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Honeyblood, The Cluny, Newcastle

  • Published in Live

Tonight sees Honeyblood finally return to Newcastle, and it's been a long time coming. As such, it sees them take on the larger of the two venues, packing in a hefty crowd. We unfortunately, once again, miss local support Zyna Hell, ever elusive we make a (another) mental note and endeavour to catch her next time she plays.

Yet another great duo grace the stage this evening; the latest in a long line of contemporary duos (we’ve caught Royal Blood, Deap Vally and Public Service Broadcasting before, all of whom have proved to us they can produce a noise that will rival any three, four or five piece band) and tonight is no different, as Honeyblood bursting out of the traps with pounding drums and brilliantly jangly guitars. Another band in which it’s almost impossible to believe that there’s only two of them up there. With a limited back catalogue, the girls are quick to point out that they’ll be unleashing everything they have this evening.

And what a treat this proves to be. Tracks like ‘Fall Forever’ sound amazing with the huge bright guitars and monolithic drums. We’re left aghast by the power and this is only the early part of their set; the heaving crowd enthused by the energy radiating from the stage.

Hitting their stride, ‘Choker’ goes down a storm. Arguably the best track of the evening, the drums pound and the lyrics are delivered with real purpose and grit, a real fire manifested in a snarl that perhaps isn’t as obvious in other tracks. Once again we’re taken aback by the brilliance of this twosome.

There is an odd moment in the set though where they stop to play a fan request, which came via Twitter, breaking in to a rendition of ‘Walking In The Air’. To us this seems somewhat out of character, yet it yields one of those brilliantly hilarious moments in a bands history that potentially wont be repeated for some time to come, if ever.

They close out their main set with the awesome ‘Killer Bangs’. Another bright chirpy slice of indie rock, though perhaps not as gritty as other tracks, airing slightly on the poppier side. Yet it still seems the perfect way to close out what has been something of an eclectic evening, one thing that remains constant is these girls’ talent.  

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Crocodiles, The Cluny, Newcastle

  • Published in Live

Opening up tonight are Newcastle’s band for hire at the moment Them Things, we caught these guys a couple of weeks ago and again we aren’t blown away by their mediocre attempt at doing something different. Next up though were a band that weren’t on any line-up we’d seen in advance nor were they on any of the posters dotted around the venue with the set times on.

Gay were a real surprise. To say we were not expecting these Danish kids to invade the stage is an understatement, their opener was somewhat ramshackle with lead singer Thor mumbling his lyrics whilst breaking his guitar. There is a slight halt to proceedings as Thor fixes said guitar but they continue, and with some ferocity.

We’re really unsure of what to make of them - are they the best thing we’re ever going to see or are they utter rubbish, the jury remains out on that one.* Thor takes to the crowd for the closing track and perches on the seat right in front of me as he just groans into the microphone, it's quite an unnerving experience.

The lights dimmed as the eagerly anticipated Crocodiles storm the stage, opening with ‘Marquis De Sade’ and it's obvious they’re on top form this evening. Confessing that they’re trying out a heap of new songs, we settle in for what turns out to be a trip through an awesome sonic landscape, and they definitely seem to have found their groove; a hefty dose of reverb and wailing guitar lines underpinning this evening's set.

Brandon croons as the ladies swoon, and Charles shreds his guitar throughout. They provide scarce information about the promised new songs, all of which sound impeccable. We’re filled with excitement at the thought of a new album, though there’s a distinct lack of keyboards this evening and the guitars drive the new tracks. Older tracks do appear however, ‘Teardrop Guitar’ stands above the rest, the guitars ultimately consuming us.

As we’re transfixed on Brandon’s presence despite it being damp and wet Monday evening, to us it could be any day of the week as Crocodiles take us on a journey across a beautiful musical soundscape. As the last riff rings out its almost like an awakening as we fall back to reality, slightly saddened as we exit the venue back to the grim night skies and reflect on the brilliance we’ve just witnessed.

*Note: To clear one other thing up we’ve since investigated support band Gay a little more and on record they sound a lot better than they did live, leaving us to conclude that the jury is still firmly out!

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