The Dust Coda hail from London and released their self titled debut album last year. I came across them this year thanks to a twitter post on Down the front media's twitter linking to a live review. They came across as a band I would like so I checked them out. After a few listens to their debut album I went and ordered it.
So what are they like? Well they are your classic rock band in every way. Comparisons to the likes of AC/DC, Aerosmith and Led Zepplin feel easy. But at the same time there is something refreshing and exciting about The Dust Coda. As like their predessors they are very good at what they do. While Greta Van Fleet are putting Classic rock back on the map in a big way at the moment. Hopefully this will pave the way for more rock bands like The Dust coda to get recognised more as it would be well deserved.
While most of the album is what I would call "All out rock" and to me it is rock done right with big riffs and solos. My personal highlight off the album "Sweet Love is gone" which is a more sweeping, low key rock ballad. Which shows off singer John Drake's amazing vocals which are very reminisant of a certain Robert Plant in this instance. Album closer "Will I ever see you again" is another rock ballad and finishes off the album superbly with a sublime solo.
Overall this is a very good debut and a band which are definitiley worth your time if you are into classic rock. And if you are into it you won't have to wait too long for album 2 as rumour has it the next installment is out next year!
This gig was due to take place at the ABC in Glasgow. But after that burnt down earlier in the year luckily the gig manged to get moved to SWG3. A venue in the west end of Glasgow I hadn't been to before. Uriah Heep are my Dad's favourite band so has seen them many, many times since they formed in 1970. This was my 3rd time in seeing them but I reckon I haven't seen them for a good 10 years or so.
Tonight there was only 1 support act which I think was half down to who it was and the other half down to the fact it was an early show meaning it finished about 10.15pm. The main support were the Von Hertzen Brothers. When I said before the gig to my Dad that this was the support act he was very pleased as he had heard and reviewed quite a few albums by them before and was impressed by them. I checked out their latest album "War is Over" before the gig too and thought it was very good. To open their set they started with the first song "War is Over" off the latest album of the same name which was 10 minutes plus. This was just the start of a wonderful prog rock set which lasted for 50 minutes. A very generous amount of time for a support act but throughly deserved given the quality of the music.
This set the stage nicely for the Heep. While I wouldn't say I was a major fan of the Heep. I am familiar enough with their hits now to be able to appreciate them live. The first half of their set seemed to focus more on the new album "Living the Dream". I have only listened to this albums a few times before the gig but what I was impressed by was how good these songs sounded live. It just felt like the quality between the new songs and the old classics stood side by side on the same level. One stand out for me was "Take away my soul" which had this amazing guitar solo which seemed to go on for at least 2 minutes. It was incredible and it was one of those songs I just didn't want to end.
Of course as well as promoting the new album they played all the classics too which the crowd were only too pleased to hear. The likes of "Rainbow Demon", "Gypsy", my personal favourite "Look at yourself". They also played their biggest audience participation song "Lady in Black" which went down a storm. Finshing their set with my Dad's favouite song "Easy Livin".
Uriah Heep were celebrating releasing their 25th album when releasing "Living the Dream". And to be frank they are still sounding as good as ever. It will be interesting to see how long they will keep going for but right now it seems the crowds are loving them and they clearly are still loving performing. And long may that continue.
I don't often see an artist twice in one year. In fact I don't often go outwith Glasgow to see an artist. However after seeing Tremonti in June earlier in the year and then announcing that he would be back in Scotland later in the year; I was eager to grab the opportunity. Also Campbell being a big Tremonti fan since the start meant we were good to go.
We arrived at the venue bang on 7pm which the ticket stated thats when the doors open. So we were surprised to find that there was no queue unlike the academy earlier in the year where the queue was huge at doors opening time. As we got in the first band, Disconnected, were already on. I was in disbelief. I love catching support bands and it turned out the song we arrived to was to be the last in their set. It seems quite a few other folk were caught out by the early start too as it was probably about quarter full at this point. After I got home I did check various websites/social media about start times but couldn't see anything about change in start times.
Anyway I was still pretty excited and did not ruin what was an excellent evening. The main support act The Ravens age came on and powered through a set of rocking/metal songs. Their new singer really came to the fore as an engaging frontman. While the rest of the band seemed to be having the time of their lives. And quite rightly so as they have amassed a good collection of songs to show off.
Now for the main act of the night Tremonti who were just as good as when I saw them back in June. While the skeleton of the set remained the same with the likes of "Cauterize", "Another Heart", "Dust" and "So you're afraid". Their did seem to be more songs off the new album creeping into the set with my personal favourite "Traipse", then "Trust" and "The first and the last". Then you have the already classics "Dying Machine", "Take you with me" and "Bringer of War". Personally I think the selection of so many songs off the new album speaks volumes on how good it is, as its knocking out of the set some big hitters from other albums.
I have to say I pretty much enjoyed the whole set. There was only a few song section where I didn't enjoy as much - being "Flying monkeys" and "Radical change". These are clearly popular songs though but I'm afraid they are slightly weaker tracks than the others for me. But I think everyone will have tracks from artists they don't like as much. On the whole though the night proved once again that Tremonti are a band on top of their game and one of the best bands on the live scene. He did say at the end they would be back. But obviously with Mark's Alter bridge commitments next year it may be a few years. Oh well just as well I got to see him twice this year! Totally worth it!!
"A brief inquiry into Online relationships" is the 3rd album by UK pop/rock band The 1975. This is also part 1 out of 2 of albums they are releasing in quick succession as the next album is due out in May 2019. I would say I am a fan of this band however with the 2 previous albums there have been many tracks off both which I love, but at the same time there are tracks on both which I really don't like at all.
On first listen to this album and when I heard "Love it if we made it". I did think this album was going to go down the same way for me. But after 5 plus listens I have got into this album more and more. And now all the songs are making sense and all 15 tracks seem to work well together. One thing I noticed on the other albums was that they like to have different sounding songs, even spanning different genres. And with "A brief inquiry.." they have done this again but as I say this time for me they have got it spot on.
The first track "The 1975" is one of those moments which make this band so special. It is the same tune as the first track on their debut and sophomore albums but again with a different twist. Different effects used in the vocals and also a piano used too. Not many bands do this and for me its part of the bands identity. Then second track "Give yourself a try" is where the album really comes to life. A great uplifting track with a great riff which goes round in a loop for the whole song. Its not a song I can listen to on repeat due to the repetitive nature of the riff but it does fit in well when listening to the album as a whole and the lyrics are also great. In particular "So what would you say to your younger self, growing a beards quite hard and whiskey never starts to taste nice". Something I can relate to :-)
Next up is "TOOTIMETOOTIME", Another feel good track which will get you moving and grooving. "How to draw.." is almost like an interlude for starter as it begins softley and for the first minute and half it is an instrumental. Then Matt Healy's vocals creep in, then things start to pick up and it has a trancy type feel to it. Matts vocals are different to usual here and he is experimenting but it does work with the music. The next track "Love it if we made it" I did hate when it first came out as a single. It starts off with Matt singing incredibly high for the beginning of a song. And the opening lyrics I thought were rubbish "We're f**king in a car, shooting heroin, saying controvertial things just for the hell of it". But like "Give yourself a try" it just worked in an album listening environment. And now I look at the song structure of this song and think it is actually really good and different. I love it especially when the song breaks down and it turns into a kind of dance type track.
"How to draw.." was the first surprise on the album in terms of The 1975 doing something different. Then you have "Be my mistake" which sees them doing something different again. This time totally stripping back with Matt and an accoustic guitar. It feels so intimate and emotional in the delivery. I don't recall them doing this on past albums and they have absolutley nailed it here. "Sincerity is scary" sees them change direction again, keeping it chilled this time with saxaphones added to the mix too. The track flows nicely into "I like America and America likes me". They had "She's American" on their last album. Sometimes I wonder if they include America in the title of their songs to appeal to the American market.
"The Man who married a robot......" sees them doing something different yet again. It features spoken word rather Matts vocals. And tells a story about a man loving the internet with a soft musical backdrop. It acts like an interlude and adds an extra dimension to the album. "Inside your mind" is a piano ballad which builds with guitars as the song goes on. Then they probably decided since "Be my mistake" went so well that they should have another acoustic track on the album so "Surrounded by heads..." comes in and again they deliver another quality track which tugs with the emotions. "Its not living..." is an upbeat, feel good track which for me is my favourite track off this album. "Mine" sees them do another piano ballad. This time slightly slower than "Inside your mind" but again works well. "I couldn't be more in love" continues the ballad trend. Then the album finishes on "I always wanna die (sometimes)", a very nice album closer.
Overall I really do think this album is a classic and I will be listening to it for many months to come. While the first 2 albums I thought were good but patchy. There is not a bad track on this and the diversity in the sounds and genres spanned just shows the ambition and talent of the band.
