The Tivoli, Brunswick Road, Buckley, Flintshire, CH7 2EF

Friday 4th June 2010

Pictures by Lorna Wilde & Dave Mounter

Review from Richard Hibbert of Academy Images - additional photographs on: http://www.academyimages.co.uk/Blog/Blog.html

Battle of the Bands 2010 - Final!

So the battle has been fought and the winner declared, and what a battle it has been this time around.  From the first semi final came Catfish & The Bottlemen - http://www.myspace.com/catfishandthebottlemen (Llandudno) and local favourites - punk / metal / progressive band Calling Shotgun - http://www.myspace.com/callingshotgunband. From semi final 2 came the Alternative/Techno/Pop-Punk sextet from Deeside, Inspite of Appearance - www.myspace.com/inspiteofappearance and from Shotton - the Rock/Alternative/Progressive quartet - The Issues http://www.myspace.com/theissuesjam.  Each was given 20 minutes to impress the judges and persuade the undecided in the audience to cast their vote in their favour, an element in the judging process that allows the audience to have considerable influence on the outcome.
The venue was Buckley's Tivoli - the third to be used in this year’s competition, its cavernous facilities giving a real sense of theatre, making a fitting setting for tonight’s event.

In playing order

Inspite of Appearance - 4th

The draw gave Inspite Of Appearance the first opportunity to impress, as they unveiled their five track set - Now We Both Know, Life Goes On (*), Trademark, Goodbye For Now (*) and What I Think Of You. Stace Young gave a powerful, passionate, gritty vocal performance, Holly Griffiths (drums) and Ally Ready (bass) gave very convincing performances, providing a very tight rhythm section on which Sophie William (keyboards), Nicole Jackson and Hayley Garrett (guitars) could build the defining sound for this band. Would this be the performance of the evening - we would have to wait another four and a half hours to find out, but their fanbase can take heart that this won't be their final performance.  Although academic pursuits will take members to different H.E.I.'s in September, they did confirm that they are not disbanding - good news indeed!

Catfish & the Bottlemen - 1st

Catfish and The Bottlemen - took the second spot, with their 'army' of travelling fans giving well-earned enthusiastic support throughout their eight-track set.  I described their semi final performance as awesome - this offering needed a different level of superlative to convey the quality of this set, which opened with a short, intricate instrumental before they exploded into the remaining seven tracks - Paraffin, Bodies, Carousel, Harlot(*), God Gave Her Soul, Collide(*) and Tyrants(*). Their execution was again absolutely flawless, pounding rhythms on bass and drums, contrasting yet complementary styles of guitar work, featuring some exquisite and extreme string bending - producing a distinct and defining timbre to their music, topped off with some excellent vocals, all combining to feed the frenzied enthusiasm of their aforementioned fans.  Very difficult to fault this very professional performance - the bar was now set, could anyone push it higher?

The Issues - 3rd

Jay, Matt, Chris and Kris - The Issues - www.myspace.com/theissuesjam were on third. Having really impressed during their semi final performance with their multi-faceted Rock/Alternative/Progressive style. There was an air of expectation that they would get a good result this evening. Their set, featuring Enter the Mirror (*), Lucy Was A Lie(*), Johnny Be Good, Vlad The Impaler, Save Yourself, Situation(*) and the excellent Home, once again gave their growing fan base a lot to cheer about, and there were flashes of that indefinable quality that made that performance so memorable. Sadly, this performance did not quite match the giddy heights of their semi final appearance, after which I alluded to a bright future for this band.  That opinion has not changed - the future is theirs - providing they want it badly enough!

Calling Shotgun - 2nd

Fourth band on stage were local favourites - punk / metal / progressive band Calling Shotgun - http://www.myspace.com/callingshotgunband with Chris Blythe & Rich Leahy on guitar, Jack Hadley - bass & Kieran Gorse on drums. Their set was outstanding, giving their audience a mixture of 'old' favourites Calling Shotgun, Rattlesnake and Undead Lives, whilst introducing new material, with Temptation being the pick of the crop for me.  Rich Leahy's guitar work on this track was sublime, and if this is an indicator of the future direction for this band - yes boy!!  Once again Mr Hadley and Mr Gorse gave 'masterclass' performances throughout, vocally Chris and Rich nailed every track, and at the end of their set, I think that most of the audience were unsure whether they or Catfish would be taking the trophy home.

The Vote

Tha Repetitionz - thank you for keeping us entertained during the count!

So the competitive part of the evening was concluded, and whilst the results were being calculated the stage was re-set for the long awaited return of Deeside based Funk / Hip Hop / Rock sextet Tha Repetitionz (http://www.myspace.com/tharepetitionz), who kept us all entertained with classic tracks from their repertoire including Mary Jane (with complementary vocals form Lorna Wilde), which complimented the distinctive traditional vocal mix  from Kiz Mac and Ad Loz.  Russ Hurst and Chris Blythe providing guitars with Jack Loz on bass and Panic Promotions own Dan (Ahab) Mounter on drums. Their appearances are all too infrequent, and if the audience reaction were any indicator, they would also have done well in this year’s competition.  Thanks guys, for another memorable performance, which made the wait for the results all the more bearable.

The Result

Finally at around 1.30am the results were ready.  In fourth place - Inspite Of Appearance, with The Issues taking third.  There was tangible tension in the air as ..."and in second place - Calling Shotgun" was announced.  At the same point in last year's competition, emotions were unleashed, with the runners up attempting to maintain dignity whilst suppressing their disappointment, whilst at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum the winners are oblivious to all as they begin their unbridled celebrations.  This year, these scenes were replayed, with even greater contrast, and yet to their great credit, each and every performer extended sincere congratulations to the victors, whilst maintaining a poise, decorum and justifiable pride in their own achievements. Many, many congratulations to all the musicians who performed here this evening, you did yourselves great credit both in your performances and in your general deportment thereafter - it will be interesting to contrast the maturity of the 'sportsmen' who will be performing in South Africa in a couple of weeks time!!  Congratulation to Panic Promotions on the organisation and delivery of another excellent quality event, which I hope will be repeated next year, and congratulations to the young people who have made up the audiences during this years competition, always appreciative and supportive of all the competitors. Finally congratulations to Catfish & The Bottlemen, who took this years title after a recount.  Hope that you have a really good year as champions.

Audience