Sunday 6 January 2019

Old gig reviews: Gaia, Undecided, Scratchface, One More Sin @ The Brown Cow, Mansfield 21/7/2001

*A series of things I wrote a long time ago - I assume there was a band on before One More Sin but meh, a long time has passed*

One More Sin were on second without a soundcheck after several hours of 'faffing' at the 'Cow by others, but they still made the hastily assembled PA sound good. They're still playing a similar set to the last few times I've seen them, although Shane (guitar) and Luke (bass) inform me that they have a few new songs almost ready. The problem with playing music that isn't fast and jumpy punk/metal or old school indie in Mansfield is people seem to stand around wondering what to do. One More Sin are an excellent band, but they need to find their audience. If you like Tool and Nirvana you could do worse than to check them out.

I missed most of Scratchface's set tonight, but Undecided's Dave said something along the lines of "How are we gonna follow that!?" On tonight's showing I don't think he had much to worry about. The second the band approached the stage the audience doubled. Then they burst into 'Chaos Cube' and the crowd erupted into a frenzy of moshing and random crowdsurfing. 'Her Name was' only served to increase the activity. Describing what Undecided sound like gets harder everytime I hear them. There's elements of Machine Head, Will Haven, Napalm Death and the Deftones, but there's the occasional hip-hop influenced bassline from huge bassist Dan, the odd quirky little riff mixed in with the chugginess from the awesome Sam (tonight backed up by Brett, since Luis is in Spain I think) and something undefinable that makes it all work without ever sounding contrived.  Dave sings like no-one else, putting as much of himself into his performance as is humanly possible. Tonight they played a new song provisionally titled 'Pillow Talk' which threatened to tear the roof off the place. This showed Dave at his best, and the crowd could feel what he was saying. As Dave kneeled on the floor screaming, Sam began to hand the mike to people who by now had worked out his backing vocals, then put down his guitar and headed into the mosh. I've been to a lot of gigs but I don't think I've ever seen a band as intense as Undecided were tonight. I'd better stop gushing now. This IS the future of heavy music. You need this band like you need oxygen.

All of which left Gaia with an impossible task: following a local band who have just hit the first peak of their form. Still they gave it a go, bouncing around the stage At The Drive-In style to their impassioned post-hardcore. They don't really sound like anyway, but their sound borrows some sonics from the likes of Handsome, Far, Deftones and Braid, with a hint of early Get-Up Kids and Black Flag. A cool band sadly playing too late in the night to make a huge dent. They'll be back for more though.

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