As ever, time to start at the end. Great gig, three different bands, diverse sounds yet related enough that everyone should've been able to enjoy them or at least part of them. As usual, it would've been nice for some more people to be around, but yes, for all the times I say that, I do realise it's difficult. 3 gigs in a row is taking it's toll again, moving towards cruise control. It's hard to keep up at times and all that business. It's just that if it wasn't for an evening like this, then I'd probably never even have heard OF Redlightsflash or Cameran, let alone heard them. As it is, I walked away having bought some new listening material by both bands. To add to the pile. Which is getting stupidly large now. Which is good. Plus I picked up Fracture 11, which as always is a good read, and which as always winds me up no end with it's opinionated views. Pretty much the way a zine should be really.
Anyway, HHH were first, a band I had heard of and seen before, though it was a long time ago, nearly a year and half now. In some respects they carried on a bit from where Silencer7 left off last night. A tuneful melodic band playing their slant on hardcore, there's no need to rely solely on the bigg riff. They can and do add a little more into their sound than that, and if the production problem from their demo is resolved, then the album that they mentioned is forthcoming should be pretty good. A Gorilla Biscuits cover is a reasonable indication of where they're coming from, though they remain relatively unique in hardcore circles by actually including a guitar solo in the final track, which is off the demo, the one about "violent dancing, we all know it's gay", but which I've forgotten the name of. Again.
Next are Redlightsflash from Austria. In the end they have to play a truncated set, which is a shame because they just seemed to be hitting their stride. The first couple of songs were a little bit melodic punk by numbers, but then things suddenly start to click. It's nothing entirely original, but they throw a nice slant on it, there's some pretty decent riffs going on, and importantly, it's fun. A new track, which they say was written just before they went out on tour, is probably the best thing they actually play tonight. A decent surprise.
Finally Cameran are also from Austria. They'd been described as something like Canvas, a reference which to be honest I failed to see. Me, I kind of thought a little bit of Refused around the Shape Of ... album. As much as anything it was the variety that made me think that. One minute all shouty grating throat vocals, then next the music breaks down totally into a mellow relaxing groove, and so do the vocals to match. There's even an attempt to crowd surf from the vocalist, pretty impressive given that he was already on the same level as the crowd when the launch was made. A couple of times members of the band wander over as they play to take a look out of the window at the passing traffic below, a kind of surreal moment to add to proceedings, and the vocalist goes and physically drags the front row of people a little closer to the stage. The lyrics themselves sounded fairly political and serious, but the sheer variety in the music overcame any cliche that may be involved. Seriously good band. Shame I can't really do them justice in describing how good they were.
The one annoying thing about tonight? Oh yeah, there's always got to be one thing. I warned before that I've picked up me bass again with the intent of trying to make bass like sounds emerge from it. And everytime there was a really interesting bass line that I wanted to see how they were playing it, the bassist turns around and faces the drummer! Gits. In all three bands! How's an idiot like me going to learn then eh?!