A quick trip across the border saw me taking a small Celtic raiding party to one of the smaller (but no less able) venues in Bristol. The Fleece is small but perfectly formed venue for an intimate gig with any band. The sound and light are usually pretty spot on, the only criticism is the positioning of the upright roof supports across the stage. The stage can be a bit small for a multi-band gig, so often the equipment (drums) is usually shared, but there were still two kits on the stage.
This made is a bit difficult for the first band South of Salem, a five=piece from Bournemouth. Especially the poor bass player, Dee, who fell top over tail twice on kit during the set. It also made it difficult to provide a very animated show. However, all the guys managed to navigate the obstacles fairly well (on the whole).
First appearances would have you thinking of death/doom metal, but this was not the case. From the opener ‘Let Us Pray’ through the remainder of the 30-minute set they provided a solid hard rock core with not too much in the dark doom style. The lyrics could be a bit dark, such as on ‘Demons |Are Forever, a track written in memory of someone (anyone) who has committed suicide. A very emotive song and well played by the various band members. The vocals of Joey Draper are good, with a very reasonable range and necessary power when required. No plague like home is a very rapidfire drum/bass beat supported by some very good guitar work.
I would highly recommend you getting along to one of their gigs when they finish this 18-day tour with these bands – or better still, see them on this tour and also on their own. These guys would go down a storm at Steelhouse festival.
Next up were the solid blues rock five-piece Piston from the West Midlands. With support from a variety of corners of the music industry (Kerrang/Planet Rock) already under the hat of Rob Angelico, who reminds me of Paul Manzi (ex-Cats in Space vocalist), there was a fair chance I was going to like the set. They kick off with an intro track before rattling into ‘One More Day’, a solid guitar driven track led by Luke Allatt on his Fender, ably supported by Jack Edwards on a very pretty white Gretsch. A quick look at Stuart Egan’s bass also made me realise it wasn’t going to be a heavy set as his bass guitar was also a hollow body one, both of which are more suited to bluesy style than shredding metal! ‘Dynamite’ confirmed this.
‘Let Us Rise’ and ‘Leave If You Dare’ rapidly followed. Barely drawing breath, the band continued in the same vein with ‘Carry Us Home’ and a new song, ‘Shangri La’. ‘Into The Night’ was followed by the Creedance Clearwater cover of ‘Proud Mary’ (which was really well done) and their final song ‘Rainmaker’, on which you’ll ask yourself what the hell is that guitar riff from at the beginning – keep guessing: I am. Damn that was another good set – so much so, I bought the CD! Get off your ass and see these guys too.
The only problem with travelling to gigs is the copious amounts of cola you have to drink, and that comes with other issues!
Onto the main fare for the evening – The Treatment. A few line-up changes have been forced on the Cambridge five-piece since I last saw them on top of the Steelhouse Mountain in 2015. Most noticeable change is Tom Rampton on vocals and the not so diminutive figure of Andy Milburn on bass – he’s a big lad: good job he doesn’t jump around too much! Tagore and Tao Grey on guitars complement each other really well in turns on lead and rhythm throughout the set.
There are always going to be the stylistic comparisons to certain rock bands, however the personalities of the lads on stage comes across in spades. Whilst it may have been a delayed headline tour for the album released 18 months ago, my best mate and gig buddy thoroughly enjoyed it from ‘The Doctor’, through ‘Let iI Begin’ right to the “end of set” ‘Shake The Mountain (and they could shake the mountain again!), before ‘Rat Race’ and ‘Running With The Dogs’ ended the set.
Energy, enthusiasm, charisma, humility and good music: The Treatment had it in spades. This was an excellent evening with three bands at the top of their game that complemented each other really well and they also took the time to come and talk to the audience at the end of their sets – it’s so good to have it back to normal.
Another of my friends, a promoter, has these three bands booked for next weekend. He was there with a grin as wide as the Cheddar Gorge knowing what he has in store for Station 18 festival over the last weekend in April. Swansea, you need to show up for that weekend: you really won’t be disappointed. For £30 for the weekend, damn it’s a bargain.