Words: Richie Yates, Photos: Adrian Wharton/Richie Yates
Percy’s in Whitchurch is one of those ace little venues putting on gig after gig of great music out in the rural plains. It’s got a superb PA and Lighting setup and ace stage and great technical people running it. Well worth the trip, always a great night there and the kind of gem of a venue you don’t want to disappear. So go visit.
Grenades hail from Birkenhead, they describe themselves as Alternative Alternative which is about right. Its a dark sound but not an overtly distorted and heavy one. Each instrument (particularly the two guitars) is carefully audible in its own sound bubble. They can roar when the song requires it but overall its a carefully constructed noise, played expertly. With meticulous drums from behind and a passionate crystal clear vocal up front thats a joy to hear.
There’s no excess fat with this band, they make their musical point, hold onto it for sometimes an intense amount of time letting it all build up and then they move on. The dark sound is jagged and would fit in the post punk description with maybe Gang of Four as one reference point, then again there’s Stooges like hints too. The lack of musical wastage keeps it all brutal and deceptively simple sounding even when the two guitars are playing off and around each other in quite complex ways. Contained anger aggressively delivered and well worth the journey to Whitchurch to see.
The next band up, Mischief, are from an altogether different style, this is Metal,1980s early Iron Maiden tinged Metal! Its an old band from Stoke that have somewhere along the way reformed after a long gap. You wouldn’t notice it in their playing though. Like a lot of Metal bands they can seriously hit their instruments. There’s solo’s galore and extended double guitar harmonising parts with vocals that border on on Rob Halfords range and are delivered with a lot of power. Lots of fun, some self consciously very dated song lyrics(!) and with a fascination for the darker side of things but delivered in a whirlwind of really really tight crunchy noise that can only be described as a lot of fun to listen to. I had a take-me-back blast watching them. They did leave me smiling, a lot.
Links:
Grenades
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/61576085555496
Mischief
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mischief10
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/MISCHIEF_UK_band