Another month, another Gorilla gig at the Vic. But more on that later. First band were Chasm. Wasn't sure what to expect, as they carry the same name as The Beyond's second album. And of course, the Beyond mutated into Gorilla. And, some of the members I believe do the official Gorilla website. So, was it going to be a Beyond/Gorilla clone? Nope.
Pretty good, modern sounding stuff. I say stuff as I don't want to tie them down with labels. Reminded me at times of say the Deftones style, and also the Far / Sensefield style. Make of that what you will. Some of the songs seemed to have maybe one twist too much to them, but maybe that's just because it was first impressions. But, as they develop there seems to be a bit of potential there.
And so Gorilla. What to say. GO AND 'KIN SEE THEM! I'm running out of great things to say about the gigs. But this time, they come on to the stage to the strains of AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock". The set list is similar to the last few times, and sounding better each time I hear it. Familiarity with the as yet unreleased material is setting in.
It was great to see WWTSTWA get the reception it deserves. A huge cheer, followed by a constant stream of divers from the left side speaker. One on, one off. Bit like lining up for the olympic diving competition.
Plenty of dedications tonight as well, to seemingly everyone. The new single, Outside, is great. Despite what people at Kerrang! and NME may say. I mean, ok, sorry, a rant is coming on.
NME, what can you say. I fail to see the point of actually letting the guy review singles, as he seemed to have nothing but derisory comments about most of the stuff. Being critical is one thing, but when there is no constructive insight behind the critisicsm, then it is pointless. It does no one any favours. The band, or people who allow themselves to be totally swayed by a review. Any review shouldn't just say Shite, don't buy it or great, buy it. It should try and qualify that at least. I try to, albeit very badly. But, the NME it seems, when it comes to rock simply like to pull various journalistic cliches from the 3 filing cabinets they have, and glue them together into a review, and then add a suitable rawwwwwk to it. I mean, the reviews they do are patronising anyway, but let's face it, they are more boring and predictable than the music which they claim is boring and predictable and rawwwwwk. But at least they're intelligent people are they not!
And I mean, do Kerrang! want us to take seriously a shite review from a git that calls himself Chainsaw. Sorry, he may be a great, intelligent guy, but that just conjours up bad images of the 80s to me. Get yourself a decent name before you slag off. Or at the least, don't hide behind some pathetic pseudonym. Sounds like he's a 12 year old MM fan. But that would be an insult to the intelligence of a 12 year old MM fan. Sorry, I know you have to accept the bad with the good, but, to me it just epitomises some of the problems with the UK rock press at the moment. They waste wads of space on pointless crap, and never actually give up and coming bands a mention. No interviews, nothing. The only thing you ever get, is the odd review. It's not really doing anything to promote the scene as it stands over here is it? Seems that if you don't have the backing of a major label deal, and get pushed in their faces, then they don't give a fuck about you. And that's not the way it's supposed to be. Anyway, that's getting ahead of myself, as the main rant will be in the Zine Ish 5.
The one thing that needs to be done now, is to get the material out. It's been recorded for a mini-album, and really that needs to get released. It's all very well doing these gigs, but need to get the material out there for people to listen to.
But, well, it's always a pleasure for me to watch these gigs. I hope that these guys make it, cos they have the ability and they deserve it. And then I'll be able to look back at their hometown gigs and say, "I was there!". And besides, it seems that it's only on special occasions that they roll out Acid Test. And if they make it, maybe they'll be forced to play it all the time, and then I'll be a very happy person!
John tells people to check out the Gorilla webpage, but forgot the address. Well, I'll tell you, it's here. And don't forget mine exists as well!
I know, not a great review. But while it's required that people like me shout about them in your faces in order to get people to go, then that's what I'm going to do. So do it.
Oh yeah, and I felt fucking old at that gig. Kids today!