Last night I had the pleasure of going to
Manchester to see this show. I have to be honest and say that I wasn't overly
familiar with Eva Plays Dead or Devilskin. I was there primarily for Sumo Cyco, as I bought their debut album Lost In Cyco City a while ago and loved
it, so last night was finally my chance to get to see them play live.
As always, I should apologise
for the shit quality of my photos. I took them on my phone, and these were the
best ones. Oh well...
First up was the Derby/Notts
based Eva Plays Dead. They're a
tight band, full of energy, and engaged with the crowd really well. They
reminded me a bit of Marmozets in
places, and had the occasional heavy grooving riff that would be at home on a Raging Speedhorn album. Definitely a
band worth checking out!
Next up were Canadian Punk
Rock band Sumo Cyco. This was their
sixth UK tour, and I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't seen them live before. It
was clear that their repeat returns to the UK had paid dividends, as there were
plenty of people there who were already fans and sang every word with
enthusiasm. The band were teaming with energy and their love for what they do
was reciprocated by their audience, keen to participate at any opportunity.
Lead singer Sever (AKA Skye Sweetnam) was on fire, and jumped
into the crowd on several occasions only to emerge on someone's shoulders, or
re-appear at the side of the stage, all without missing a note. This is
definitely a band that has mastered their live performance and makes the most of
every show.
They played all of my favourite songs, including the new singles Anti-Anthem
and Move Mountains, as well as amazing
tracks from their debut such as The Ugly
and the ridiculously catchy set closer Fighter.
This band is in their prime and 100% on top of their game. Now is a great time
to go and see them before they become massive, so don't miss out.
Closing the show tonight was
New Zealand's Devilskin. I was new
to the band, but judging from the number of people in the audience wearing Devilskin T-shirts, I was clearly in
the minority here. Musically, they come across as a mix of Halestorm and Pantera, with their songs morphing with ease between uplifting
melodic Hard Rock and slamming Metal riffs. Some of their tunes have a
distinctive 90's Heavy Grunge vibe about them, reminiscent of early Alice in Chains and Gruntruck. They're kinda cool, and I'll
definitely be having a listen to their new album in the near future.
What I think is really
important here is that both Devilskin
and Sumo Cyco have travelled half
way round the world to do this tour of the UK. The venues are small, and
neither band is huge over here yet, so they can't be making a great deal of
money from these shows. I just want to acknowledge the sheer awesomeness of
bands on this level making the effort to play this far from home giving fans across the world the chance to see them at this stage in their careers. It's
a huge achievement and both of these bands are an inspiration to young artists
who really want to do something in music. I'm sure one day they'll both return
as much bigger bands, and people will have wished they'd seen them on
this tour.
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