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.
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