the charge is The Ferret, long a bastion for live music and until recently under threat of being lost, but now fighting back with a vengeance. And tonight, it plays host to a three-band bill encapsulating three very different branches of the rock family tree.
Read MoreFor the second time this week ROCKFLESH is dipping a toe into Eurovision territory. Those gritty Finns are determined to give a serious rock boost to the greatest lip-synching competition in the world, and having done so once with the classic power metal and mad costumes that are Lordi they had another go for a younger audience with Blind Channel who provide nu-metal and pretty boys instead. Sadly they only managed to reach 6th place in 2021, but that did give them an avenue to reach bigger crowds in other countries so here we are in a sold-out Club Academy with twice the capacity of their last sojourn to Manchester. This is obviously important to them as it gets mentioned a couple of times during the course of the evening. Stick with it boys, next stop the Ritz eh?
Read MoreOn the passing of Lemmy, Slash inherited the mantle of being the true living embodiment of rock 'n' roll. If you want to dress as a cool rocker you simply adorn yourself with a curly black wig and an oversized top hat and Saul Hudson’s your uncle you are instantly recognisable as a cool rock n’ roll dude. If you want to give your showstopping Oscar number a shot of scuzzy cool, then all you do is pick up the phone to Mr. Slash and instantaneously it has oodles of rock 'n' roll street cred. Our Slash has become a cultural phenomenon. An instantly recognisable persona that transcends the bands he is involved with and the shackles of his back catalogue. The arena is reassuringly full and it is obvious that its temporary inhabitants are here for the myth as opposed to the material.
Read MoreMetal’s inexplicable love affair with Eurovision seems to be baked into our psyche. In recent years many “big” names from our world (The Rasmus, Blind Channel, Voyager and Lords of the Lost) have taken part and even bigger names (Avantasia and Keep of Kaslin) have unsuccessfully tried to be selected for their respective home nations. This is alongside the fact that every Baltic state entry seems to sound like Evanescence and Italian alt-rockers Maneskin triumphed in 2021 with a ditty that sounded all the world like a shunt job between Rage Against The Machine and Jane's addiction.
Read MoreThe Easter period is steeped in religious traditions and on this Good Friday we are indeed attending church…the church of British thrash metal. Awaiting us is a triple sermon at The Ferret. Nestled in the centre of Preston, it provides an intimate atmosphere for the musical maelstrom about to be unleashed by Acid Reign, 36 years after their last show in this city.
Read MoreCreeper/ (ˈkriːpə) / noun. a person or animal that creeps. a plant, such as the ivy or periwinkle, that grows by creeping. That’s the dictionary definition, but the meaning within the rock world is somewhat different, although related. Formed in Southampton in 2014 Creeper are a band who have sneaked into our rock/metal conciousness almost without us noticing, despite them sporting an inordinate amount of black leather and black eyeliner. Tonight is my first time seeing the lords of the new goth, and I’m really not sure what to expect from them. Formed in 2014 they have 3 albums to their name and a history of changing their look and sound for each new release. Descriptions of their live set vary wildly, so the only way to find out is to attend the somewhat cavernous Camp And Furnace and watch them in the (possibly rotting?) flesh.
Read MoreAs metal fans we tend to view our world as an impenetrable fortress sitting alone in an ocean of splendid isolation. Disconnected from other strands of popular culture. The truth is actually very different, we have many openly flowing land borders with other facets of the musical lexicon. Drone metal and the legendary Sunn O))) specifically is one of those bridging areas.
Read MoreAre you part of the Beavis & Butthead generation? Way back in 1992, the bumbling cartoon twosome took the world by storm. Wikipedia describes them as ”a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humour and love for hard rock and heavy metal”. At the same time, there were several bands around who played to the same schtick – schoolboy humour, teenage angst, love of a party and most of all a fresh, upbeat approach to rock music.
Read MoreAnother day and another four-headed death metal package rolls into town. However, if you open the bonnet and do a bit of careful inspection you will find that this quadruple bill offers some enticingly distinct delicacies. You see Vexed, Aborted, Revocation and Carnifex represent four very very different aspects of Death Metal’s multiple personalities. This is a comprehensive guided tour through the genre's current state of the nation. It also makes pretty good business sense as each band has its own distinct group of diehard supporters, all of whom have gathered here tonight for some bizarre gathering of the clans.
Read MoreBack in the Middle Ages, a Troubadour was someone who turned up in town, told stories, played music, instigated singalongs and entertained the people. Fast forward a few hundred years and things haven’t really changed that much, as tonight, in Preston’s Vinyl Tap, Spike proves he is probably the closest thing to a modern-day Troubadour that the 21st century has to offer.
Read MoreIt can’t be an easy job being a gig promoter. Say you’ve got a Swedish power metal outfit on your hands who are famous for their fantasy lyrics and having three vocalists. A great band who have been going (although not with the same lineup) for 25 years. They are good, but they have reached that in-between stage of their career where they are not quite going to sell out a big theatre but are way past the club scene. How are you going to support and market that?
Read MoreIt is unlikely that you would know of Botch before their improbable resurrection last year. They only visited this country once in their previous existence and never got north of Nottingham. Neither of their full-length albums, “American Nervoso” and “We Are Romans” particularly sold well. However, every bugger that did get the honour of hearing the latter release went off and formed a band. You see Botch continue that fine lineage of acts you've never heard of that begot hundreds that you very much have.
Read MoreBlues rock, just like any musical sub-genre is a many headed beast, one where bands are often pigeonholed together into a single category for ease, often having little in common other than a shared musical DNA. And so it is with McHale’s Permanent Brew and Jared James Nichols. Whilst both are firmly rooted in the blues each has a very different approach and sound, and it is their contrasting interpretations of the form that make this evening’s gig so intriguing.
Read MoreSupergroups are never designed for longevity. They exist either as a water-treading exercise for name artists to fruitfully pass time whilst they wait for their main bands to reform or as an egotistical wish-fulfilment vehicle allowing musicians from different genres to work together without upsetting the apple cart of their day jobs. In celebrating 35 years of existence Mr. Big are the exception that proves the rule. Long ago they evolved beyond being a musical distraction for their constitute members and instead Mr. Big has become the thing that Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Eric Martin are now most well-known and revered for. Mr. Big have achieved the thing that very very few supergroups ever aspire to, as a whole they equal more than their individual parts.
Read MoreThere’s an old joke that goes “what’s the best thing to come out of Norfolk? The A11!” Tonight though I am here to witness the re-emergence of something else good coming out of Norfolk, the country-tinged blues rock of Bad Touch. They have been around on the circuit for a while, I think I first encountered them well over 10 years ago, and with at least 5 albums under their collective belts their popularity has ebbed and flowed like the tides that erode their home county’s coastline over those years. I don’t think I’ve seen them yet post-covid, so tonight I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted with them. Enough poetic imagery though, we have bands to watch!
Read MoreOn the eve of their biggest headline show in a packed out Wembley Arena, the award winning, Tik Tok trending powerhouse of UK metal that are Skindred are warming up at a sold out Manchester Academy. As always, Skindred promise to bring their usual high energy party vibes to the masses, and as always, the clientele is a fantastical mix of full-on-metallers, wide-eyed ravers and those of us who happily swing both ways.
Read MoreTonight’s headliners Filter have very rarely made it across to these shores, but have a loyal and passionate fanbase. Led by one-time Nine Inch Nails guitarist Richard Patrick, Filter mix elements of many different genres, but if you like early noughties industrial rock, with both light and dark aspects, then you’ll find something to enjoy in their vast collection I promise.
Read MoreWe are continually told that guitar music is dead. The mainstream piles on the narrative that rock music has had its day, and it is simply a forgotten genre in its death throes. If this is the case somebody has forgotten to inform the hundreds of multigenerational attendees that have packed out Rebellion for the last couple of nights. The simple fact is that death metal is sticking its finger up at all this "guitar music is out of fashion" nonsense and is becoming more vibrant and important by the day.
Read MoreOrbit Culture have been touted as being “the next best thing” since “Nija” appeared during the pandemic days. Despite only just embarking on their debut headline tour, after 10 years of being a band, they have earned acclaim from the likes of Trivium and Machine Head. Having blown us all away opening for the former last August, they are very much a band on everyone’s lips. All bar a few shows on this inaugural UK/EU slog are sold out, and the ones that still have a few tickets to be snapped up, are sure to be at at full capacity come show day.
Read MoreEvolution. The first thing that comes to my mind when viewing a tour consisting of Enslaved, Svalbard, and Wayfayrer. A line up that represents phenomenal histories and past accomplishments but also outstandingly bright futures. Most importantly it showcase that ability to morph and metamorphose as all three bands started in one place but very much transmuted into different entities
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