A trio of trios featured at the Fleece's free showcase last night.

The gods didn't appear to be shining on Electrolite, however. Frontman Nick broke a guitar string at the beginning of the first song and his replacement guitar needed a bit of impromptu re-tuning later.

Then bassist John somehow managed to lose his plectrum. But these mishaps weren't enough to spoil their set.

John moved between bass and keyboards, giving them two slightly different musical identities - a straight-up rock band and a slower, funkier side.

Nick has a fantastic gravelly voice older than his years that rubs up nicely against their groove-laden rock.

If they can perform this well when things are going wrong it bodes very well for less accident-prone performances.

 

 

 

There was no mucking around with Forgotten Sleep - they kicked off with a massive cacophonous riff that perfectly set the tone for their furiously energetic set.

The band, all siblings, are great fun to watch.

When Matt and Hannah weren't headbanging together in perfect rhythm they stood in front of their microphones, both with a fan blowing their near-identical haircuts out of their faces.

Their Queens of the Stone Age-influenced racket was great, and compensated for the fact that neither Matt nor Hannah has a very strong voice.

Then the gremlins struck again when Gaz managed to break the rim of his snare with his furious drumming but, again, it wasn't enough to spoil the fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a bit of a buzz around Bearknuckles at the minute - they've got gigs around the country and even in Malawi in upcoming months. And from their tremendous first song it was clear why.

The rhythm section remained solid but impassive throughout, leaving the focus on singer and guitarist Ross. He's got a passionate voice that was well exercised on new tracks Van's House and Move and Retreat as well as on relative oldies such as Friend or Foe.

 

 

All three bands were tight, focused and confident - and it was a great showcase of Bristol's young talent.

Four stars

Review: HELEN SLOAN (Evening Post)