The Sheffield Scenester

It was a quiet start to tonight’s proceedings, but as people gathered you could tell everyone was quite excited in anticipation of the night’s entertainment. Everyone’s attention turned to the stage as Mark Nichols walked on in flip flops and sat comfortably on a stool in bare feet; everyone listened intently to the delicate tune and vocals. His opening track ‘Shooting Star’ was the beginning of an accomplished set of original songs written by Mark himself. It has to be said...many acoustic sets are devoid of any percussion or a simple beat...you know to get those heads nodding and feet tapping (that’s obviously the nature of an acoustic set!), but like a male KT Tunstall, Mark shows off his ambidexterity well as his fist bangs the body of his guitar at the same time he strums the strings....at times making a sound worthy of a full band! His new song ‘For Our Children’s Sake’ gave a more harmonious feel with strong lyrics, which gave Mark his first cheers of the night! Then came another new one called ‘Tonight’ which had a more determined vocal and sound...yet again this was received with enthusiastic applause and cheers. His final song ‘It’s Not Enough’, which was inspired from his travels in Africa; was played in an experimental way....in fact his guitar was laid on his lap, whilst he used it as a Tom Tom drum as well as a guitar! It has to be said....this was the best song of the set, especially with his song writing....it’s so descriptive, making his lyrics so listenable. Excellent start to Soundclash yet again!

The Last Standing brought with them quite a crowd....and as they opened their set loud and proud with ‘Japan’ which is a booming number most of the crowd were already nodding their heads to! It has to be said, The Last Standing is all about juggernaut guitars and everyone couldn’t help but turn their attention to the stage. Their track ‘Say Something’ really stood out as one of the strongest songs of the whole set, it involved the most amazing solo with more demure guitars....as well as a Gary Moore inspired riff! Next came the Rolling Stones inspired track ‘Stepping Stones’, as Andy Holmes did the most convincing Mick Jagger walk across the stage he said “I wanna see everybody dancing in front..!” and encouraged the crowd to clap...who obviously obliged! Their set closed with a raucous ‘At My Door’, yet again with those trademark solid drums, but this time the guitars came in as though they were playing that Hendrix classic ‘All Along The Watch Tower’. This band has a very polished accomplished sound with pounding energy, it was a shame when their set came to the end to be honest, because (like we say so often) we could have listened to the band all night, and definitely worth the entrance fee alone!

Tonight seemed to be a ‘who could play the loudest’ kind of evening....especially when Scrim took to the stage, their drums was even louder than The Last Standing! However this time the drums had more to it than a bouncing rock beat, with a hint of a (dare we say the ‘I’ word..? oh go on then) Indie thing going on....with a hint of the bassy regions of Oasis...if you know what I mean! I loved ‘Talking In Code’ which also had more of a Happy Mondays sound to it....with some wonderful short and sweet screeching guitar solos too. It has to be said, the person most people were watching was the bass player Dave Glasby and his hypnotic dreadlocks...they were entertainment in itself! The bands influences were obvious throughout the whole set, especially when ‘Capture the Flag’ (I think it was called) was played...this was so Foo Fighters territory! The grinding riffs interspersed with an attention grabbing militaristic vocal were so listenable. The bands sense of humour was evident throughout the set too, because before ‘Paperback Writer’ kicked off vocalist Alik McGovern said “Are there any Beatles fans here tonight..? (crowd cheers)...oh well...you’ll f*cking hate this then...!” Well here at Scenester we have to say, we’re ok with The Beatles...you know they are a bit before our time...if we’re honest...but we realise they are a inspiration to so many bands...but the song sounded good to us...especially the thumping bass! Their final track of the set ‘Supersize’ encouraged everybody to the front of the stage.....especially when Alek said that he was liable to do something stupid during the song! Unlike their previous tracks, this one has a slower build-up to it...I suppose you could liken it to early 70’s Metal, because eventually all hell broke loose and what came out was one thrashing tune! And yes Alek did end up doing something stupid by hurling himself off the stage! Great set...definitely see them again!

Last but not least it was Darke Horse....this time without their signature pyro start to the set. Once Simon explained to us that... “It depends on the venue, how low the ceiling is, how close the crowd is...you know health and safety and all that!” So, I suppose the upstairs of the 02 would not be ideal for their usual attention grabbing pyrotechnics...after all the crowd is so close to the band you can actually see what they had for breakfast! Anyway, their set still started strong (even though some of the crowd seemed to disappear after Scrim). ‘My Salvation’ gave a good rockin’ start to their set as Chris Gill and Simon Kaviani did their synchronised guitar playing to the enthusiastic gatherings pleasure. This was an interesting Darke Horse set...not only did they treat the crowd to some newer material, but also to the drummer....Simon said “you’ll probably notice there’s more room at the back....” and as Sam Gregory was introduced to the crowd he carried on beating the slightly smaller than the usual Darke Horse drum kit as though his life depended on it! I have to say as well as the newer material, there were also the usual crowd pleasers too; ‘Jacks My Friend’ always goes down well, with pretty much everyone in the building singing a way to the lyrics. Obviously Darke Horse’s ultimate crowd pleaser ‘Flat Screen Suicide’ was their final song of the set, its raw energy encouraging the crowd to nod their heads to the solid beat and in some cases play air guitar! It was obvious the crowd loved every minute and that they wanted the band to play for another half an hour or so....because everybody shouted encore in the hope they would get it!

This was an excellent start to the 02 Soundclash weekend....more again tomorrow night!

Words & Photos by Gail Buckthorpe

Further photos of Mark Nichols by Matthew Morley