Football Club Rocks To Full House

STUDENTS at Lord Williams?s School organised a charity gig at Thame Football Club last Friday featuring six local bands playing to a packed house.
Last minute additions, SIXTHERA, started the evening off in fine style with their guitar driven sound impressing audience and fellow musicians alike.
HIDDEN AJENDA followed. With Tom Smith?s guitar rig nearly obliterating the back wall, new guitar player going through borrowed gear and vocals struggling with an under powered PA, they could have been phased but these guys are experienced beyond their years and turned in another strong performance. Their following continues to grow in number and dedication.
TWIN SISTER is Will and Ed from ?THURSDAYS OF VEGA?, on guitar and bass, and Alex Camp, HEDROOM?s guitarist, on drums! Dressed up in bizarre costume and cavorting around the stage almost in time to their mental riffs they proved genuinely entertaining. Throwing spiky, post punk aggression and complex time signatures all over the place their part performance art, part edgy, intellectual experimentalism was just plain nuts. If they survive, Twin Sister will definitely be worth seeing again. Mad as a box of frogs, brilliant.
How do you follow that? Well, you come on, do your stuff and capture the audience in the way INVETERATE did. Powerful antipodean, tribal rhythms and delayed vocal; a hypnotic Angus Young look/sound/movealike guitar player, a front man with real presence and a voice, what more can you ask? Good band.
Then HEDROOM! Here class and experience showed as the band took to the stage with their trademark ludicrous energy and performed superbly. Bass and drums really locked together and drove the whole thing from the very first. A more mature musical performance from Christian was strangely aided by the PA?s lack of power, his typically committed vocal delivery lacked the harshness that can dominate the set through a bigger rig, coming over with more warmth and sitting in the mix far better. A good night for such a happy accident as the band were really cooking with Alex?s guitar sound also benefiting. He proved he?s as mad on the axe as he is on skins. An excellent set from a really good band which has suddenly got a whole lot tighter; maybe they should turn off the treble forever.
LAMENT finished the night, their first performance back here since Matt?s departure. How would they cope? Traditionally the most demanding band format, the 3 piece has no hiding place. Everyone must be on the money; if you can?t play it will definitely show; if you can, it can be inspirational. Well these boys can play and it was inspirational. With the best gear, they had the best band sound of the night ( I guess you get what you pay for). Full of wicked tight riffs and excellent interplay between a wildly dreadlocked Alex on bass and a thunderous Tom on drums, and with Dave handling lead and rhythm guitar duties and vocals superbly, they took it to another level. This set was a triumph.
There may just come a day when this audience will be saying ?I was there????.?
This 3 piece are going to be awesome, watch this space!
Congratulations to everyone involved in making this a highly successful night, great bands, a great audience, great organization, excellent result. Can?t wait for the next one.
Contributed By; The Stringer