The Sheffield Scenester

What do you get when you cross Blues legend Gary Moore and his partner in crime BB King? ......The Black Hands, a local blues/rock band from Sheffield. The band was the first act on at Soundclash hosted by Plug and they certainly did get the crowd going. Although unfortunately there was quite a disappointing amount of people supporting their set....but you could definitely see their potential as if it was a full house...the energy that the band put in they could have blown the place apart with these guitar riffs! Harmonica and natural born Blues singer, Andy Gannon, is the front man of the band and he definitely lives up to the standard that a Blues singer should have. He tore through songs better than Brain Johnson on steroids, including “Don’t steal my blues” and “The devils way”. As they surged through each of their songs it was clear to me that one of lead guitarist “Daniel Riley’s” idols had to be the legend that is Angus Young....because most of his solos had that rhythm and crunchy tone that Angus always portrays, each one he played sounded like his fingers had electric running through them. As the band got about half way through their set, people who were over by the bar had slowly started to come and watch the band and once in front of the stage, they didn’t move a muscle, the lads played their last few songs only to be egged on to play more afterwards. These 6 lads gave the audience something that no other band that night managed to give...which was the integrity to go and play some old Blues which is what their generation and mine are missing!!

When Resonate came on stage I thought it was two guys coming on to set up the next bands gear....but then as one of them sat at the drum kit and the other put his guitar on I realised they were the next band. Resonate was in fact a two man band, one which was on the drums tapping away at the hi-hat and the other armed with an Epiphone ES355...in case you didn’t know...it’s the guitar that rock n’ roll legend Chuck Berry plays. I wish I could have said the same for him, but no their music was far from rock n’ roll, because the first thing that came through the PA system was some sort of heavy sub-bass track that the drummer was in control of. The guitarist was more like the new generation of the Arctic Monkeys the same sounding voice and to be honest, if the sub-bass wasn’t in there the same sounding songs too. The mood of the place was great and many people were cheering this guy on and he was definitely giving it his all....pulling out some solos here and there. In between songs the guys announced that they had a new EP out and they handed out CD’s at the end which when I listened to it, sounded great and certainly offered me something fresh that I hadn’t ever heard before. In my opinion....if they brought in a synth player and let the drummer pump some beats in on the drum kit instead of the simulator, that would really make their sound on fire. I would definitely recommend that you go and see this band as they have something completely new to offer and I guarantee you will be entertained!

Next up on stage, were the highly anticipated Little Crazy who in fact were a little crazy....at first a women walked out wearing a see-through netted top and leather pants. I was expecting something you’d associate with The Limit back in the 80’s...but instead got a more rock Joan Jett feel. These guys were certainly the “fluff” up band for the 48K’s and in fact had the entire crowd’s attention. To be honest....I wasn’t too keen on them after hearing the first song, but they actually grew on me and now I have a real soft spot for them as they have brought back what is so hard to bring back and that is old rock. This women was in fact front “girl” Sofire who had the voice of a true rocker, she had that edge that is difficult to find now with female vocalists...as many girls want to be the next Katy Perry or Rhianna...but not this one! Sofia definitely lived up to the expectation...these guys meant business and started as they meant to go on, by playing some good hits of theirs and both bassist and guitarist let loose sweat and blood in everything they played. You can see them in years to come playing arenas round the world. This band gave everything from the moment they started playing to the very end of the night...and with the determination to put on a great rock show...I can say with no regret that they did that!

The headline act at Soundclash was a 5 piece Brit-pop band called the 48k’s, nowadays every new band out there is often setting out to be the next Arctic Monkeys or Pulp. These guys take it to the next level quite easily and make their sound their own. While waiting for the group to come on stage I noticed that one of their crew came on and tied a rubber chicken to the mic stand...maybe this was for the humour or for luck. At last the band emerged onto the stage and kicked into their first track, their sound was unique and was like a mixture of the Monkeys crossed with the Beatles, they had the harmonies spot on and the great crunch that Brit-pop needs. About half way through the set the rubber chicken was (ab)used when lead guitarist Steve kicked the chicken and swung it round his mic stand...I was still thinking what was the point of the chicken...? Along with Steve was Kato on rhythm guitar, Ryan on vocals, Karl on drums and Adam on bass guitar. Now when I said about this band having some Beatles elements in them...well this certainly fits Adam who was playing the old style violin bass that the famous Paul McCartney played...so it is quite possible that he was an influence on this band. This was the first time I saw these guys and I would love to see them perform again some time, they gave the crowd some good entertainment and great laughs (you never saw Ryan without a pint in his hands!).

Words and photos by Myles Wright