ENGERICA
/ AZURE GLOW / LINCHPIN / INFLIGHT
Manchester Roadhouse - Oct 30th 2005
Between
them they'd played to nearly 3000 people in Manchester with
Engerica supporting Sum 41 at a sold out Academy 1 show and
Linchpin opening up to over 500 fans at Fightstar earlier in
the year, but tonight they both played one of Designer Magazine's
intimate gigs at the Manchester Roadhouse to an adoring crowd.
First
up though we're Manchester based band Inflight who stepped into
the breach a few hours before doors after Dear Superstar made
a shock exit due to acute tonsillitis. Formerly known as Stolen,
the band are spread across Burnley, Rochdale and Manchester. Opening
with "Believe" the set was a mixture of classic Stolen
tunes like "Kill Them" and new songs such as "Cross
My Heart" and "Finding My Home", the band take
the blueprint of Biffy Clyro and Reuben and write soaring rock
songs. Inflight might only be just, ahem, taking off but on the
basis of this gig they could quite easily cruise into being one
of Manchester's best rock bands.
The
last time Linchpin played Manchester we declared them "Britain's
Best New Rock Band" and everything about tonight's show looks
set to prove us right for backing them early on. Whether it's
an intimate gig at the Manchester Roadhouse, or the sell out Fightstar
gig they played earlier in the year, Linchpin approach each gig
with intent and confidence of veterans doing their 10th worldwide
stadium tour. Opening with "Jesus Had Long Hair" and
segueing straight into "Crazy Girl" the band cross the
same barriers as Lostprophets, instant pop hooks but at the same
time could play on the same bill as a screamo band and still blow
them off stage. "Apple Of My Eye" is one for the girls
and an obvious future single in the vein of Simple Plan's "Addicted".
In the past few months Linchpin have had their debut EP produced
by the Madden Twins (Good Charlotte), Dave Grohl's declared them
to be "Awesome" and a few scenester kids with Toni &
Guys haircuts have got the hump because Linchpin right better
songs than them. The hard work starts now with 12 months of solid
gigging ahead, but trust us when we say this time next year you
will not be able to escape this band!!!
Azure
Glow played their first gig at Designer Magazine's 6th Birthday
Party in June and they've chosen to come aboard again to launch
their debut EP. Ever the perfectionists, Azure Glow are looking
at this EP as the first stage of an ever-evolving band, which
in a few months time will possibly grow to include synths and
an additional guitarist to create that massive wall of sound that
they've been aiming for over the years. Formerly under the name
Kid Conspiracy they built up a large following playing what became
the emo-overload of Manchester's rock fraternity, a change of
name and musical direction gave birth to Azure Glow. Often compared
to Incubus, guitarist James uses more guitar effects than Muse,
Mogwai and the Mars Volta combined but rather than go off in some
prog-ambience wankfest there's still a desire to write soaring
rock songs which carry JP's vocals over them. At their most commercial
the EP tracks "Nothing We Can Do" and "Hours Go
Faster" are prime examples of this, but "You'll Hear
Me" and the instrumental track played tonight show that this
band are going to push the barriers a lot more in the future.
In
their own words Engerica are a band for "People Who Hate
People", but each gig they playing they're winning fans over
so there must be a lot of hateful people out there that are attracted
to their ironic nihilism. Sneering his way through the set Dave
Gardner comes across as a Frankenstein's monster of Rotten and
Vicious with the visceral scream of Cobain. Shouting of arsehole's,
god dam suicide's and their demise they rampage through a set
of songs that make Nirvana's back catalogue sound like S Club
Juniors while spitting out lyrics that could be Jack Dee going
across Cobain's suicide note with a red biro. Everything about
Engerica is drenched in black humour and new single "Roadkill"
is the epitome of this. Once in a while you find a band that don't
fit in with the party line and they break through by doing their
own thing - Engerica are going to take a while to break through
because they don't fit into the fashionista school of rock, but
each and every fan they pick up along the way will become a fan
for life.
A
great package of four great bands doing their own thing and f**king
the fashionista's. If these bands are the future of rock, then
we're in safe hands!!!
Words:
Alex McCann
Photos: Karen McBride - www.karenmcbride.com
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