London's Borderline has been the venue for many iconic gigs over the years. And Tuesday night was no exception. OR at least, it promised to be, because living outside London in a place where the last busses and trains get in at 11.30 means that every now and then I have to run out half way through the headliners' set.
First on were SEVEN CITIES, a London-based group who have had success and radio airplay in the world of radio 1-friendly rock, and came across exactly as such. These guys' 3 minute safe music held little in common with the headliners, or the rest of the groups on the bill, and kind of seemed a bit inappropriate for this kind of gig. Indie rock like that was fortunately not the way that the night would progress.
The second of the four bands was the midlands-based LIBERTY LIES, this 5-piece still held onto a more alternative style, but with a heavier, groovier edge to it. Bouncing around onstage and starting to get the crowd moving a bit more- although their choosing to come on to a dub-reggae track caused some interesting mixed crowd reactions. Their set was a lot more powerful and the mixture of clean and screamed vocals gave them that more metallic sound. Their songs were very much based around whole-band grooves.
The third and final support act was DAMN DICE. These guys really brought things closer to what the night was about. These guys were completely 80s metal, their energy had them running around the tiny stage for their entire set, often colliding into each other and jostling for space. Their music was heavy hitting and energy-filled, soaring vocal melodies over big riffs and guitar solos (the lead guitarist was really going for the Eddie Van Halen-style finger-tapping technique possible a bit much- but that's just personal taste I suppose). The fact that the audience called for an encore from one of the supports was testament to how well these guys worked up the crowd. I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for another one of their shows.
And finally, the band that everyone was there for- over the course of the night I'd met SANTA CRUZ uber-fans to people who ran international fan clubs despite never seeing the group before. Unfortunately, the set's time was such that after few songs I had to run. But, the sheer energy with which they played was incredible. Everyone in the audience seemed to know every word, every riff and every lick. The packed out venue and incredible hyped crowd shows that it's about time SANTA CRUZ were playing much larger venues in the UK, as they have been doing elsewhere in Europe. The catchy, cheery hairy pop-metal revolution has started, and this is the call for the "Wasted and Wounded".
