The Gig: Thursday 28th August, @ 'The Face,' Reading.
The Band: *Confusing Phill* The Sound: *Punk Rock*
To Kick-start our evening 'Confusing Phill' Newbury based punkers, played us an energetic 30 min set formed of impressive technical guitar riffs, intense vocals and controversial yet pretty damn comical lyrics. These guys are obviously passionate about their music, and judging by the amount of loyal fans that turned up to see them, this passion could be quite contagous! The band covered two songs this evening, the first was 'operations Ivys,' 'Knowledge,' during which i overheard someone in the crowd describe the vocals in this performance as 'perfect' and the second was a cover of 'Blink182's classic, 'Dammit' - this too was pretty good, and i dunno about Phill but it had Han and I confused, we thought they'd stopped playing and had put on a CD! Now that's gotta say something, right?? So overall, based on their performance this evening, and the fact that as people these guys are sooooo genuinely 'nice' (crap word, i know!!) Confusing Phill are getting two enthusiastic thumbs up from me!
The Band:*Complex GSL* The Sound:*Ragga Punk*
Bursting onto the stage and pleasing the crowd throughout their set with their much-loved wit and extremely comical stage banter, Complex GSL (which stands for whatever you want it to) provided us with a unique twist of melodic punk riffs, ragga-style vocals and a definate ska influence, all of which was delivered with a confident and energetic vibe. The Ska/Ragga break downs in songs such as my personal fav, 'El Green Amo' encourages head bobbing amongst the audience and the opinionated and slightly controversial lyrics in songs like, 'UK Garage Sucks' seemed to keep everyone entertained. In my opinion these guys seem to have the ability to create a bridge between different styles of music and as everyones says, 'variety is the spice of life.' Keep it up guys!!
The Band:*Brat* The Sound:*Punk Rock*
Injecting even more energy into our evening, (which i didn't think was possible) came the sounds of Brat who have a magical ability to please the crowd with their stage presense alone. To add to their fantastic, well planned set, Brat performed a variety of melodic driven punk rock songs, complete with catchy, comical lyrics, thus displaying wicked song writing skills. As a band Brat proved to be really tight and (pardon the pun) totally in tune with each other, as their excellent vocal harmonies demonstrate. The brat boys gave us a rollercoaster set and it was wicked to hear faster-paced songs such as 'mind over matter' thrown in to contrast the more 'traditional' punk tunes.
The Band:*Friends of Ed* The Sounds:*Hardcore*
Last, but definately not least, were the sounds of 'Friends of Ed' who played us into the midnight hour. Beginning their set with a kick-ass speech which encouraged the 'cosy' crowd to stand to attention and shake off the 'end-of-the-night-lazy-syndrome' Ed's mates leapt into the first of many punchy, energetic, controversial, crowd-pleasing hardcore tunes. These guys literally contain more energy than 12 cans of Red Bull and enough charisma and elecricity to prevent even me and my 5inch heels from sitting down. Their songs were straight to the point and their opinionated, controversial and comical lyrics added a definate passion to their music. The band overall proved themselves to be really tight, with every instrument, including the vocals, controlled with confidence. This, combined with the comical stage banter and wicked stage presence made for a passionate and totally radical performance.
Reviews By Steph x
The Bands
Friends of Ed
Brat
Complex GSL
Confusing Phill
