Another Friday night, another set of sound gremlins in Fuel Rock Club. Arriving at the venue, were informed that the doors had been pushed back due to technical issues. Which felt a little like Deja vu after the problems that beset the recent Underdark show there that was ultimately cancelled. It must have been the luck of St David though as the show did eventually start but to the detriment of the much publicised and supported headliners.
More on that later as it was Odessa (6) that started the show after stepping in quite late onto the bill for reasons that won’t be discussed here. They did an admiral job of warming up the partisan Welsh crowd, many of whom seemed to be there more for the supports but, hey that’s what they’re for right? Their modern hardcore/metalcore/screamo sound wasn’t really my cup of tea but it was enjoyed by those that were in attendance making sure there was movement down the front from early in the night. A cover of Lim Bizkit's cover of Faith by George Michael winning people over.
A long changeover came next due to lack of sound checking done before the gig and it was fairly new band Rockabye Reaper (6) who took to the stage next. The new project from drummer Matt Thomas, they’re an angsty, modern alt rock band with grooves keys and vocals that bring emotion. They also unfortunately did little for me musically, so far I was two for two but again they had a following that was noisy from the first moments of their set to the last.
Hopefully I fared better with third support Sydney Fate (7) and while again genre-wise I struggled they did feel a bit more coherent as a band, both vocalists working well together with metallic blue collar hardcore, that most of the crowd was here to see from the number of t-shirts they had in the audience. Ripping through their set and encouraging movement with swearwords and aggression. Furiously attacking the mass of people down the front. However after their set they did seem to disappear as did a lot of their fanbase.
This meant that Hawxx (8) were left to start their UK tour to a sparser audience than they’ve hoped and also that they only had around an hour to play, meaning that not every song in their hymn book (given out before the show) was going to be aired. However they did their absolute best to make sure the show was exactly what it needed to be, a clarion call to the women, LGBTQ+, trans and oppressed people around the country and around the world. Proudly draped in the pride flag and condemning violence in Palestine, they spoke to the collective audience of Fuel who are more ‘alternative’ than most. With tracks such as Death Makes Sisters Of Us All, The Worst Thing, Trust Your Rage and the closing bile that’s contained in Bite (Holiness In Fuck), their music is defiant and angry at the world but used to unify those in attendance.
The issue I had was that I would have liked to have heard anything but the drums (for the first half) and the bass (for the second half), the vocals were just about audible but the guitars non-existent. Without the technical guitar playing, the songs lost a little bit of their lustre and the fact that they were short of time meant we didn’t get the full experience. Still I urge you all to check out Hawxx on any of their current dates.
More on that later as it was Odessa (6) that started the show after stepping in quite late onto the bill for reasons that won’t be discussed here. They did an admiral job of warming up the partisan Welsh crowd, many of whom seemed to be there more for the supports but, hey that’s what they’re for right? Their modern hardcore/metalcore/screamo sound wasn’t really my cup of tea but it was enjoyed by those that were in attendance making sure there was movement down the front from early in the night. A cover of Lim Bizkit's cover of Faith by George Michael winning people over.
A long changeover came next due to lack of sound checking done before the gig and it was fairly new band Rockabye Reaper (6) who took to the stage next. The new project from drummer Matt Thomas, they’re an angsty, modern alt rock band with grooves keys and vocals that bring emotion. They also unfortunately did little for me musically, so far I was two for two but again they had a following that was noisy from the first moments of their set to the last.
Hopefully I fared better with third support Sydney Fate (7) and while again genre-wise I struggled they did feel a bit more coherent as a band, both vocalists working well together with metallic blue collar hardcore, that most of the crowd was here to see from the number of t-shirts they had in the audience. Ripping through their set and encouraging movement with swearwords and aggression. Furiously attacking the mass of people down the front. However after their set they did seem to disappear as did a lot of their fanbase.
This meant that Hawxx (8) were left to start their UK tour to a sparser audience than they’ve hoped and also that they only had around an hour to play, meaning that not every song in their hymn book (given out before the show) was going to be aired. However they did their absolute best to make sure the show was exactly what it needed to be, a clarion call to the women, LGBTQ+, trans and oppressed people around the country and around the world. Proudly draped in the pride flag and condemning violence in Palestine, they spoke to the collective audience of Fuel who are more ‘alternative’ than most. With tracks such as Death Makes Sisters Of Us All, The Worst Thing, Trust Your Rage and the closing bile that’s contained in Bite (Holiness In Fuck), their music is defiant and angry at the world but used to unify those in attendance.
The issue I had was that I would have liked to have heard anything but the drums (for the first half) and the bass (for the second half), the vocals were just about audible but the guitars non-existent. Without the technical guitar playing, the songs lost a little bit of their lustre and the fact that they were short of time meant we didn’t get the full experience. Still I urge you all to check out Hawxx on any of their current dates.
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