PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
@planetmosh reviews .@Estrella_Rocks and .@edenscurse.
Caithness rockers Estrella have had a busy year so far, touring Europe with Robin Beck and House of Lords, so after all those gigs I was expecting them to be pretty tight on Monday night in Glasgow. I wasn’t disappointed. They were the opening act for Eden’s Curse but judging by the number of Estrella t-shirts in the crowd a lot of fans had turned up to see them. They’re what I would call a classic rock line up, all long hair and skinny jeans, made up of brothers Paul (vocals), Luke (guitar) and Nathan Gunn (bass) and drummer Leo McPherson. There was no fanfare as they wandered on stage, but as the lights went down the crowd started paying attention and frontman Paul made sure it stayed that way throughout the set. Everyone got his chance to shine, in particular Luke, with some Hendrix inspired guitar playing using his teeth! They play eighties infused rock in the Def Leppard vein, but at the same time sound new and fresh. They’re also great showmen, bringing the crowd into the performance, taking pictures and even handing out beers to the front row. They played some great singalong numbers, including Shout and debut album title track Come Out To Play. The whole show came from that album, but they’ve promised that gigs later in the summer will feature samples of new material from their second album, due to be recorded this summer. If that album goes down as well as Come Out To Play I see big things in the future for Estrella. The show closed with Party, an upbeat song that had the crowd bouncing and throwing devil horns around with abandon. For a short gig as a support band, Estrella put on a brilliant show, thoroughly entertained their fans and made quite a few new ones at the same time.
Eden’s Curse have fitted a lot into their eight years, including major line up changes. Only two original members of the band are still there, bassist Paul Logue and guitarist Thorsten Koehne. They’re now joined by John Clelland on drums, Steve Williams on keys and singer Nikola Mijic. As Paul told Planetmosh, and also made a point of telling the crowd before they played the aptly named Rock Bottom, it’s been a hard road, but they’re back with this Symphony of Sin tour due to the insistence of the fans, who simply wouldn’t let them give up. With five members from five different countries it can’t be easy for them to make the band work, but the hardcore of fans who turned out on a Monday night to watch them are certainly glad they do. This was the first night of a week long tour and as often happens with opening nights, the band suffered some technical difficulties, pausing to fix the problem after opening track Symphony of Sin, but Nik did a good job of keeping things going, chatting to the crowd while the issue was resolved and the rest of the gig went off without a hitch.
Ivory Blacks is one of Glasgow’s smallest venues, and the staging wasn’t brilliant, with Steve on keys so far to the left he was only barely on stage. He does good work, and deserves a bit more limelight. Staging aside though, once the tech problems were fixed the band played a massive sixteen song set, not leaving the stage until almost 11.30pm. Occasionally when bands play so late the crowd quietens as people leave to catch the last train home, but if anything the opposite happened here, with the small but enthusiastic crowd getting louder as the night went on. Great Unknown and Fallen from Grace were standout tracks, as was a blistering guitar solo from Thorsten, once voted melodicrock.com Guitarist of the Year. Nikola and Paul did a good job of interacting with the crowd, giving them a chance to catch their breath as they made their way through some huge songs.
Probably the best known song from Symphony of Sin is Evil and Divine. The video was shot in Glasgow and has had 54 000 views on YouTube. It features Nikola and a mysterious blonde, who to the great enjoyment of the fans made an appearance on stage as Evil and Divine closed the show. The band got together to take a bow and thanked the fans for their continued support, handing out plectrums, drumsticks and high fives in equal measure. Bands like Eden’s Curse are what rock and roll is all about, hard working guys who do it for the love of it, and it would be a tragedy if they couldn’t continue to make their music, and bring such enjoyment to their fans. Kudos to them for never giving up, and to their fans for not letting them.
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