Fastlane, Kingston Peel
With a name as intriguingly fantastic as ‘The Fighting Cocks’ I really didn’t think the interior, and to that matter the exterior, design of the venue would be in the same league. I was wrong, whilst driving through Kingston I spotted a Zebra-skinned building, just before I insulted the sheer audacity of it I realised it was actually the venue, and a nice little place it is too; very intimate, very loud and very stage less with the zebra theme continuing on the inside and strangely enough camouflaging the toilets…nice.
MYBE are a band I’ve only heard good things about over the last couple of years and until tonight I was sceptical about how ‘funny’ their live show would actually be. But low and behold, there’s no smoke without fire; their on stage humour and antics are some of the best I’ve seen and I was laughing out loud along with the rest of the crowd for the duration on their set. MYBE are also not only funny in between songs; having a song about Rosemary West is an icy area but this band could probably make any subject matter light hearted. Their music essentially reminded me of something between THE VANDALS and NOFX in a fast, madcap skate punk sort of way. They’re tight and very energetic on stage and for a three piece carry a shit load of presence. Believe the hype; they’re damn good. (7.5)
If there’s one band who can consistently perform well and provide a complete set’s length of sheer entertainment it is ROUTE 215. Although they basically improvised the whole set; their energy and enthusiasm, particularly of guitarist, Sean, who just doesn’t stand still, makes them shine out above the rest of the field. The inclusion of two new songs in the set seems to hint at a slightly more mature sound but with song titles such as ‘Jesus is Sexy’ you know instantly it has to be 215. They ended the set with in the traditional manner of ‘Steal Your Soul’ with other guitarist, Ryan, mounting the bar and front-man, Rod, climbing aboard whatever is nearest; classic stuff which just doesn’t get old. (8)
FASTLANE, to my knowledge are still fairly unheard of around the country, but with what I’m sure will be a stonker of an album coming out sometime soon I’d hope, this will all change. To label them pop-punk would be a bit of an injustice as they’re a multi-influenced, heavily hook laden machine covers so much ground in a unique way. I’ve only actually seen FASTLANE play maybe four times but I virtually remembered every song in the set. To spell it out; FASTLANE have the catchiest choruses I’ve heard in absolutely ages. Their live show is far from static with front-man, Ben, continually rocking out with the rest of the band which in turn left the crowd nodding their heads in an almost mesmerising fashion. Expect to hear more of this band. (8.5)
All in all, this was a very worthwhile venture down to Kingston on a Friday night. I saw three awesome bands in a nice little venue. The only fault of the evening was just how badly my ears were ringing the next morning even after wearing plugs for the whole show. It was worth it though; a really cool show.
Mike
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