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As part of the
Trashstock tour by Riot Promotions the tour has found it’s way to the
North East for the first time and also is the first time the event has
reached Stockton’s The Arc theatre. As part of the venues all age’s
nights the youth of Stockton once again descend on their regular Thursday
night rock fest.
Due to a family
matter we arrived at the venue a little later than planned and to our
disappointment Disarm were just coming to the end of their set, so
apologies to Brad and the rest of the band for missing their set.
I’m sure we will catch you next time and once again my sincere apologies,
but if the vibe about the band after the show was anything to go by you
guys totally rocked the joint.
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So next up were
Zen Motel, a band led by frontman Lee Wray formerly of Johnny Zhivago, a
band that had all the right tunes but never the breaks. So joining Wray on
this venture are Alex Green and Si Fricker on guitars, and fellow ex-Zhivago
stickman Neil Roberts on drums, with Wray covering both vocals and bass.
After a short
introduction by promoter James Riot, the band get the ball rolling with a
corker ‘21st Century Bitch’, which was originally a Zhivago
favourite of mine, only now it's been revamped and given a harder edge,
which now sounds even better than the original and live it's just massive.
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So now that the
band had got the young crowds attention they kept the tempo going with the
superb ‘Rocket 69’, a song that Wray informed the audience was about blow
jobs, which was strangely met with approval by the crowd.
Then it was time
for the first of the bands tracks from the new 'Stations of the Dead'
album, the anti Chav culture anthem ‘Dress Code Violence’, which also met
with the approval of all the young rockers in the audience. The band
really turned up the heat with their pounding ass kicking rock n' roll as
the set continued to win over the crowd and especially ‘Sweet 13’, which
was all about young 13 year old girls, whom were plentiful in the audience
tonight.
It was back to
the new album for ‘Last Night of the English Pig’ and the rocking ‘Selfish
Too’. The excellent set was capped by the final track the mighty
‘Devil Song’ that rounded off one of the finest performances I’ve seen by
the band to date.
Now the next
band are one of those bands that I've heard plenty about but until now
have never seen them live. So I was expecting big things from
Patchwork Grace and thankfully they didn’t disappoint.
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Once again the
band were introduced by James and instantly the kids seem to come out of
the woodwork and descend on the front of the stage. Especially the
young females who made a beeline for the side of the stage where guitarist
Crip was standing.
This Nottingham
based band are fronted by the powerful and enigmatic vocal talent of Tori
Trash, who along with Crip, bassist Joey Strange and drummer Danny Gunn,
set about their set of Gothic Glam with the intention of corrupting the
youth of Stockton.
They got things
underway with ‘Lovely’ and instantly the vocals of Tori reminded me of a
young Hazel O’Connor and with Crip ripping it up
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on the guitars the band were an instant success with the crowd. |
The set
continued with ‘Pretty Boy’ and the exceptional ‘Zebra’, with both Crip
and Strange jumping around the stage like whirling dervishes, covering
every inch available much to the delight of the young female members of
the crowd, who were by this time totally smitten by the young guitarists.
The set flowed
with its Gothic Glam mix with ease as things continued with ‘Dog’ and the
enigmatic ‘Secret Squirrel’, before the band really went to town on the
Stray Cats cover ‘Love Cats’, which once again saw Crip ignite into a blur
of activity which was matched by the exuberance of Strange.
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With the set at
its midway point the band really were on fire by now as they continued to
rock the place with ‘Doctors Note’, ‘Soap’ and the sleaze ridden ‘Little
Me’, before finishing off with ‘Favourite Place and ‘Choc Milk’. All
of which rounded off a quite impressive set and one that has surely won
the band new fans up here in the North East.
Especially young
Crip who when he came to clear the equipment of the stage after the show
was swamped by young admirers whom he beset with plectrums, autographs and
kisses much to their delight.
And was all the
hype surrounding the band worth it? Well quite simply yes! |
I'll look forward with baited breath for the next Trashstock tour and
fingers crossed now they've found us on the map, they might pay us a visit
next time too! |
