Rock Regeneration

Champions, Bournemouth

The Royal Wedding coverage on the TV has finally finished and getting out of the house after an afternoon if front on the box is in order. This week website and promoter BH-One are celebrating their 5th birthday and to mark the fact, they have arranged 5 gigs to run over the bank holiday weekend featuring a host of local bands with all the proceeds going to the Julia’s House and Poole Hospital charities.

The tickets are priced at just £3 per gig or £5 for a wristband to get you into all five!! Tonight is the second of 5 and four bands have been laid on for the post Royal wedding Party celebration.

The 1st band on are the jovial Grott Party who are a 3 piece rock trio who are all about having unorganised fun, they admit not to being too well rehearsed, that does not matter one bit as it seems to keep them on their toes. The rumour has it that these guys should be headlining, however due to the extensive amounts they drink they probably would not be able to perform later, so putting on 1st is a good strategic move. They start they set with a song called ‘Fat Girl’ and continue with a song called ‘Mugabe’ which is all about dictators. Lead singer Lewis changed the lyrics to bring it up to date by singing the chorus as ‘Vote Gaddafi or Die’, during the whole song the band had sloppy grins on their faces.

The powerful fast paced punk style guitars and alternative vocals radiate out into the audience and the band get some early heckling from a few that seemed to have been drinking all afternoon. The set ends with a song all about the social networking sight Facebook called funnily enough ‘Facebook’. The band thank the audience for their attention and Lewis said as he leaves the stage ” I know you only came here to see us tonight, but please stick around and see the other bands” oh the tongue in cheek arrogance of some people.

Grott Party

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Next up are another three piece called ‘Head Of A Cuban Trojan’ , who arrive on stage all wearing Royals masks with the drummer with a Her Majesty the Queen mask, with the guitarist as Prince William and the bass player as his bride Catherine. It is quite hot and they do their best to keep them on for the 1st few songs until they get thrown into the audience. Their experimental alternative guitar sound has a 90’s American feel comparing to bands of that time like ‘Sonic Youth’ and ‘Pavement’.

There are a few original additions such as a bugle and a megaphone taped to the microphone stand to add to the sound experience. The combining of the male and female vocals with the distorted guitar effects impress some of the audience and the now larger crowd show plenty of encouragement as the finish their short set.

Head Of A Cuban Trojan

After a short break the Animal Talent Show take to the stage and by the sound of the enthusiastic audience they have a few fans in tonight. The five piece have Nick Reader up the front on guitar and right from the start they entertain with some fresh sounding twin guitar sounds backed with Henrietta’s snyth and keyboard effects, which knits together their audible experience nicely. Songs such as ‘Disco’, ‘Disguises’ and ‘Yeah Yeah’ have the audience dancing along in unison with the band, all in all a very enjoyable set from a band with plenty of confidence that certainly know how to entertain.

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Animal Talent Show

Setting up the stage for ‘Betika’ took the stage hands some time, firstly there are 9 members in the band and they all play a whole host of different instruments. The band walked on the stage and was given a very warm excited welcome from the audience. They effortlessly started to play and everything just seemed to fit into place like a well oiled machine. As well as the usual guitars, keyboards and drums, the band played other instruments such as trombone, flute, bugle, trumpet, saxaphone, harmonica…just to name a few.

Gallery:01–02–03–04

There was so much going on onstage it was very difficult to know where to look, lots of twists and turns, underneath all of what looked like organised chaos there was some cleverly well written lyrics on songs such as ‘The Candiate’ and ‘The Dominator’ which were delivered with precise perfection. The band tried to leave the stage but got called back by a very loud enthusiastic audience who were treated to a great version of the Happy Monday’s classic ‘Step On’. The band whipped up the audience so much with the mystic power of the highly original sound, I don’t think I have seen such a good reception in Champions for any band as good as this one before. A fantastic end to a brilliant night of excellent local music.

Betika


Set List
Betika
Dormitory
The Candidate
Twenty Five
Peter Marfa
The Mark
Step On(Happy Mondays Cover)
Volkspiotr
True Swamp Neglect

http://www.myspace.com/betika
http://www.myspace.com/animaltalentshow
http://www.myspace.com/headofacubantrojan
http://www.myspace.com/grottparty

Words, Pictures and Video by Dave Chinery(Chinners).