Chromatones
The
City Calls
|
|
.: Live Review| Chromatones | The Lost Boys
The Joiners in Southampton, a venue that has been the launch pad for so
many great bands over the years, played host to two of the south
coast’s finest up-and-coming young bands last Thursday:
Chromatones and The Lost Boys, to celebrate and promote the
former’s first EP release, ‘New Worst Nightmare’.
Further support came from Wayfare, who had a classic rock
sound reminiscent of great bands like Bad Company and Free.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing
and hearing a lot more of them.
The Lost Boys really are a
great band. Their
combination of catchy melodies and sharp observational lyrics
put them in direct linage with classic British bands from The
Kinks through to Squeeze, Madness, Blur and Arctic Monkeys.“This
one’s the hit” announced lead man Dan Ash at the start of
‘Romance By Numbers’ and you could easily be fooled into
thinking you were indeed listening to a Top 10 smash from the
days when the nation would huddle around the TV to watch Top Of
The Pops. Only their
image falls slightly short.
Dan Ash has a great Mod look that suits their sound to a
tee but it’s not a look that obviously spreads across the rest
of the band. They could
do worse than to follow their lead man’s stylistic lead.
They finished on ‘Simple Mind’, a song all about the
perils of gambling, but I wouldn’t mind betting on greater
things happening for this band.
So, not an easy act to follow,
but Chromatones managed it.
On this form they must be one of the best live acts in
the area. Super
tight musicianship married to blistering power, with the twin
guitar attack of Brad Walters and Jamie Irwin swapping lead and
rhythm duties with ease and precision, and the powerhouse rhythm
section of Dave Evans (drums) and the exotically named Sander De
Vries (bass) expertly holding it all together.
Add to this heady mix the soaring vocals and onstage
energy of Mark Hanson and you really do have the real deal when
it comes to putting on a live show.
The hardest thing to describe with Chromatones is their
sound. Who do you say
they sound like? There
are elements of early Radiohead in some of the guitar play and
maybe also some John Squire influences, along with a slight
RATM, Red Hot Chili Peppers style funkiness in the rhythms,
while Hanson’s vocals have a hint of Matt Bellamy from Muse.
Having been listening to The Dead Weather earlier today
I’m tempted to say I would put Chromatones in a similar
category, but in truth they seem to have managed the most
difficult of things: they have attained a sound of their own.
As with The Lost Boys, one thing they could improve on is
their image. Unlike them,
copying their front man is not an option, unless you want to see
a band all dressed in what look like bright red pyjama bottoms!
That aside they played a 50 minute set that left you
simply breathless, finishing with the 5 songs from the EP.
The highlight though was a song called ‘In My Eyes’.
Not featured on the EP, I look forward to its future
release. In the meantime
I’ll be giving ‘New Worst Nightmare’ plenty of spins I’m sure.
New Reviews | Janie Jones
|
Thank you for taking the time to read our review! If you
would like tell us what you think then simply click the title above!
Web site contents � Copyright New Reviews 2009, All rights reserved.
Nearly all promo imagery belongs to artists unless stated.
Website template by Steve
|
|
|