This evening is about good old-fashioned British Rock n’ Roll from our headliners—Crossover punky nu-metal vibes from our support and grunge-laced dissonance from our local lads. We stroll up the road to the Leeds culture hub, Hyde Park Book Club, and settle in.
Stageminus
Youthful exuberance is something we’ll be forever jealous of at our vintage and it’s something these guys have plenty of. Grungy punky tracks like ‘Sleepless’ and ‘Mr Man’ take us back to halcyon days in basement venues just like this, drinking questionable ales and summers that never ended. But enough of the misty-eyed nostalgia, these guys have plenty of fuzzy goodness about them and on a track like ‘Opposites’ they display a nice line in bouncy stomp. Sure, it’s early doors for them in more ways than one but they have enough grunt and enthusiasm to consider this a good night for them.
Crashface
Crashface has a great crossover vibe mixing nu metal and anthemic modern rock to great effect. There is an infectious energy about this band and their stop start dynamics that suggests we’ll be hearing a lot more from them in the future, especially with a good festival run under their belts. On track ‘Murder Dream’ they display a charisma that will serve them well with bigger audiences. ‘C.H.A.I.N.S.A.W’ again displays those rap metal/ bratty punk crossovers to bombastic effect. There are actively fans being secured in front of our eyes. The band are clearly having a great time, and this always elevates a gig on a Tuesday night. ‘Scream’ sounds spiky and once again bursting at the seams with kinetic energy that is delivered with honesty. Skittering electronic additions lift ‘Ultraplasticplanetkiller’ up to boiling point and we’re left wanting to see this band on a bigger stage and the urge to buy a T-shirt. Job well and truly done we’d say! Time to sign off in style with an incendiary ‘Molotov Smile’ and meet some of their newfound friends!
The Cruel Knives
The Cruel Knives are a good old fashioned rock n roll band, something of a rarity these days so let’s plug in and rock the fuck out! Bursting onstage with ‘The Life That We Made’ The Cruel Knives have the kind of dyed in the wool hard rocking vibe that you don’t realise you’ve been craving until it’s presented to you. In a hyper modern world where everything has a twist this kind of, back to the nitty gritty, approach is actually very refreshing. Tom Harris has a great rock vocal that soars where it should and never gets too showy whilst obviously displaying a ton of skill and dexterity. The singer’s expertise is especially apparent on ‘Kill The Messenger’ from their Side 1 EP, with its dramatic ebbs and flows. Excellent stand out album track ‘Hollow People’ sounds great, this is proper British working-class rock and it’s solid and dependable. It’s definitely getting hot in the bowels of the ever-hip Hyde Park Book Club tonight and The Cruel Knives are definitely playing like they’re at Wembley Arena in the best possible way. Fans of Those Damn Crows will find a lot to love here, and no doubt did when the band supported the Welsh heroes in 2023. ‘All your heroes hate you’, is delivered with all of the attitude you’d expect and sounds very anthemic here tonight, showcasing their singers awesome set of pipes.
New track ‘Shotgun To The Head’ gets a blast tonight and it’s an up-tempo banger not unlike Appetite era Gunners in places except with a half speed, horns up chorus and a full-scale wig out middle eight complete with reverberated drum effects, it’s a powerful one and you should watch out for it when it’s released. The Cruel Knives bow out on a stomping ‘Crawl’ and every pair of hands here is clapping in unison. Tonight is the first date of the tour and any first night nerves appear to have taken the night off as this was a supremely confident, experienced and slick performance from a band that bleed rock n roll.
Review & Photos By George Miller – https://linktr.ee/601music
Stageminus
Crashface
The Cruel Knives
