Wassup blog readers, not a lot I presume if ya readin this!!
Got another little entry for ya asses, reviewin our Thurs and Fri gigs in Manchester and Oldham, let the good times roll!!
Thursday found us travelling down to Manchester for a slot supporting the awesome Betraeus at premier live metal venue, Grand Central. After unloading the gear, we decided to go grab a quick bite to eat, making this the 2nd McDonald's of the day for at least 2 of us!! Our tour diet is as healthy as it comes!!
After stuffing our fat faces with greasy meat patty's, ( Congratulations to Simo for eating 2 massive burgers, even Rob was impressed!!) we got back just as Driven Apart were taking to the stage. Driven Apart describe themselves as Melodic Technical/Progressive Thrash with big sing-a-along sections, heads-down thrashy parts and fist-pumping rhythms. Not quite sure where the big sing a long choruses were, as there were no vocals, or maybe that's the point, you can sing whatever you want to it!! :) In my opinion, this let the band down slightly, as there was nothing to glue it all together. After a while, all the riffs started to merge into each other, creating a relatively unmemorable set, with guitars going quite noticeably out of tune by the end... respect to them for still playin despite vocalist issues!!
Next up were Liverpool band Eighth day army who are, apparently, a experi-metal band!! As these three lads were settin up, one of em produced a big flight case, which, when opened, revealed THE biggest collection of effect pedals I have ever seen. It looked like they had disassembled R2-D2 and glued him flat to a board, no wonder there was power cuts in Burscough that night!! Id not heard of these before, and they were good at what they did, more "experi" than "metal" however, but entertaining all the same. I did get the feelin I probably should have had some mind altering drugs before watchin em, beer didn't seem to cut it! Just havin a quick look over their fan club page, I found this quote, " Eighth Day Army have been described as "Biffy Clyro on top of a 100 ton juggernaut, bearing down on Terminator 2 protecting Matt Bellamy."" Boss. That amused me somewhat!
After us it was time for Betraeus, the winners of the "Metal 2 the masses- Battle for Bloodstock" and instantly you can see why. Blistering beats and dirty as shit riffs played with skill and a blatant love for their art!! Goin from insane ass death metal, to melodic treats, the variation keeps you hooked, and reels you right in! From what I can gather, they are due to record soon, so keep a look out for that, but for now you will have to make do with the myspace!!
So on the way home, we decided to talk about weird things Americans say or how they pronounce things, which was fun, and Ill take this moment to add an extra one, they call croissants French Doughnuts... and I think they probably spell doughnuts, donuts... Doh!
The next night we were in Oldham at the Abbey Inn, which had been refurbed since last time we were there, and very nice it looks too!!
As per Sa-Da-Ko style, we unloaded our gear, then went on a healthy grub hunt, by healthy I mean deep fried and made of meat!! Last time we were in Oldham, we went for pizza.. it was pure mingin, not even Jay could manage all of it!! This time however, we went for UK Fried Chicken, with 2 for 1 offers all over the place, the choice was obvious!!! mmmmmm crispy chicken with hash browns.... Epic Win!!!!
Best place to eat in Oldham!!
Back to business now, and with just 2 bands on the bill, the night was a rather laid back affair, with beers goin down far to easily at only £2 a pint, and a good selection of tunes pumpin, the mood was good by the time Incidium took to the stage.
This four piece death/ thrash outfit took to the stage, commanding heads to turn and look on, as these lads wind milled, fretted and screamed their way through a truly great set with great gusto and enthusiasm! Back to good old, no bullshit metal, which is becoming unfortunately rare these days. You can download some promo tracks and they are a defo Sa-Da-Ko recommendation, so check em the fuck out!!
Time for Sa-Da-Ko to make a dent in the Oldham soundscape for the evening... so... turns out we had a bit of a disasterous set, with problems ranging from gutar strings breaking, mics fucking up, songs ruined by feedback issues.... but when we played, we played well!! So with our collection of fucked equipment, we loaded back into the van, a.k.a. "the Cougar" and then had to push start it... great!!!
All in all, despite the issues, we had a good couple of days, and at the end of the day you gotta take the rough with the smooth, and we wouldn't stop gigging for the world... we love taking our own brand of metal on the road, and hey, you either get it or you dont... as long as we get beer and take away!!!! :)
until next time x
