Birds In Flight: At the Joiners

So last night was a trip to The Joiners for the second time for me this week. I left my house with high expectations of the night to come. Although I have herd little of all 3 bands that played last night, before the show, I had herd nothing but good things about the bands from others than have been to see them in the last few weeks. The band that I reviewing today, is Birds In Flight.

Birds In Flight

Second on as The Joiner, were Glenn Hampson's “Birds In Flight”. The band are made up of Glenn Hampson on the drums, Theo McDonald on the Bass, Luke Allen on the guitar and with lead vocals Jess Gibbons (Apologies for any spelling mistakes with the names). All four members of the band are on the course with me at Solent, Jess is in the 3rd year and Glenn, Luke and Theo are all in the second year. Their influences include Incubus, Biffy Clyro, Paramore, Deftones, Chili Peppers. With plenty of stage presence and energy from the whole band, including Glenn, Birds In Flight made sure that everyone in the Joiners knew that they had arrived right from the off, and put on a really powerful performance from start to finish.

Sound

I really liked BIF's sound, I have always been a fan of heavy riffs, and Luke has written some brilliant heavy riffs that have a really interesting modern sounding attack on them which is very exciting to listen to. With these heavier riffs, the sound reminded me a bit of how Incubus sounded when they released S.C.I.E.N.C.E, heavy riffs with a distinct taste of funk underneath. The songs were, for me, engaging because they didn't go where I expected them to go, often, tracks would take a turn in the feel or the dynamics of the song which had a really good impact on the music, and kept us, as the audience, very much on our toes. This is a sign of a good band because in music, you can be excellent musicians, but if you're boring and predictable then nobody is going to buy a ticket to see you play. The group have obviously put a lot of thought into the sound and structure of their songs. Although the tracks didn't do what I expected them to do, they still flowed nicely between sections which is a mark of both good song writing and lots of rehearsal.

The band opened with a couple of really heavy and energetic tracks that immediately caught everyone's attention, before moving on to some more chilled out tracks with some lovely groves. Something else that was really nice to hear was having a female voice over heavy riffs. I have always preferred the heavier stuff myself, and its very rare that I come across a rock band with a female singer and the band doesn't sound exactly like Paramore (as much as I like Paramore). So this was really refreshing to hear and its a sound that works really well for the band. As well as the heavy stuff, the band also had some softer tracks. Unfortunately, I don't know the names for any of these songs so will have to bare with me when I say, I really liked the 3rd track! I did really like the 3rd track they played, for a couple of reasons. The band set a really nice groovy feel, which had a great contrast to their first to tracks which were very hard hitting and full on. The track also had a great pulse with a solid tempo which makes for a really good song to dance to, if your the dancing type. What was also nice about this song was the contrast in Vocals. In the first two tracks, Jess had applied herself well to singing with the energy and aggression of the songs, and this song really brought out another side of her voice and showed that her, and the band are very versatile musicians.

Performance

I could not fault the band on their stage presence last night, all four of them used as much of the stage as they could, particularly Theo, and it was clear to see how much they were enjoying themselves. One of the things that I have always said is that if you don't look convinced by your own music, then how are you ever going to convince anyone else by your music? On the whole, the band were very tight, there were one or two areas where Glenn and Theo needed to be a bit more together, they weren't out of time with each other, but in one or two places they were playing very different rhythms which, for me, didn't quite work. Other than that the band were very accurate and dead tight, particularly on the stops where they all stopped together and started together which sounded very professional. The vocals were very good too throughout the set, it is very difficult to stage in tune when playing live as everything is so loud it can be difficult to hear yourself. One of the highlights for me was when they performed a cover of Lady GaGa's “Bad Romance”. I loved their version of this because they were really imaginative with it, they put a completely different grove and feel onto the track but when the chorus came in with a really big sound that got everyone singing along. Jess also sang this in a more inventive way than the original track and Glenn and Luke sang some good backing vocals that really padded the chorus out nicely. Glenn also put a brilliant drum break in the middle which I absolutely loved, so on the whole it was a great cover and a great performance.

Verdict

Overall, Birds In Flight put on a fantastic performance, all of the band used the stage really well, interacted with the audience well and had some really good and well written songs. Considering they are a young band (only formed in the summer) they were very impressive and I look forward to hearing more of their work as time goes on. If you are a local in Southampton, they are playing at the Talking Heads tonight and I believe they are playing Hamptons on Thursday, though I could be wrong about that, but they are well worth checking out anyway! I would certainly go see them again.

Alice Avenue at The Joiners

its been a while since I last payed money to watch a gig, the last few gigs that I have been at I've either been playing or its been free entry. Tonight I went to see Alice Avenue play at The Joiners Southampton and it was a show well worth the admission fee of £5. Alice Avenue are a 3 piece band made up of Mike Wyatt on guitar and lead vocals, Jordan Easby on the bass and ALex kemp on the drums, all of which are in my year on the Popular music course at Solent. The band were formed over the course of last year and Joiners gig was one of their first "land mark" shows. (Though Im sure it didn't match up to playing The 100 Club last week).



Performance

Now that I've given a little bit of background, lets focus on the performance of the night. For me, it was probably the best show I've seen since I was at Bliss Fields earlier this year. The set was filled with blistering guitar solos, great bass fills and excellent drum beats from Alex, everything was dead tight and rehearsed to perfection, (as it Mike's way). The band also have, I don't want to say chemistry it sounds too weird, but they do have a great understanding between them. A great understanding certainly of music but also a great understanding between the three of them. Jordan and Alex were locked in dead tight, and the groves between the bass and the kick drum were well thought out and accurately played. Mike was great on the guitar, some really good licks as well as some fantastic solos that fitted the music really well, he also sang very well and was a very good front man despite the broken leg! There are few, if any, areas where I could really fault them on performance, so I'm not going to! There is such thing as being too picky!

Music

Alice Avenue has a really individual sound that really appealed to everyone in the room tonight. Their sound is difficult to describe, as is the case with most bands, but if I had to pick a style for them, I'd say that they were a fusion of Blues, Funk and Rock. I'm fairly sure that they would all disagree with me on that as very few bands like to be pigeon-holed into a set genre. One of the things that I most enjoyed about the band is that although each member puts in their own feel and personality into the music, they are very carful about doing it in such a way that it compliments what the other band members are doing. This is very refreshing to see as many band members try to either take over the much with too many licks and fills, or just don't put any personality or extra feel into the music at all. With Alice Avenue, this is not that case. The guitar solos were played in such a way that they added to the music, rather than took away from it, the fills on the drums and the bass were well placed and tasteful. Its great to see young musicians playing music that is well thought out and rehearsed and being enjoyed by the musicians and the band.

Conclusion

All in all, a great performance. Great music, well played, profession, fantastic! If I was going to be very critical then i would suggest that the band could use a few more members, perhaps some keys or brass? However this may take away from the feel that the band already have as a 3 piece, but still worth considering. Even staying as a 3 piece though, more could be added to the sound with the use of some backing vocals from Alex or Jordan. There is some room for some really nice vocal harmonies. But thats just me being very picky. Well done guys, keep it up!

you can access Alice Avenue's Myspace Account here

http://www.myspace.com/aliceavenue

You can't beat experience, in any field

As I may mentioned before, I am now working in a pub round the corner from my house in Southampton. One of the best things about working in a pub is the people you get to meet, of course, that does exclude the ones who have had a few too many pints and hurl glasses at you. But still, when working behind bar you do get to meet some really interesting people. Around two weeks ago, I was working the bar at said pub, and I guys came out to chat to me whilst he smoked. As we got to chatting he told me he worked as an engineer on the railway, after asking what I did, I told him I was a student studying music. It was at this point that he said something very thought provoking, that has been playing on my mind ever since that evening. He said “I don't have any qualifications, I learnt my trade on the job, and now, people hire me on my experience because they know that I have seen it all and I know what I'm doing. You can't beat experience, where ever you go”. That statement has really stuck with me these last few weeks, particularly the last bit “you can't beat experience, where ever you go”.

Before I go any further, I should point out that I am by no means trying to argue that qualifications are redundant! I am thoroughly enjoying my degree and I have learned so much from studying at Solent, I wouldn't be anywhere near the standard that I am at without uni. Qualifications also say a lot about a person, they will tell us how committed somebody is to their field, how hard they work, what they are good at, what areas they are knowledgeable in. However in saying all this, one could also argue that experience of one's field will give them an advantage over somebody with qualifications but little experience. This may not be true for all industries, but it is irrefutably true for the the music industry. I'm not the only one who say's this, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, one of my tutors, Pat, voiced the question “what will you do when you finish your degree? Because you can hardly walk up to The Rolling Stones and say, I have a degree in Popular music, can I be in your band?”. I believe that Pat has hit the nail on the head with that Rolling Stones comment, because that is what the real world is like. As much as my degree will help me improve my playing, and greatly improve my understanding of music and the music industries, it can only prepare me so much, for life in the real music industry. The people who really know what they're talking about are the people already out their doing it, working the sessions, doing the tour, “living the dream” as we budding musicians like to call it. And it is these people, who will get the work, because they have done it before, they will know what to do, and more importantly, the record label/sound engineer/ promoter will know, that they know what to do.

This is not to say, that people on degree courses in music, will not make it in the music industry. Our degree actually gives us a huge advantage in the sense that we are being “trained” for life in the industry. So when we do go out on our own, we will at least know, to a certain extent, what to expect. My point in this article is that, as much as I am going to score as highly as a can, a degree in popular music is going to do me loads of favours in the music industry in terms of qualifications. But what it does do, is prepare me for the really music world, and gives me a broad knowledge of music, and just a little bit of a kick start into my career. Which is why I would recommend further education to anyone, no matter what your field.