Review by Dave Martin and all photos by Carol Henson aka LadyGigger.
Back at one of our favourite local venues tonight for three exciting bands and the place was pretty full considering it was a midweek school night gig. First up Cambridge five-piece rockers The Hot One Two. Having seen and reviewed them just last week at a festival we were more than happy to be seeing them do what they do best again.
People were still coming into the hall and it was wonderful to see; live music needs the support regularly and tonight it was certainly getting it. The band ran onto the stage with lead singer Simon, his fists raised in the air and the rest of the band shouting “hey hey hey”, immediately getting the crowd involved. Their first song Playing With Fire gave an opportunity for their charismatic rhythm guitarist Kev to play the first solo and pull some of his wonderful faces that everyone enjoys so much.
With only a thirty minute set tonight they wasted no time and it didn’t take long before the faithful fans were hand clapping and headbanging. Simon says hi to the crowd and mentions that they have always wanted to play this venue, on Rolling Stone it was time for lead guitarist Nick to shine, impressing everyone with a blistering guitar solo of his own with the excellent rhythm section of bassist Nick and drummer Joe driving it all. I love this band for many reasons, the energy and fun they all have on stage which transfers back to their audiences, always interacting with them and giving everyone a good time, and Kev with his crazy antics always guaranteed to bring a smile on people’s faces.
At the end of their all too short set Simon thanked everyone for coming out early to see them play, they are all a lovely bunch of lads and I can see them really climbing the ladder high in this industry.
Set List: Playing With Fire, Godforsaken Blues, Demon Daze, Rolling Stone, Is it Hot, Tie Me Down.
Links: Website: https://www.thehotonetwo.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehotonetwo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehotonetwo/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3O3OR2vjvM6JV1GnIDMfEP
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCD3cpLjU96DFOi28US6wQ
Next up Morganway,
we covered this band a couple of years ago at a folk festival, and they seem to get pigeonholed into that genre many times, but I can tell you they are no one trick pony: they mix it up with many music styles and they can rock it up with the best of them.
Usually, a six-piece but tonight their fiddle player Nicole Terry was otherwise engaged so the band tonight is: SJ Mortimer vocals/guitar, Kieran Morgan lead guitar and backing vocals, Matt Brocklehurst keyboards, Callum Morgan vocals, guitar and bass and on drums Ed (Steady Eddie) Bullinger.
Founded in 2016 by twin Brothers Callum and Kieran. Kicking off with You Can Only Die Once, this has some haunting ethereal harmonic guitar played brilliantly by Kieran. I have always been impressed by the vocal range and power of SJ’s voice, and this group probably doesn’t fit into the criteria of heavy rock like the other two bands playing tonight and she summed it up by saying they are probably genre-less.
This is exactly what they are and I think that’s great! They play Americana, folk, a bit of blues and yes rock; this just goes to show what versatile musicians they are and we need that diversity. Speaking of rocking it up: Hurricane, what a song! There were explosive vocals from SJ and some serious shredding going on with Kieran. Some other bands were playing downstairs in the bar tonight so people were up and down all the time but they must have heard this because the hall soon filled up again.
London Life had some interaction handclapping going on and although they seemed a little nervous at the start, they soon won the crowd over and after their set many went over to the merch table to buy shirts and CDs. so they gained some new fans tonight and well deserved.
Set List. Y.C.O.D.O, Come Over, Boy on The Train, Hurricane, London Life, Wait for Me, Feels Like Letting Go, I feel The Rain.
Links: Website: https://www.morganway.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morganwayuk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganwayband
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@morganwayuk
Headliners tonight Welsh rockers Scarlet Rebels.
Wayne Doyle vocals/guitar, brother Gary Doyle drums/vocals, Chris Jones lead guitar, and Carl Oag bass/vocals.
They have had great success with not one but two Official UK Album Chart Top 10 releases, the first being See Through Blue coming in at no 7 two years ago and now their brand-new album Where the Colours Are charting at 15. So, the mainstream audiences are loving what they do as much as the die-hard rockers.
They are not only recognised for being a band they are also known for raising money and collecting donations for local food banks and charities, and they should be heavily applauded for this. Wayne was surprised at the people who had come out to see them on a weekday school night. “It has blown me away”, he says with a beaming smile; he also quickly spotted a few school kids in the front row and throughout the night teased them – which I’m sure they loved. They play a classic 80’s rock style and many of their songs have a huge commercial sound which is why they appeal to not just the usual rock crowd.
I must say again that it was so great to see people out and about supporting live bands both up in the main hall and in the bar, downstairs seeing the lesser-known ones. I popped down a couple of times in the night and there were some good punk tunes being played and it was pretty full down there too. It is so important, especially to the grass roots music scene, as it is not in a great place at the moment, with many bands having to call it a day due to bad ticket sales and same goes for the venues: use it or lose it, guys. Back to the Rebels: I loved Chris’s axe work, his fingers running up and down the neck of his guitar at breakneck speed on the fast numbers.
Wayne thanked the crowd multiple times every time sounding more emotional, he really didn’t expect the crowd he saw tonight, he also thanked everyone for buying the new album and getting it into the charts much higher than they expected to loud cheers. Streets of Fire had the biggest hand clapping reaction of the night with nearly everyone joining in.Divide and Conquer had a bit of an old school Rock n Roll vibe to it with a white-hot middle eight guitar solo, and also had them dancing at the front.
They must have finished downstairs because more and more were filling the hall up which Wayne and the guys must have loved seeing. Ending this great night with It was Beautiful, a very popular new song, in which everyone joined in singing. Coming back on stage for a two-song encore.The room loved everything they played tonight and I know Wayne and the band enjoyed the great reception.
Set List. Secret Drug, How Much is Enough, My House, I’m Alive, Take You Home, You Take My Breath Away, Streets of Fire, Save Me, Grace, Who Wants to be in Love Anyway, These Days, Divide and Conquer, It Was Beautiful, (Encore) Declining, Let Me In.
Links: Website: https://www.scarletrebels.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScarletRebels
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