Wednesday 10 August 2016

False Advertising / The Nouvelles / The Rogue Network / The Bad Trips - Manchester Castle - 5th August 2016



Friday night saw a mammoth five band line-up at The Castle in Manchester for End Of The Trail Records. We caught four of them, a varied bunch of styles featuring False Advertising, The Nouvelles, The Rogue Network and The Bad Trips.

It's only The Bad Trips' fourth gig, but you wouldn't know from the tight set that they deliver. Their front man Adam has a strong stage presence and it's very evident that whilst it's a new band before, they're not strangers to the stage and to writing big bold upfront rock and roll songs that pack a mighty punch and draw an audience in. With tracks like, and we're guessing at them here, Red Hot, Liar, Your Touch and the pick of the crop Sick, they're a no nonsense rock and roll band that don't take any prisoners.  We can't too much out about them, but they'll be a band we'll be looking out for.



Next up are The Rogue Network, a rough and ready trio that trade in big bruising blues riffs - bold strident drum patterns with some impressive guitar work over the top of it and Gerallt's vocals are a perfect match for it with sandpaper rough edges to it that add to the world-weariness of songs like Again and in particular Lowland City, which is guaranteed to get your feet stomping and head shaking with its bar room brawl feel to it. They do leave the best to last though, the eight minutes plus of Operator taking us a fuzzy journey through their influences whilst still maintaining their own individual personality. Hard, dirty and in your face, The Rogue Network are also a whole lot of fun to watch, although we're with the drummer that the new shirts should probably have been avoided.

The Nouvelles are an interesting proposition. On face value they might appear to be pining for a return to the heady days of Madchester, not helped by their lead singer's hat and dance moves, but when you get past that, they've got some great tunes that more than stand up in their own right. Their guitarist Tom packs some of the strongest and most impressive punches we've heard in a long time and this helps to gel the band together perfectly. They finish with a couple of new ones, the first one has a fluid groove to it that doffs its cap to Fools Gold and then heads off to the dance floor whilst the second one has a virtuoso solo in the middle of its six minutes that would set most other guitarists to shame. By the time they've finished their short five song set, we can't help but like them, possibly against our better judgement.


Headlining the night are False Advertising and their incendiary set which turns the already ridiculous heat in the room up a further notch confirms their growing reputation as a band that takes no prisoners. Recent single Give It Your Worst and fellow Brainless EP track Piece Of My Mind demonstrate that they're progressing at an impressive rate of knots from their debut album which only came out less than a year ago and they're making songs like early single Wasted Away sound even more vital. Songs have both fiery moments where all hell breaks loose, including putting through their own kick drum, and they make so much noise from just three instruments that you don't how they do it and then they drop into something more contemplative without losing any of the powerful impact they transmit. Sharing lead vocals between Jen and Chris sharing vocals and switching between guitar and drums is still a winning combination, keeping the audience on its toes. It gives them something that stands them out from the crowd on top of the intensity of their performance.

The Bad Trips are on Facebook and Twitter.

The Rogue Network are on Facebook and Twitter.

The Nouvelles' official website can be found here. They are also on Facebook and Twitter.

False Advertising's website can be found here. They are also on Facebook and Twitter.
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