The third anniversary show at the Soundhouse
Saturday 5th October 2013
Leicester live music venue The Soundhouse treated its customers to two days of exceptionally fine music. The venue celebrated its third anniversary with a weekend of bands and singers.
Keith Jobey told us: “The Soundhouse is a great venue that should be applauded for what it has achieved in the last three years. They’ve held some amazing gigs, pulled in some big names and nurtured some great local talent. Well done and thanks to all involved.”
On Saturday we saw some of the acts performing between 4 pm and the close at about 11 pm. On stage today were Friendly Enemies, Growlers, The Dead Shoot, No More Heroes, Terrace, the Varsity and Soundtrack. Here is our selection of what we saw:
Young Leicester band Friendly Enemies opened their set with a lively indie tune laced with twangy, reverb-pedalled guitar riffs before the vocals kicked in with the bouncy melody. FE delivered a well orchestrated set of songs. Their second song SYE, brought some fresh material into the set of contemporary sounding indie songs. They showed that, as a band, FE has plenty of musicality.
Being the first act on they had to play to a thinly populated room but this did not deter them from giving us a well-polished set. Good song writing, kickin’ drum parts and suggesting they well rehearsed, it was pretty good from a young band.
Read about Friendly Enemies at the OBS on 17th March 2012
We wrote: ‘Good work from front man Eddie Cohen; leading a lively song, with a strong funky rhythm, he got their set off to a sound start. Good work too from drummer Isaac Henderson Pennington who got his levels just right and with some impressive guitar work from Alby Ridgewell it went well for them … Vivacious and ear-pleasing songs resonated well with the young audience. Their second song got off to a flying start, bassist Alex Logan providing the intro, soon to be joined by the guitars in a song that plenty of colour and vibrancy.’
The band has a gig coming up at Lock42 on 16th or 17th October if you want to check them out.
Follow Friendly Enemies on Facebook
Growlers, a blues/rock trio from the Barwell/Earl Shilton area, started their set with a long instrumental intro, until the vocals came in from the guitarist, backed by the second guitar. Strong, hard rock tunes with pounding beats to start with, their set was varied enough not to be bored and with a vigorous attack, they kept it going really well. they went down well. Not a band I had seen before but I was impressed and so were the many other musos who commented about them to me.
Another Leicester band, No More Heroes, also put on an exceptionally good set. The quartet with their guitar-playing lead vocalist – Callum Cook – and singing drummer Andy Anderson, delivered some beltin’ songs and a big balladic number where they showed they could do variety.
The power vocals of Callum Cook kept it all moving and the drumming was also impressive. An all-round good group of musicians and set of enjoyable songs.
Follow No More Heroes on Facebook
Four piece alternative band from Cambridge, The Varsity, provided one of the most interesting sets of the day. With their lead singer Nigel, they produced a distinctive sound. The work of guitarist Oscar Corney is also worthy of note and was the drumming of Sean Clayton. Musically the Varsity’s style was hard to place – which might well be an acknowledgement of their originality.
Nigel delivered his vocals with energy and commitment, flavouring what was an unmistakably rock idiom with an R ‘n’ B feel, delivering a vocal style sharing elements of melodic song with that of rap (not unknown in rock circles of course.) Overall, The Varsity produced music that was fresh and out-of-the-box. Being able to mix upbeat and vibrant numbers with slower songs that were charged with a good deal of colour and atmosphere, The Varsity gave us some seriously good musical experiences.
Follow The Varsity on Facebook
The day drew to its finale when Leicester band Soundtrack came on stage. Clearly a popular band, Soundtrack filled the space in front of the stage with their fans, unlike some others who left a gaping wide hole between themselves and the rest of the room.
Driving beats, passionate playing and sensational vocals from Mark Ryman-Tubb delivered a resounding conclusion to a long but rewarding day of live music.
Mark is a front-man with an extra-ordinary charisma and the band, as whole, had plenty of impact, putting out songs that had impact and dynamism. A thoroughly good climax to a thoroughly good day of music.
Follow Soundtrack on Facebook.
Read more about the Soundhouse:
Our interview with the staff of the Soundhouse at the end of their first year
See also:
Our review of the second day at the Soundhouse weekender (if you want to comment about an act that played on Sunday or even pen a short review of a band or singer, please either scroll down and enter something into the comment box below, or send us some text.
See our diary of live music in October
