Since last November Sound Guernsey have been running monthly nights at The Venue giving under-18s a chance to experience some of the wide variety of new, live music available in the island.
For their summer party though, they stepped things up a bit, moving to their new home at The Fermain Tavern for an extended session featuring some of the bands who’d been most popular at the monthly nights alongside a couple of newcomers.
The first hour of the show had been deemed an open mic session, but only one, brand new, act took up the offer, Figure It Out. Formed literally within the last few weeks the quartet played a couple of songs and, while they were probably playing out a bit too soon, their enthusiasm couldn’t be faulted and they seemed to have an idea of what they wanted to be doing, even if it wasn’t really there yet.
The first advertised band on the line up have been around for the last year or so and have gained quite a reputation in that time and showed why tonight. Much tighter than even a few months ago Equilibrium have a light, poppy tone that sounds great on the likes of Scouting For Girls’ hit She’s So Lovely and got the already enthusiastic audience bobbing along.
While they don’t quite have the attitude for the slightly edgier songs they play, as a band they connected well with the crowd here and continue to show growth making them a band still worth keeping an eye on.
Track Not Found were billed as ‘the first band born out of Sound’ as they made their ‘proper’ debut. Mixing 90s style American indie, grunge and a hint of Riotgrrl the trio were a breath of fresh air amidst young bands playing the same old covers as one another. Already presenting a united front in terms of both sound and attitude all three came with presence and power and their songs backed it up.
Drummer Emma Thomas was a stand out, far more assured, confident and in her zone than when with The Bone Idols, while dual leaders Maisie Bisson and Grace Taylor captured the crowd from the off.
Taylor was particularly impressive giving off a confidence and ability beyond her years and, while the trio still have plenty of rough edges to work on, this goes down as one of the best debut sets from a genuinely new band I’ve seen in a long time.
From a band taking their first steps to one heading for their last, The Doomsday Project were fully in fun mode for their penultimate performance. This sense of fun that is embodied by frontman George Russell, but is clear in the performance of the other three members too, is making for some of the best shows I’ve seen from them, following their set the weekend before at The Gathering.
Already warmed up the crowd came forward from the start and it wasn’t long before they were bouncing, particularly when Smash Mouth’s All Star got an airing.
A highlight of the set (that was reprised for the encore) came with a run at Slave’s The Hunter that saw the band and the crowd all crouching down in preparation for the song’s roaring middle section. Even if The Doomsday Project don’t quite have the bite of the Kent duo it worked really well with a great relatable energy between the young band and audience that permeated the entire set.
Wrapping up with Chelsea Dagger (before the encore) closed off probably the best set I’ve seen The Doomsday Project deliver and if they are capable of this regularly it will certainly be a shame to see them go.
For the second time this weekend Honest Crooks took to The Fermain Tavern stage and it wasn’t long before the crowd were getting into their punk-ska-reggae sounds.
Once again the band played a blinder and, having seen them many times recently, I will admit that my focus drifted and I took the chance to get some skanking in. If a band can be as engaging with their own material as with covers by Sublime and their ilk then they must be doing something very right.
To ease in the change of musical styles DJ Four-Q took to the decks and filled the dance floor as his hip-hop sounds even got a fairly elaborate ‘dance battle’ going on in the middle of the floor – it looked like something out of a movie!
Then, with the crowd already worked up Jimi Riddlz and Apex of Asylum Seekas joined Four-Q, feeding off the energy from the crowd who, unlike some other audiences, weren’t shy about the call and response moments.
Seeing this trio in front of such an energetic crowd is to see them at their peak and they were as entertaining as I’ve ever seen them, ranging from the intensity of Riddlz work to Apex’s more lighthearted touches.
It felt like a mini Get Down was kicking off for a few minutes as the set flew by culminating in undeniable crowd pleaser Guernsey Bus.
Having been one of the most popular bands from all of the past Sound Guernsey events Blakalaska were suitable headliners and from the start had the crowd involved with their captivating electronic, dance-rock sounds.
Despite missing guitarist Oliver Farimond (his parts were filled in from Ollie McVey’s bank of electronics) the band sounded huge and the high energy of the earlier sets was still flowing, even if the crowd had shrunk a little (likely down to it getting a bit later on a Sunday night).
While most of the set is familiar the fact the band play rarely meant it still sounded fresh and there were some newer songs in the mix too culminating in an encore of Hands Up that had the desired effect of closing Sound Guernsey’s first show in their new venue on a real high – lets hope this carries on when the under 18 nights continue monthly from September.
You can see a full gallery of my photos from the show on the BBC Introducing Guernsey Facebook page and a few of my photos were used in The Guernsey Press along with Becky Cox’s review
Tommy Girard 