Artist: Whitefire & Epic   

Venue: The Gasworks, Bradford

Date:  11 January 2008 

One of my favourite young bands in recent years have been Bedale’s very own Whitefire, a band that have grown in stature over the past few years and a band I have high hopes for in 2008.  With their high profile tour with legends The Tygers Of Pan Tang later this year, the band will hopefully start to get the recognition they deserve.

Tonight the band have brought along with them Epic, another young band also from Bedale and a band that shook my very foundations right from the sound check with their quite phenomenal lead singer Donna, who just blew me away with her power ... and this was just at the sound check!  I was completely taken aback when the band took to the stage as Donna, guitarist Ben, bass player Marcus X and drummer Bruce went about their set.

They opened up with 'Watch Me As I Fall’ and instantly those fantastic pipes of Donna filled the room with a mix of Pat Benatar and Stevie Lange.  This mixed with the rich guitar sound of Ben made the band an instant success in my eyes and ears.  If ever there was another female vocalist who could truly cover the infamous 'Remember' then this young lady is that very person.

The band continued to impress with ‘Never Enough’, a true slice of Classic Rock mixed with a funky bass riff by Marcus, then the band went one step further with the next song as they gave a quite outstanding cover version of Led Zep’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’, again with Donna showing us what a fantastic range she has as she made the song her own.  This has got to be one of the best versions of this song I’ve ever heard, it was quite simply superb.

I thought the band were going to slow things down a touch after that classic, but ‘Let Go’ started off in gentle mode but soon built up into a raucous rocker with Marcus lending some Rap vocals mid section just to mix it up a little.

After the fantastic Zep cover the band again gave their own spin on a classic, this time ‘AC/DC’s Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be’ was given the Donna treatment.  This seemed to inject some life into those at the back of the venue at the bar as they mustered around the stage area to witness a great young band having fun on stage.

Next it was back to their own material with Ben giving this one a big opening, ‘Waste My Time’ was a great piece of Hard Rock that any band would be proud off.

The band showed their diversity as they continued with the bluesy ‘Blues Song’ with Donna lending some sultry vocals to this one, before lifting the tempo once more with ‘Set Me Free’.  This was possibly my favourite song from the band in what was an altogether great set that was rounded off with ‘Inside Out’.

To say I was impressed by Epic would be an understatement, they are a band with great potential and with Donna at the helm the band have a very promising future ahead of them. 

Now on to Whitefire, what can I say about these guys they are one of the hardest working young bands around and will play anywhere, anytime, just to get their music out there to a wider audience.

The band play classic rock like it means the world to them and that’s what I like about them, they're passionate about their music and it shows when they're on stage.  They come out all guns blazing with ‘Keep It Alive’ with Jon Sibley just superb up front, with the charismatic Chris Mills just ripping it up on guitar as usual.

It was nice to see rhythm guitarist Stephen Mee standing stage front as the last few shows he seemed to be hiding in the shadows a bit, but as he and the band have grown in stature I think his confidence has also perhaps grown as well.

The band brought in a little blues with ‘Set It Free’, again with Mills giving his all while the backbone of the band, the rhythm section of R. J. Ellershaw on bass and John Maughan on drums, laid down a solid foundation for the rest of the band to just do what they do best, that is play rock n' roll.

The set continued with ‘Better Believe’, a little funky groove on this one before they set about whipping the audience up with their version of AC/DC’s ‘High Voltage’, again Sibs was in fine voice (there must be something in the water in Bedale for two superb vocalists to come out of such a small town!).

It was time for the band to slow things down a bit with ‘Home Coming Blues’, but it wasn’t long before we were rocking again with the excellent ‘Walls Keep On Falling’, which was a new song for me and I just loved it.

Next it was time for a little more blues fuelled riffs from Mills on the Free-like ‘The Swindling Man’, the band got such a great reaction from the bar for 'High Voltage' they slip in another AC/DC classic.  This time ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ got the Whitefire treatment and with Mills just melting the fret board with some monstrous licks again the cheers of approval came from the bar.

Now was time for my favourite Whitefire song ‘S.L.R.'. The first time I heard this song it blew me away and every time since then, tonight being no exception.  This rocker is pure Whitefire and is what the band are all about.

They rounded off the set with another excellent song ‘Soul Stealer’ for a big finish, although the band didn’t have time to leave the stage as the crowd demanded more and more we got.  This time a couple of classics and they don’t come any bigger than Free’s ‘Wishing Well’ and the best cover of the night by far Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’, with Mills giving his all on this one as he hit every note on the nail and with such ease.

The band once again showed they're top form and hopefully it won't be too long before I see them again on stage as these guys deserve their big break.  Hopefully they will pick up a few pointers for Robb Weir and the rest of the Tygers on the forthcoming tour, I for one will certainly be looking out for those dates.

 

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