Andy Knox @ Head of Steam

Reviewed by Stephen Ferrell

The Head of Steam was packed as Andy Knox and his band took the stage. It had been relatively empty for the other bands at this latest to far north event. So it was clear who the majority of the crowd had come to see. The crowd were not left disappointed either as Andy proved himself to be a highly talented and entertaining front man. Well received by the crowd with frequent calls of Knoxy! coming from his supporters. The crowd were very much into this gig with crowd surfing even taking place as the bands set was coming to an end. As anyone who has been to a gig downstairs at the Head of Steam knows this is generally a small intimate venue to play. So to inspire crowd surfing and a rowdy reaction is quite an achievement. Backing singer/songwriter Andy were the exceptionally talented Stevie on bass, Franco on drums, Dom on keyboards and luke on fiddle. Andy Knox is certainly a performer I would recommend people look out for in future, so next time you see his name on a flyer get yourself down to the gig. More immediately then that though you can check out his tracks on I-Tunes.

Kid Harpoon @ Head of Steam, 25/02/08

The current UK tour of Kid Harpoon kicked off on the 25th of February in Newcastle in the Head of Steam. The venue was packed, and well that can’t be a bad thing. Kid Harpoon has great stage presence that was combined with really good music. The band had a new guitarist, it was his first gig, so Kid decided to point this out at one moment during the show and well they decided to play a song which they never played live before so that he would not feel out of place. The music is marked by loads of things, but I think the voice of Kid Harpoon is probably what makes it especially good.
Lupen Crook and the murder birds were on right before Kid Harpoon. Lupen and his pirates like crew were all on drugs. Their songs sounded like a mix of eastern European folk rock. After the gig they tried to get money off everyone, so they decided to slit open the tired of Kid’s van, resulting in them being arrested.
The seven-piece band, New Vinyls, from Newcastle were the first support band. They definitely do what good music should sound like. Their set was marked by songs that are musically impeccable and are really good lyric wise. It was like an invitation to dance, maybe because their music is not only quite catchy but also very original.

Review by Solveig Werner

Grammatics @ the Head of Steam, 26/02/08

Not knowing who the Grammatics are, but having been advised to show up at their gig I did so and had an amazing time. Their music is impressive to narrow it down to one word. It is almost hard to describe, electro mixed in with rock and classical, or something like that. The music is of the sort that you should close your eyes to and let it fully overtake you. Maybe it’s the Cello, and the amazing voice of the front man. Worrying is the skinniness of some of the band members. The fact that the bass player likes Rilo Kiley raised my sympathy for this band even more.
Two drum kits? Well that’s what Vessels had on stage, and for one song only. But that song was amazing, seen that you can do a lot more with two drum kits than with one, it was a fast song.
Then there was Sefelt, a local band that started of their set by complaining about the Taxi fare they had to pay from Gateshead to reach the Head of Steam, getting some members to complain about having to pay £5 for their ticket. The music was good but not stunning.
The first band on was weird, well that depends on the definition of weird, but still Ryoga were quite weird. The music sounded alright but well I was distracted by the member of the audience that was dancing in front of everyone and by the fact that the keyboard player had a gigantic moustache. That wasn’t all he also had a giant piercing through his nose and had three really big arrows tattooed onto his shaved head. Who wouldn’t be distracted by that?

Review by Solveig Werner