Seismic Loveshift @ Royal Park Cellars
By BellaAfter a day slogging round York, I thought some music was in order to round the night off. Having promised Seismic Loveshift I would try to see their full set this time (failed as usual - sorry! I wish there was a later bus home - but there isn't) add that to Steve Kind telling me Candid were a must see, and having dimly remembering through the haze of alcohol that the Absence were good: - Royal Park Cellars was the place for me...
The Absence were noticeable by their...
So Steve Kind introduces us to CANDID (love Steve's purple shiny moon and stars waistcoat). This bands lady singer has loads of energy on stage, and despite the crowd being a little thin to start with, really gives us a performance. They open with a song called My Way Your Way, full of energy, good use of special effects/odd noises - came across as part of the music rather than trying to be different or obscure. I was sure I could hear a keyboard, but as there was only a bass, a guitar, the lady singer and a drummer, I wondered what I was missing. I asked the band afterward and they told me they have a mini disc player and some samples. The drummer activates it at the right time by listening to clicks in his ear. Sorry, guys - far to technical for me. Stuff like that would scare me as it sounds like there would be lots of chances for that to go wrong. It didn't though and sounded great! They even had it set so she was doing her own backing vocals - interesting and came over very well.
They all had good audience contact and the songs were announced to us clearly (something that really irritates me when they aren't) During the song White Line, their guitarist sings to start and I thought his vocals were a bit quite, he sings with her later though and this comes across much better. I really enjoyed Sweetest Sorrow. Heartfelt, emotion, starting slower and mellower than the rest of the set, picking up in the middle and just as I was thinking... hmmm back to the same energy level we had before, I would have liked to hear them do a slow one - they drop the pace back down to finish. Really well done, this suits them. In between one of the songs I thought I heard a riff from The Chain by Fleetwood Mac - Great... I will definitely see Candid again.
SEISMIC LOVESHIFT. Kay singing and Rachel on keys - it must be ladies night... Steve Kind thanked Seismic Loveshift for their impromptu acoustic set earlier to fill in the gap made by the absent - The Absence. Unfortunately I missed this and heard John say "never again" although I heard one or two people say it was great. I like a band that has the confidence to improvise at short notice and despite not hearing it myself; people told me that they did themselves proud. This is band that play for the love of what they do and they clearly enjoy every moment. They played all the songs from the c.d. that they were giving out for free on the door. The first of these was Any Old Price, which I love followed by Some Life. John and Kay both sing on these and their voices really compliment each other. Kay has a rich sultry voice and the ballads such as Looking For Love come over full of texture that is great to hear. The vocals during Sahara Rain were blended so we almost couldn't hear the words. I don't know if it was supposed to come over that way but it added another dimension to the melody of the song that added, rather than detracted from it.
We also had 2 new songs tonight, the first of which Fooled You was fantastic. If they keep going like this it's going to be great. The whole set runs together very well, but unfortunately at this point I forced to run for my bus and make a swift exit. A friend of mine who stayed said they went from strength to strength. I think I need to make more of an effort to save the taxi fare for their next gig.
The only problem with there being so much talent in Leeds these days is that there is so much to see I am missing it. I can only be in one place at a time and this weekend have four gigs in four days ending with the Blue Star gig on Monday - which if it is anything like the others will be great.
