Bite Me/Yur Mum/Hex Poseur/Blood Stained Reputation
The Hairy Dog – 28/7/2023
It’s always a happy return when The Hairy Dog in Derby is concerned. It’s a venue that continues to support a wide range of artists with real passion. Opening up tonight are fresh faced Blood Stained Reputation who prove to be a talented bunch. Hailing from Doncaster the four piece play hard rock with a fresh twist. The vocals are acerbic with a garnish of cute while the guitar work is simply outstanding. The Rhythm section is the glue that holds it all in place. There’s enough on view tonight to see this fine band could go far.
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Every once in a while the scene unearths a little gem, an artist that just operates outside of the box, an act that genuinely progresses music. Hex Poseur are rapidly heading towards that status. Their grunge/punk fusion might be fresh but that isn’t where they really score heavily. The real talent here is the delivery, and the punch the lyrics have. As a three piece the sound is very full. The drums kick ass and the bass is sublime. That means plenty of freedom for the layered guitar and icing on the cake vocals. That snarling, passionate, mesmerising voice is something special to behold, tonight it has everyone spellbound.
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How do they make that much noise? is the usual question when first hearing Yur Mum. There’s only two of them! The answer is experience, quality and a loud voice. There’s an almost telepathic connection between drummer Fabio and Bass playing singer Ani, they just play as a single unit. And who needs a guitar anyway? Not these two. There’s depth to each song too. It’s fierce and almost primal, it needs to be covering topical subjects others shy away from. But it’s also refined. The drumming flows like the waves on a shore line sounding natural and easy to connect to. The bass is all groove. This is the very core of music and it’s wonderful.
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Bite Me’s punk n roll show just keeps on getting better. They take Derby by storm tonight with a high energy performance that pretty much blows the roof off of the Hairy Dog. The musicianship is outstanding throughout, you’d never know they’re playing with a stand in bass player they gel so well. There’s a fun element to everything the band do too, and that rubs off on the crowd. Leading from the front London King’s vocals are clean, clear and frankly world class. King never stops moving all set either which just adds to that feel good factor. Bite Me are one of the underground’s fast risers and it’s easy to see why. They’re just too good not to progress. With so many senior acts bowing out it’s great to see punk is in such safe hands.
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Review and photos by Gary Trueman