The Sheffield Scenester

So the heat wave seems to go on as once more as we enter The Boardwalk, this time for Soundclash to present an EP launch of upcoming classic rock band, Velozity. As seems to be the norm these days....we have to grab an ice cold brew, in fact if this heat gets much worse then we’ll have to hand in our car keys over to the bar and catch a cab home, but before we need to reach that decision there’s the small matter of tonight’s music. Joolz, the man behind Soundclash, has taken it upon himself to DJ tonight...so it was brilliant to see him his spinning discs with a schoolboy grin on his face, taking great pride in his CD collection, then again when I heard Bauhaus and The Violet May I couldn’t blame him!!!

To kick us off in the sweltering heat, is a solo artist Steve Fletcher, who opened to a small gathering...but to my surprise actually got them excited about his show. He began by practically herding them to the front of the stage and then goading them to join in with the chant “I am.......” to which they gleefully responded “STEVE!” All this before he’d even played a note....as soon as he did though, it was blatantly obvious he knew his way round a blues chord or several, put this together with an excellent voice and definite stage presence it was turning into quite an interesting set. One thing we did pick up on was that through it all, a drumming could be heard and looking down we realised he was sat astride a small drum unit...it was almost as if it was hidden in a cardboard box...with a foot pedal attached to keep rhythm. When it came to the third track Moz from Ripoff Britain joined him onstage, oddly enough Moz seemed to be slightly in awe with Steve, and (at a guess) I would have said he was his tutor or something like that. But they paired up happily enough with a little bit of friendly banter, mostly surrounding Moz’s shirt, before playing a track they’d written together a few weeks prior to this evening. Moz’s love of the blues shone through as he demonstrated a skill I’d never seen before in his Ripoff Britain persona. The last track in Steve’s set was more of a rock ‘n’ roll number as the pace picked up on this one reaching a screeching screaming climax, whilst technically brilliant and fun to watch I sometimes wonder if guitars of this calibre need a quality band behind them to give the whole show a certain depth that can’t be reached in a solo effort...but tonight no-one could deny his talent.

Next up was one of Sheffield Scenesters favourite bands (we really ought to stop using that phrase...as it could cover a multitude of Sheffield’s finest up and coming, but that is one of the pit falls of having such a wide choice of quality musicians!) So with a slightly larger crowd it was the turn of Ripoff Britain with their take on the Sheffield blues rock scene, and as I’ve thought every time I’ve seen them before, Moz’s ability is truly outstanding. Not only that, but Pete on bass and Chris on drums only go to prove our theory about good guitars...they do need a complimentary backing group to round the sound off. Playing the tracks off the recently released EP (all of which are outstanding it has to be said), especially ‘Psychotic Narcotics’ which will forever be on my all time great playlist! Interspersed around these were several showpiece tracks, the first of which was the song ‘Who Am I’ which was written several weeks earlier....he must have had an epiphany or something since this is the second one to lay claim to that honour. Beginning with a delicate but complex guitar, reminding me of ‘Hotel California’ it eventually slid into an all out thrash for the hell of it, which is not only great to watch, but makes one hell of a noise to bleed your ears with. Steve then came on for one track, but they had to wait while a few amp problems were ironed out, to which Moz said “Here’s one I wrote about two seconds ago” and proceeded to run off a blues riff with Steve. Ripoff Britain finished off with a new one, ‘Wasted’, which like one of their earlier tracks ‘Break That’, had a very 70’s feel to it. Yet again another top set from Ripoff Britain and I look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Platinum Blind, a local three piece were up next, with a change of style as they served up a huge plate of Americanised pop punk. Throwing out a varied collection of fast, catchy songs they took to the stage with ease and despite the audience being once more reduced to about twenty or so people, they happily attacked their set with energy and genuine vigour. Whilst they don’t have the edgy approach of Green Day, they still have the attitude that is required of them to pull off pop punk, and so was happily entertained for the duration of their set. Displaying an interesting way to define some of their songs, when it came to playing ‘I’m Here’, which actually had a softer slower approach, lead singer Theo said it was “about sad things and ponies!”...I understood the sad bit, just wasn’t sure were ponies came into the equation...? but it’s their song so I’ll leave them to it. It did finish in an all out thrash fight between instruments; the crowd obviously loved it as they received a good round of applause for their efforts! This was followed by the song ‘I’m Gonna Need You’ which by all accounts was written when he was 14, and then to wind the set up was the song ‘Forever’, one of their more popular songs on MySpace, with its slightly more epic rhythm...it’s easy to see why! Theo once more encouraged the crowd to clap along, combine this with a very catchy chorus and you have the foundation for an excellent finale to the set.

To finish the evening off was Velozity, I last saw them in May supporting Jackson Caged and they showed a lot of promise, now with an EP to launch, they obviously have a great deal to say for themselves. As the house lights dimmed, the unmistakeable sound of the theme from A Clockwork Orange lashed out across the audience shocking everyone into silence, all eyes immediately were drawn to the stage. In a ghostly re-enactment of a scene from the movie, the band emerged slowly from the darkness onto the blue light drenched stage....this in itself was enough to convince me they had matured, creating such a hypnotic atmosphere with a bit of blue light and an mp3 showed true class. They opened confidently with the song ‘Slither’, a cover....an odd choice considering they are launching their self penned material on an EP, but since it’s not your bog standard cover song to do...then they could be forgiven, and as I recall...it was one of their stronger songs last time I saw them. A few tracks in and they played the songs off the EP reminding the audience of what they can achieve when they put pen to paper, loaded with hard rolling drums and screeching pitched guitars, not forgetting the pumping bass, they can certainly write a quality rock tune that exudes originality as well as the classic ingredients so typical of the genre it aspires to join! With a few more cover versions, of which ‘Highway Star’ is definitely my favourite, they finished off their set with the crowd pleaser ‘She’s Crazy’, as predicted the fans loved it. Velozity have definitely grown since we last saw them, their on stage presence has improved tenfold as guitarists Tom and James look like they belong up there, even Steph seems more relaxed and joins in with the on stage antics at times.

A hot sweltering night it may have been, but we were rewarded with an ice cold brew and several hours of good music, my respect for Velozity and Ripoff Britain has just gone up a notch...as they both know how to perform and have shown vast improvement since the last time we saw them. In the end Geoff spent the night on soft drinks and drove us home, but it was a great evening out with some seriously good quality guitarmanship on show so we’d easily recommend them again.

Words and photos by Gail and Geoff Buckthorpe