reaper shed 3 — The Reaper at The Shed's Young Bands Night

Thursday 19th June 2014

Young bands night at The Shed.

On stage tonight: Flight 15, The Reaper, House of Fire.

Flight 15 – a three-piece band – opened the show. They have a singing drummer. Finding a drummer who sings is uncommon. When observing bands on a stage, details are noted – such as the guitarist and bassist were playing with opposite hands (granted there is no significance in this, of course.) Flight 15’s set was well performed. In fact this is a band that gets better each time they play. The band comprises two sixteen year-olds and one who is fifteen. They come from Hinckley and Birmingham.

The Reaper at The Shed's Young Bands Night — The Reaper at The Shed’s Young Bands Night

The second band to come to the stage was The Reaper, from the county of Oxfordshire. We hear many young bands play at The Shed and all of them are surprising good, for their age and level of experience. Once in a while however, a band comes to the stage that is outstanding. This four-piece group blew us away with their set – not just me – but everyone I spoke to – we were all amazed at what this band could do. Their opened song 20:20 started with an explosive intro.

With strong vocals from lead singer Joey Kenny, the band’s first song thundered through the room. The two guitarists sang and they soon had the room vibrating with their wonderful, big metal sounds. On stage they were all living the music, putting total commitment into their music. Their big, ballsy metal songs were delivered with megawatts of energy – in a way you would normally expect only from groups twice their age. The guitar solos were blisteringly impressive. Great walls of sound and an exhilarating stage presence were the hallmarks of what they did. Vigorous stage craft is not something usually seen in young bands, so The Reaper’s energetic performance on stage was very impressive. The vocals from the lead guitarist were exceptionally good (he not only sang the words, he acted them too) and all four of them played high a high standard of technical excellence.

Harry Winks from The Reaper, at The Shed

These young certainly knew how to rock out. They had the kids in the crowd moshing like mad. Their infectious last song of their set had the fans bouncing. I have not seen a young metal bands this good in a long time. I rate them alongside the best young Leicester bands: Azidify, Silent Resistance and the mighty Slaine. They were phenomenal.

If you want to see for yourself watch The Reaper’s Liquid Gold on YouTube

Follow The Reaper on their website and on Facebook.

House on Fire at The Shed, with singing drummer

Local band House on Fire brought a large group of their fans to their debut appearance. The quartet had a singing drummer – not just backing vocals, he actually did a lot of the lead singing – who continued to play whilst also singing. That was rare. Their opening song was full of bouncing rhythms, which the crowd loved. They played with energy and commitment. When the bassist had a broken string, he quickly borrowed a fresh instrument and they were off again, undaunted. It’s rock – things happen – they stood it in their stride and got on with it. For this second number they played a cover of House of the Rising Sun which burst into a profusion of fast-paced punked-up sounds. They delivered their set with plenty of good-natured humour and a set of lively songs that created a positive atmosphere in the room. Very enjoyable. It was a resoundingly successful first gig.