Resin’s night at Firebug 2013
Saturday 21st December
Hinckley-based band Resin held a night at Firebug which was widely acclaimed by gig-goers as being one of the best of the year.
Here are Kevin Gaughan’s moments from that show:
Photos and videos by © Kevin Gaughan
Mage – watch this video from the night on YouTube
Mordecai – watch this video from the night on YouTube
Hells Addiction – watch this video from the night on YouTube and this one too
Resin – watch this video from the night on YouTube and this one too
Read our review of last year’s Resin gig at The Firebug (on Arts in Leicester)
Steve Kilminster was there for us and here is his report:
OK, I’ll put it out there right away, Resin know how to throw a party!
There are some gigs you go to where the bands show up, the audience listens to their sets and everyone goes on their way – all very business like. The Resin Xmas party at Firebug on 21st December was the polar opposite; right from the outset there was a party atmosphere and whether it was the Christmas Spirit, anticipation of the evening’s lineup or the champagne and mince pies, you could feel it was going to be a good night.
Arriving at the already busy Firebug at around 7:30 pm, it wasn’t long before Mage took to the stage, welcomed by the evening’s compare Jason McGuire and introduced to ripples of laughter as Leicestershire’s second ugliest band. Immediately, Tom and the lads from Hinckley grabbed and held the audience’s attention with their sludgy doom metal, delivering a set that comprised of tracks from both their EP and debut album Black Sands. The set sounded great and there was no getting away from Mage’s self-confessed Sabbath influence, with their crushing down-tuned riffs and grooving bass lines. The set was well received by all, as was the announcement of the band’s first fan tattoo!
After a short break, Mordecai were next, being given special thanks for having made the trip up from London.
The four-piece, hailing from Croydon, grabbed the audience as soon as they kicked off and despite having to fight off a few feedback issues, the set sounded great with vocals, guitars and drums all spot on, being topped off by some driving bass lines courtesy of the bass juggling Rick Kilcher. Mordecai have a great stage presence, delivering material from their debut album ‘Undaunted’, along with some new stuff and a covers medley with some real character. After providing the crowd with some freebies, their set concluded with a two-song encore, the first a yet-to-be recorded new track and then the great ‘White Horse’. I was actually surprised at how heavy Mordecai were, blending some almost hardcore elements into their slightly grungy rock-metal style.
The penultimate band of the evening was Hell’s Addiction. Their huge, no-messing sound, reminiscent of many of the rock-metal bands of the 80s went down very well with the packed Firebug crowd. Some serious guitar shredding, rolling bass and awesome vocals were all underpinned by (in my opinion) the drumming performance of the evening by Luke Morely – who was certainly also in the running for best beard! The Hell’s Addiction set mixed songs from their debut album ‘Raise Your Glass’ along with some new tracks such as ‘Out of Sight’ that we were informed would certainly be on the next album. Along with their original material, we were treated to a cracking cover of Deep Purple’s ‘When a Blind Man Cries’.
Follow Hell’s Addiction on Facebook.
The stage was set for Resin to make their entrance with just a single stool and acoustic guitar. This seemed to certainly raise the anticipation of the crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder in the packed upstairs room at Firebug. Resin front man James Botha bowed to the pressure of his band mates and took to the stage and provided us with a fantastic solo acoustic rendition of ‘Beskadig’. As the crowd applauded the rest of Resin took the stage. The guys kept the tempo slow for the next couple of songs before switching out the acoustic rhythm guitar for a full electric setup.
Versions of ‘Cloud’, ‘Carpe Diem’ and ‘Poison’ from their ‘Embrace the Fall’ album were anthem-like, with the crowd singing back every word, the encouragement from James for the crowd to sing along lifting them even further. Between tracks James also commented that the band felt a little stiff, but this certainly didn’t come across in the performance, in fact the sound was anything but stiff, all members sounding excellent. Simon Yarwood and Mark ‘Chez’ Roseby’s guitars gelled perfectly on top of some brutal bass by David ‘Sev’ Seville, and despite having formally left Resin earlier in the year, the last minute return of Mark Abbott on drums sounded like he’d never been away.
It would seem that the party atmosphere wasn’t lost on the band, with plenty of smiles and antics; it appeared everyone in the room had a great time.
The set finished to a huge ovation, allowing all the members of the evening’s bands to jump back on stage to take a bow. Even though I didn’t hang around for the after party, at that stage it still felt like things were just getting started – testament to a fantastic event organized by Simon Yarwood and the guys from Resin.
See also:
Our round up of the greatest gigs of 2013
2013 – Live Music in Leicester
