This gig was a promotional night for Legg Up, so we were treated to some additional performers as well as compere/ringmaster Ramtin himself with his beautiful 'Russian' assistants. Pretty full downstairs and between 60-70 upstairs, so not a bad turnout.

Tonight’s gig was a bit unusual, not only because there was a gorilla doing card tricks in the bar, but because of the bands playing.

Instead of the normal mix of start-up, developer and fully-developed grouping of bands we had three top-notch indie/rock acts who are big fish in their own local ponds. Two from Bristol and one from Chichester. So no complaints about getting value for your entry tax.

There were a lot of striking similarities in the bands tonight. Each band is all-male 5-piece originals Indie/Rock band made up of accomplished musicians, good driving bass/drums combo, inventive lead guitar and a strong front man/lead vocal holding it all together. The Photos have gone for a specialised vocalist and rhythm guitar with no keyboard, whilst Oversol and their buddies Underdown double up the front man/rhythm guitar and include a keyboard to add flexibility to the sound.

The band members adopted similar positions – front man in the middle with drums behind and Bass behind and slightly stage right. Lead guitar stage left, rhythm guitar and keyboard stage right. I wondered how much of this was to help the sound engineer, but apparently the bands normally line up like this.

They’ve all got a back catalogue of top grade material, with EPs issued and albums out or in the works. They are all assured and polished performers, both individually and as a tight group, and all are at the stage where they are venturing out on the tour circuit to break through the glass ceiling into the wider consciousness.

Let’s face it. We all love our local bands, but local adulation isn’t enough for a good band to make it. So this is a dangerous stage – we’ve seen so many superb artists get disheartened and give up when they‘ve been unable to break into the mainstream after a lot of hard work doing so well locally. It would be a lot easier if local and national radio did their bit to give these guys some exposure – but don’t get me started……

So in the face of all the similarities, to paraphrase Vincent from Pulp Fiction, ‘it’s the little differences’ that set the bands apart. Those differences are in the material the bands have written and the way each band uses their line-up to produce their own distinctive sound.

The Photos were first up. The distinguishing feature for this band has to be singer Dean Oliver’s voice and their use of harmonies. Standout set (of course) with particular mention going to the anthemic ‘Bittersweet’ (went down really well), ‘The Pier’, and ‘This Is The Last Day’.

‘Gone Are The Days’ showed it’s acoustic roots, starting off deceptively slow before developing into a real rocking little number, with the band having a great time and dancing about on stage. Finale ‘Boxing Day’ had everyone in the room dancing and singing along – even the shaven-headed guys up front. That tells you something about the quality of the songs.

Oversol, as the visitors, started off playing to a smaller crowd as most people took the opportunity to visit the bar while they were setting up. We couldn’t help thinking how this is what ‘our’ bands have to go through when they play away – an audience with no brand loyalty who doesn’t know the band’s material. Still there were about 40 people in at the start.

Things started to fill up again as Oversol worked their way through their set – although Aaron did have to invite people to move forward to fill the gap in front of the stage. Up till then there was a 10-foot area of clear space, with only Big Jeff up close, a pretty intimidating prospect if you don’t know him. The room was half full as they ended ‘Do You Remember’, a good strong, fast opener with some interesting key changes, with maybe a slightly over-long instrumental intro before anyone started singing.

Aaron ditched the guitar for ‘Do you Remember’ another strong rocker before they played their first slow tune – ‘Under Surveillance’, making good use of the flexibility offered by the keyboard. By now the audience was up to about 60 and were warming to these newcomers, and were interacting nicely with Aaron, who makes full use of the space on the stage.

Aaron lost the guitar again for the slow ‘Don’t Black Out’, followed by ‘Just Enough’, which is Oversol’s anthemic offering, but with a heavy beat going on as well. Aaron really puts his heart and soul into the vocals, so top marks for the frontman. Final song ‘1,2,3,4’ - (not sure why, but I kept thinking about The Beatles ‘I Am The Walrus’) got an enthusiastic response, so looks like Oversol has won some new fans in Bristol. Oversol’s album is due out soon, with a single release on 9th October.

Last up, our own ‘Underdown’, accompanied by a change in the crowd mix, with noticeably more young women up front.

Underdown are continuing to mature even since we last saw them at The Fleece in the summer. They are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their earlier work as their writing develops, and are dropping a lot of material from their set list. So, any old favourites, you’d better go see them soon!

Anyway, storming opener ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ got everyone’s attention before the follow-up, ‘ Lonely Town’ which is underpinned by a sumptuous bell-like keyboard. Mark’s guitar wasn’t working until about half-way into the song, so he was reduced to wearing it like a heavy ornament until then. No problem – like a true pro, he carried on making it all look intentional – lucky it was back online in time for the driving middle section.

‘Back Up Against The Wall’ was followed by ‘Break Your Heart’ and the slow number – ‘someone waits’, which I suppose is Underdown’s obligatory rock anthem – a few arms were starting to wave (I can see the sea of candle flames in the stadium already) – so no way can they drop that one!

New song ‘Killing Time’ was a real belter to finish the set.

An unexpected treat after all the music – Bangles, the gorilla beatbox no less. Bangles/Joel had to remove his mask early on to avoid drowning in his own spit, but what a treat including simultaneous beat and chorus and the unforgettable echo effect – all without any electronic assistance. Joel performed some close-up card tricks downstairs afterwards. I don’t recommend playing poker with this guy.

Kev & Chris@Bristolbands.com