I hadn’t heard of many gigs occurring in Baker Street’s former vintage clothing shop Disgraceland, so naturally I was intrigued to see what this mild Saturday night in March had to offer. From the doorway, which is inconveniently positioned next to the stage, I scanned the 20-something audience who were squeezed tightly into the small room for a spot for myself to stand. No spot could be found, so, Stella Artois in hand, I took my place directly in front of the stage.
Whale Hill kicked off the evening superbly, guitarist, vocalist and overall entertaining front man Reece Mallett thrashed around to the point of nearly taking my nose clean off with his guitar. The stand out track of their set was ‘Broken Rose’ and I will be actively seeking out their next gig, I might stand a little further back second time round though, then again, maybe I won’t, they’re going to be one of Teesside’s biggest bands yet.
Strangeways were next, frontman Tom Limon standing cool as a cucumber smashing out catchy guitar riffs. I was really pleasantly surprised at the band’s tightness, they had a real professional air about them. Their stand out songs were ‘You’ve Got Nothing to Say’ and ‘Fade Away’ and I especially enjoyed their reasonably new folk track about Teesside with it’s appropriate lyrics and catchy chorus. Strangeways are 100% ones to watch… and hear
The crowd were positively buzzing at this point, SWEARS were due on and I was approximately 4 cans of Stella into the night. I spent some time chatting outside and joked with SWEARS frontman Joel Clayton about the fact that I felt uncomfortably close to the acts where I was stood. On returning inside I realised I’d left it too late and was forced, again, to stand directly in front of the band, luckily the SWEARS frontman saw the funny side and we shared an irony-filled smirk at one another.
The set that ensued was jam-packed with heavy riffs, jumping around and top quality musicianship, SWEARS really know how to headline a show. The audience were in awe and it didn’t long for a tame, tiny moshpit to develop, for which I might be partially to blame for and their cover of ‘I wanna make it with you’ was exceptional. Now the set was coming to a close and the band had 2 songs left, the penultimate song began and before I knew it, I was roughly 7 foot in the air being carried around the audience, yes, I was crowd surfing and yes, it was spectacular.
Credit to Vibrant Promotions for the corker of a lineup and surprisingly decent venue.
SWEARS are playing Stockton Calling and you can hear them here:
Facebook: @swearsbanduk
Facebook: @strangewaysbanduk
Facebook: @whalehill5
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