The Sheffield Scenester

As winter slowly draws in, the nights are getting longer and temperatures are plummeting but undeterred I headed down to the O2 for tonight’s Soundclash for the simple reason that Jackson Caged were celebrating their recent signing with the RBM label. However before they were due on stage there was the matter of the support groups, the first of which was Nasmyth Row, who unfortunately were running late due to a mix up with the drum kit.

By the time they had that sorted out they’d already lost five minutes of their set time, but at last they were good to go. Now bearing in mind I’d watched them running around like headless chickens trying to sort out their drums, what came next was the complete opposite with a tight, well rehearsed and refreshing set, packed with energy, enthusiasm and most importantly showmanship. Opening with a screeching guitar, pounding drums and a blood-curdling scream from the lead singer Nathan, the track ‘Be Your God’ got underway. My initial thought was ‘Sabbath’ for that instantly recognisable grinding sound that so dominated Ozzy and Co came through loud and clear, only this time around they weren’t encumbered with doom laden lyrics. What gave the whole package a refreshing slant was the slightly modern twist they put on it, almost as if they had it spiked with American punk, the likes of Green Day and My Chemical Romance, I’m not sure Ozzy would approve....but it went down a storm with the audience that were there! Further tracks such as ‘Snakeskin’ and ‘Kryptonite’ only seemed to reinforce this theory, then as if to seal the deal they covered ‘Paranoid’ which just blended in with their own material seamlessly, they may have played it slightly faster, either that’s their thing or they were trying to make up for lost time, sounded good all the same! Just watching them perform was entertaining in itself, they were obviously having a good time on stage, Nathan had no qualms about jumping forward and baiting the crowd whilst both guitarists’ were more than willing to run around the stage, making sure they were not only there to bang out a good tune! After their set I collared a few of the band members and asked them to sum up their past, present and future in about two minutes, this was their response:

“Our name comes from the fact that it is the name of the street where our practice room is situated. Our first gig was in February 2010 and then after our second gig which was at West Street Live, we were asked about any goals we had, at the time our answer was to play here at the O2. If you asked us now we’d have to say to play the main room here or somewhere like The Corporation. Recently we’ve played a lot of gigs in a short space of time and so that might be the reason we work well together on stage. Unfortunately tonight we had to miss out our favourite songs to make the best of the time available, one of them ‘I Need You’ is a six minute piano power ballad, a complete contrast to all that heavy stuff we played tonight.”

A pretty good response, it was just a pity I couldn’t get a more in depth interview with them after all they had just performed a great set and come across as a good bunch to chat with, still the next band Embassy were coming up so it was back to work for me. Not so much of an explosive entrance from this three piece group, but with a slightly more melodic style they ploughed ahead regardless, despite the fact that the crowd had retreated to the bar area. Not to be deterred though, Jake, Tom and Adam still gave it a good go, but to be fair with tracks like the catchy ‘It’s So Much Colder In Your Shadow’, one of their best tracks, you are lulled into a relaxed state of mind with a good guitar intro which slowly builds and builds while the drums and bass join in. Musically they have a distinctive slant towards the Oasis side of the tracks; still they do a pretty good job of banging out a good tune. This was followed by ‘Smash And Grab’ which seems to roll along with more of an early Kaiser Chiefs feel to it. The best track of the night for them was easily ‘Out In The Open’, which when we looked at their EP earlier in the year was the best track on offer at the time, admittedly it lost its slightly sombre feel in a live performance....but still held the same power. The whole Oasis theme seemed to continue as they wound up their set with the song ‘It’s Your Disguise’, the one thing I will say about their performance was that singer Jake Sissons seemed to be slightly lacklustre with his vocals, but from a purely musical standpoint it was more than up for the task in hand!

Now the last time we saw The Marauders was down at The Boardwalk supporting The Monday Club and even though musically they were fine, their singer Jack Batteson seemed oblivious to his performance....pretty much on the same vein as Jake earlier on, but this time round he was a changed man. With genuine passion for his art he pulled off a good performance which complimented to the rest of the groups efforts with room to spare. They not only sounded a lot tighter as a unit tonight, but to watch them was quite a pleasure, as they seemed to be enjoying the show like they meant it. The real bonus for me this time around was that due to the good acoustics within the O2, I could actually hear the full effect of bass player Dane Baker and his synth pedals (a huge MOOG monstrosity squatting on the floor in front of him). Hearing it now it seemed to have the full cathedral organ effect, which I assume is it’s purpose and gave the song ‘Caught In The Crossfire’ a much greater depth as well as reverberation to it. The song ’Little Miss’ was quite a revelation as it galloped along at full pelt, but it wasn’t until they finished with the song ‘Violent Surprise’ that they really came into their own! It just seemed to build and build with a strange ghosting effect behind it, in fact it was their best song of the set as it detracted from their more traditional Arctic Monkeys sounding material climaxing in quite a grinding onslaught of guitar, drums and vocals all disharmoniously harmonised, if such a thing is possible!

Now as the night had progressed I’d caught a glimpse of Jackson Caged arriving one by one, disappear back stage for a while before reappearing coated in face paint. Tonight’s theme seemed to be Jack ‘O’ lantern from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, this only served to whet my appetite as all four of them looked like they were ready for one hell of a night. The crowd had swelled to bursting, I’m guessing their local haunts down in Chapeltown were deserted at this point in time…..so let the party began! The lights dimmed while quietly a delicate Christmas tune was heard twinkling in the background while Mike, Woody, Fraz and Big M mounted the stage. The lights came back on to reveal Jackson Caged in all their glory and the show began in earnest, and what better way than to open with ‘Welcome To The Show’, to say they always do is obvious but it sets the tone for the night with a verbal assault of some truly memorable ultra violent expletives. Yes they are sexually explicit in their lyrical content...take the song ‘Pardon me Miss’ towards the end of the set as well as the forthcoming ‘The Porn Star’ track...and with numerous references to gratuitous violent acts all held together with as many four letter words as you could swing a cat at, some may find it offensive, but for me it comes across as slightly tongue in cheek. The fact that singer Fraz carries a knowing smirk on his face throughout helps, and between tracks they seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves! Half way through the set Fraz turned to the crowd and said “Like a bell-end I’ve lost the setlist!” Playing the track ‘Antipathy’ was another highlight of the evening as although I’d heard at a recent interview, albeit in raw format, fired out of fully cranked amps with lighting, skull masks and a crowd behind them it sounded great. With ‘House of The Rising Sun’ played in their own style the whole room, me included, sang along, this song does demonstrate a gentler side to Fraz’s vocal chords despite the fact that this is offset by drummer Mike sat behind his kit coated in blood! The music itself I can’t fault, having grown up listening to a lot of metal, this slots in nicely with some of the best bands out there today and as such they truly deserve this record signing, I sincerely hope that this move produces something for these guys!

One thing I’ve always been curious about is who actually does their facial make up and tonight I met the man behind the faces, so to speak, Steve Hinsley, and asked him for a few words:

“I’ve done it for them several times now and tonight they all wanted the same thing, usually they each have a separate design you see. What started off as a skull idea, was tried out until they all agreed to go with the one that Woody was wearing and hence tonight’s design!”

There you have it, Jackson Caged did themselves proud tonight with a good extended set, it was the best I’ve seen them since they supported The Bon Jovi Experience and with excellent support from Embassy, The Marauders and especially opening act Nasmyth Row, it’s been another great night down at the O2!

Words & photos by Geoff Buckthorpe
Further photos by Malcolm White