Four bands for the price of a round of drinks?
Can't be bad! Can it?!
Live review: Smokin' Eskimo, Finding Bella, Watermark, Centerpeace
Purity, Wolverhampton, 19 March 2022.
Purity is a new(ish) live music venue and bar in Wolverhampton. They are keen to offer a stage to up and coming bands and those on the fringe musically. A grass-roots venue such as this is, of course, vital to the music scene.
So, it was great to hear of this gig. Four bands for next to nothing admission. This offer did,indeed, proof a good deal as the venue had a pleasing amount of people in to see this young bands from the Wolverhampton area.
ROX was there to capture the sights 'n' sounds of the night. With four edgy bands of young lads - it would be anything but dull!
You can see our interviews as part of our feature video on YouTube (at end of this review).
We were there for the sound-check. Well, if you call it that if I'm honest. The bands didn't seem to know or really have help from the sound engineer tonight. He seemed disinterested and/or not able to get a competant mix from the bands. This didn't bode well and the sound system at the venue is, frankly, not very good. It would be okay for karoake or discos but not up a full-blown live band at full tilt.
All four bands were over-loud, distorted and struggled with poor mixes, feedback and technical issues. Many of which could have been eased if the engineer could've been bothered to be at the desk! There seemed to be things far more interesting on his phone and that leather sofa was I guess more comfy?
Anyhow, on to the bands. First on were 3 piece Centerpeace, Mixing originals and covers they were competent and the vocalist/guitarist did seem to have a good musicality. Wasted a little on indie music. He has a soul-spirit not indie in my opinion.
Watermark have been tipped by other media as a band to watch. Maybe, but they need to watch those egos. They offered nothing new and nothing that will make them stand out from the pile of indie bands out there. Again, sound issues plagued them and the rythm guitarist seemed to be fighting his gear rather than play it!
Finding Bella do have potential. They, when sounding good, have a good sound with varied songs. It was a shame, therefore, that tonight they seemed to struggle with tuning issues and sound. They deservied better really. It would be nice to hear them with better sound.
Headliners Smokin' Eskimo were drunk (and high?) so by the time they took to the small stage they were gonna struggle. Yup! they did! It was a real shame has the band does have talent and a sense of left-field musicality that could serve them well in the future. This is early days for the band and I hope they settle down in to a solid band and achieve much. They could be big .
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