PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
As the rain continued its June deluge outside, rock fans huddled inside the bar and hallway of The Robin 2 in
Bilston ahead of doors. My first time here, this great little 700 capacity venue to my delight and surprise ended up packed out, not only on a Monday night, but a Monday night after Download Festival; a credit to both the bands playing and the venue. Western Sand opened proceedings and well and truly went down an even bigger storm than the one raging outside the venue. A little cautious at the start, they absorbed the appreciation cheered and applauded at them until singer/guitarist Tyler Hains was beaming from ear to ear. Their blend of hard rock with southern influences is balanced just right, putting their own take on a market where the southern Americans are very much leading the way musically at the moment.
Their set was filled with numerous tight synchronised guitar licks and solos between Tyler and lead guitarist Jimmy Bradshaw. Their energy increasing as they fed off the crowd’s reaction, it was as if they were playing a headline show. ‘Broken Bones’ was a particular stand out track; it had a different impetus to it from the other material they played. Closing their set with ‘Nothing to Lose’ the initial feeling was that this didn’t really sound like a closing track, but boy we were proven wrong as it expanded into a musical escapade discovering the hardest depths of the realm of rock. As Western Sand headed off stage they had well and truly baited the audience with what they have to offer and people were still cheering well after they had left the stage. Western Sand Set List: Dark Horse, Hammerfall, Blackwater Resolution, Broken Bones, Going Down, Welcome to the Badlands, Nothing to Loose
Fresh from playing Download Festival two days before, Inglorious’ singer Nathan James announced that they would be playing their debut album in full, something that has become the latest concert gimmick for more established bands, here it is more to do with that’s all they’ve got and they want to give their fans their money’s worth.
From the off with ‘Until I Die’, Inglorious’ energy was palpable. Lead guitarist Andreas Eriksson struck out across stage left to centre and frankly needed more room, as he drew out the very best from his Les Paul. Inglorious happily pay homage to those who have influenced them with covers of Rainbow’s ‘I Surrender’ early on and with permission sought and granted from Mr Hughes himself Deep Purple’s ‘Lay Down, Stay Down’ in the latter third of the set. They played both well, they are brave covers to do, but ‘Lay Down, Stay Down’ certainly gave the crowd an extra umph, which they hardly needed by that point.
New song ‘No Good For You’ strikes out in a similar direction to the first album, giving fans a sense of reliability to Inglorious, but it still shows a development and a sense of working on their sound. Nathan also revealed exclusively to the audience that they will be working with Doug Aldrich on that second album. There is however, still life to be eked out of their debut self-titled release.
Half way through the set they did a couple of acoustic songs ‘Wake’ and ‘Burn’, for which drummer Phil Beaver
took up the 12-string guitar and rhythm guitarist Wil Taylor sat at the drums, whilst Nathan (as he willingly admitted) positioned himself “Westlife style” on a bar stool. I really enjoyed this couple of songs, it was a well-positioned part of their set, and they had clearly rehearsed it to make it sound good. Sometimes electric songs just don’t work acoustically, but Inglorious got it spot on. That said, they weren’t going to keep it mellow for too long, with too much enthusiasm needing an outlet and having quickly removed stools and taken up their original positions, ‘Warning’ was a musical explosion breaking audience members out of any momentary slumber that they may have been lured into.
There was no rest as bassist Colin Parkinson and Phil thundered through ‘You’re Mine’ and on to Inglorious’ trusted anthem ‘Holy Water’, the crowd just love this song and they wrapped up a fantastic night with some fire power in the form of ‘Girl Got A Gun’.
You can catch Inglorious at various festivals this summer, supporting The Dead Dasies in the UK next month and Steel Panther in Europe in the autumn. You’d be crazy to miss any of those shows, so head to www.inglorious.com for full details.
Inglorious Set List: Until I Die, Breakaway, I Surrender (Rainbow cover), High Flying Gypsy, No Good For You, Bleed For You – Acoustic set: Wake, Burn/November Rain – Warning, You’re Mine, Unaware, Lay Down Stay Down (Deep Purple cover), Holy Water, Inglorious, Girl Got A Gun
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