Whoever said Rock was dead clearly needed to be at The Joiners last night for a perfect night of it provided kindly by THE TREATMENT, BUFFALO SUMMER and MASSIVE, if these bands don't ensure the good name of Rock gets dragged through the mud then I don't know who will.

Hailing from Brisbane in the land of Down Under, newcomers MASSIVE were first to show Southampton what rock is all about. From the word go their go-getter, hard hitting rock tunes put a huge smile across my face; musically the fantastic vocals, amazing guitar work, rolling drums and incredible bass lines came together to create an out of the world fusion of Hard Rock…my kind of Rock. Guitarist Ben Laguda could quite easily be the next SLASH, not only with his excellent riffs and solos but they also look similar. All he needs is a top hat and aviators. Frontman Brad Parr's infectious energy didn't go unnoticed either; this passed on to the crowd without fail, this was evident in the head banging, dancing and some of the crowd even singing along to their songs. This is the Aussie Rock quartet's first time in the UK and from that excellent performance I think I speak for all of us when I say they are welcome back anytime.
 

Over the past year or so BUFFALO SUMMER have become a regular occurrence on my iTunes library; their Southern Rock tunes provide a feel good vibe wherever you happened to be. The last time I saw them in Southampton, they supported Hard Rock veterans UGLY KID JOE and they were welcomed back by the Rock community of Southampton with open arms. When they played on the stage I felt they provided a chilled out vibe to the evening with their Southern Bluesy vibes; when I hear their sound I am reminded of BLACK STONE CHERRY and BLACK CROWES particularly with the guitar work. Their anthem hit "Down To The River" received the warmest reception from Southampton's Rockers; especially as they chanted along to that epic chorus. Last night's performance reinforced why I love coming to see them live.
 

Cambridge Rock outfit THE TREATMENT have had a lot of success over the past few years since I first saw them at the exact same venue in 2011. They have success supporting some of Rock's biggest bands such as THIN LIZZY, ALICE COOPER and KISS, they released their latest album "Running With The Dogs" earlier this year which has had a huge amount of triumph.
 

The first thing I noticed as they opened up the show with "I Bleed Rock 'N Roll" was their appearance; it was as if they all went to the barbers all at the same time and had all their hair cut off. A completely different look to when I last saw them three years ago at the same venue on the same stage. Their appearance may have been different but they are still that kick ass rock band that I fell in love with at the first listen a few years ago in my university days. As the set progressed so did the adrenaline within the venue; there was a very eclectic selection of material from across both albums "This Might Hurt" and "Running With The Dogs". My personal highlights of their set for me were when they premiered a brand new song called "Bloodsucker" that everybody seemed to love a great deal. I also loved it when they performed my favourite song "Emergency"; there is always something so liberating about dancing to your favourite song when it's performed live. They continued to provide a stadium like presence to this small venue with more arena like hits such as "Running With The Dogs", "The Doctor" and "Shake The Mountain".
 

"Departed" and "Nothing To Loose But Our Minds" brought their set came to a grand conclusion.
 

I am hoping you've gathered from this glowing report that I highly enjoyed my night of Hard Rock by three of the best upcoming rock bands out there. All I can say is if THE TREATMENT, BUFFALO SUMMER and MASSIVE ever tour again I highly recommend going along.
 

Aussie Hard Rock quartet MASSIVE have been turning heads within the Rock community this year; with the release of their debut album "Full Throttle" and being nominated for Classic Rock's new band of the year they are doing relatively well. Find out what happened when I met the band's next Slash Ben Laguda and bass master Aidan McGarrigle; after Ben changed into some jeans we spoke of their tour plans and how social media effects the music industry in their eyes.

Hi there guys, thank you for speaking with Metal Temple today. How are you guys?

Both:  Good thank you.

I understand this is your first time in Southampton…

Aidan:  First time in the UK

First time in the UK, first impressions?

Aidan:  It's been really good.

Ben:  Yeah a lot of fun.

For those living under a rock and have never heard of Massive, could you describe your sound in three words? Or more if you need them.

 Ben:  Full Throttle Rock 'N Roll

Aidan:  How many words was that?

Ben:  I think four and bit.

How is the tour going so far?

Aidan:  Really great.

Ben:  We've had great responses so far from all the crowds we have played to so far and we've had some great reviews.

Great reviews, you managed to read any while you've been on tour?

Ben:  We try and check out a few of them just to see if we are doing well and yeah they've all been really good so far.

Well you have been nominated for Best New Rock Band of the year from Classic Rock, that's got to count for something.

Aidan:  Yeah that is really cool. It's very strange at the same time.

Ben:  It's a nice feeling; it means we're on the right track I guess.

How did you get to tour with The Treatment and Buffalo Summer?

Aidan:  Management mainly put this one together because we were trying to get over here earlier in the year anyway when we signed to Earache Records. So they set us up with an opening slot for a UK tour, we've got three more days here with The Treatment then we'll be touring Europe with Blackberry Smoke which will be good.

And will this be your first time travelling around Europe as a band?

Aidan:  This our first time touring out of Australia.

First time out of Australia?

Aidan:  Yeah wait actually Ben you did a few bits in L.A?

Ben:  Yeah I went to L.A and did some little things there. This is our first tour out of our own country.

Is there any countries in Europe or cities in the UK you are looking forward to visiting for the first time?

Aidan:  I am definitely looking forward to Sweden and we're playing in Norway as well. I think we're doing three dates in Sweden and one in Oslo which we are very excited about.

Ben:  I was looking forward to Glasgow because my Mum's from Glasgow so I got meet some of my family live there so that was awesome.

So you will have a little entourage at your Glasgow gig?

Ben:  It's already been.

With regards to the Rock music scenes; is there any similarities or differences between Australia and the UK?

Aidan:  Where we've been travelling so much, we haven't had the chance to hang out in many rock bars but I find most of it the same; playing with a bunch of cool dudes, people coming out to the gigs, buying t-shirts so that's good.

Ben:  One thing that has impressed me is that you can go and see three rock bands on a Monday night, here it's happened Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays whereas in Australia that appears to have died down. In Australia it's mainly Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and the weekend whereas here it's any night of the week there's bands on.

Giving the fact you are a new generation of rock band where signing to a label isn't necessarily the way to make money anymore and you rely more on the Internet, would you agree?

Aidan:  I would agree, the Internet is a huge part of promotion now.

Ben:  A lot of bands rely on the sales of their merchandise just to make enough for the tour.

What about the fact where you don't have to buy the record in order to listen to it?

Ben:  Like Spotify and YouTube. Most bands put their songs onto YouTube and people get it pretty much for free, what's nice to know is that those who like the album buy the album too. Rock fans are good like that; they support the bands.

It's like a try before you buy technique, isn't it?

Aidan:  Yeah to be fair, they test out the track beforehand and if they like it then that's always good when they buy the record.

 Ben:  That does sound better because on the Internet the files have shrunken down but when you hear it on a disc or record it's going to sound a lot better.

Where you guys are a new generation band would you say things you can do on the Internet come as more of natural instinct than to those who have been in the industry for years where it's brand new to them?

Ben:  Yeah, well we have all played in bands for the past few years but yeah years ago we didn't have access to Facebook and all that sort of stuff so it was harder to promote gigs. It's definitely a big part of promoting nowadays.

One part I like about bands using social networking is the interactivity with fans on a personal level that wasn't there before the Internet.

Ben:  Exactly, the way we got our management deal was because somebody shared our video. I posted a video out to all my friends on my page which stated "If you're good looking than you will share this video" and my friends liked it, I said it was awesome you like the video now share it and he said he would. Five minutes later I message him saying "I noticed you still haven't shared our video" with that he pressed share and then one of our managers Rick happened to see it and messaged us saying he wanted to speak with us. It's amazing how much can happen in a few minutes.

Would you consider Crowdfunding to help fund your next album or tour?

Aidan:  I think that might be a possibility for our next album.

Ben:  We actually did that for our first album release in Australia, we did presales and that was trying to pay off the rest of the album. Everyone who pre-bought the album had their name put inside the booklet; that was before we were signed.

To round up, what are your plans for the rest of the year?

Aidan:  We're touring until near the end of this year, then go back home and do a comeback show.

Ben:  We're going to do a quick tour of Australia, relax at home then start work on a new album. Then we'll come back to the UK and do more shows.

Thank you Ben and Aidan for taking time out to do the interview and good luck with the show tonight.