Phluid @ Rocket
By Dave SugdenThe second night of the reborn It's Gone Ballistic, the weekly local band showcase taking place at the Rocket Venue on a Tuesday night saw a male-female split. Opening up the night for the men were Divided by Zero and Phluid, and after the boys had played with their toys, a cliche phrase but so aptly attributable to Phluid - if you have ever seen them you will know what I mean - we then get to the female closing acts of Helen and Anderson. I must appologise now for missing Anderson, a powerfully vocal driven band from Bradford, but I was forced to leave before their set started at 10-45pm. Divided by Zero were the first band up tonight and were a little bit against the odds, or should I say they were up against the sound system. The first couple of songs, including old Seether song "Skyliner", kind of drifted and fuzzed around, it was difficult to get a grip on what was going on at all. The quieter, riff based sections came through and I was pleasantly surprised but it was really when the band kicked their songs off that it went hazy. As the set went on, however, the venue filled up a little, the sound became better and we got to see what Divided by Zero could really do. Final track "Song for a Third Album" is a alternative, feedback, twist of a song and left most people forgetting the difficulties at the beginning. Ending the set with a bag full of free CDs, their latest offering titled "God's A Gameshow Host", I will hopefully get to hear how the earlier tracks were designed to sound.
Next up were the band that I personally enjoyed most, a band I'd heard a lot mentioned of in the past, but one I'd never seen before. Phluid are a strange outfit, look like they are going to play some sort of goth-metal, but kick out some neat little punk-rock songs, with a skinny boy, energetic mentality. Musically much akin to bands like 3 Colours Red, but mix that rock ethic with the mannerisms of Placebo, and latest indie newcomers King Adora. Phluid also remind me a bit of Leeds rockers Mariko, but whereas Mariko play a controlled, accurate rock set, Phluid show more energy, less desire to be "musical perfection", so long as they give out 110% on the enjoyment factor. They also mix that female-male ethic I mentioned at the beginning and in tracks like "Freak", "Weirdo" and a track that sort of sums the band up really "Am I a Boy?" you get an idea of what they're doing. For anyone interested, their CD "Can't Stop the Sliding", which went down well with Kerrang, is out now.
Last band up are Helen, a band who I have a personal affection for and a band who usually entertain will an amazing ability to mix distorted indie guitars with a soul, come R'n'B female vocal line. Tonight however the band are a little bit off form, perhaps due to the major fact that they are constantly put off by the broken amp they are playing through. The sound engineer, Phil, called upon a couple of times to see what could be done, was heard, "It gives you a sort of retro feel"...thats one way of putting the constant flaking, crackling sounds that overwhelmed their set. Pity really, because Helen are normally such a good band.
So all in all, four bands, I personally only got to see three of them, and a nice mix of music on show...its just a shame that the night was marred by the sound, overshadowing the talent that was on show.
