Headup and Pitiful Reign at The Ringside - Wednesday 19th May By Dick Spring.

Photograph Gallery   Pitiful Reign Gallery   Headup Gallery 1   Headup Gallery 2

Goddamn! Has Wednesday come round again? Where do the days go? At least I have The Ringside to give me a good midweek blast of quality music and environment.

I feel I must say that having been to many of the other pubs that have recently been trying their hand at masquerading as venues with the worst cheap as chips vocal PA's and bands expected to shoehorn themselves into some corner space with amps on seating, it is worth pointing out that here is a place that can justifiably call itself a venue, with a 2k in-house PA and a properly constructed and laid out stage area.

Anyway, what about the bands I hear you cry! Well, tonight there was an extra treat of a second, unannounced band in the form of openers Pitiful Reign, who appeared to have an average age of 15/16! Despite their gothic-tinged thrash metal, vocally they definitely lean toward the style of such bands as Cradle of Filth, though musically they aspire to the earlier thrashy sound that Metallica once had.

They even bravely attempted the epic Metallica song For Whom the Bell Tolls, which I have to admire as they didn't seem quite ready and adept enough to pull it off, but sure enough they did. If I was to give a local comparison (and even a watch out there's some young 'uns about warning to them) I would say they would fit well on a bill with Torso Horse, Multiple Injuries and Planet Ten, which obviously demonstrates that this genre is very strong locally.

There is still a lot of work to be done but there is most definitely signs of promise.

With the surprise of an opening band tonight, making it more of a gig, I waited for the main act Headup, who I had the joy of witnessing at the Adelphi a couple of months ago, and found them highly entertaining then, so was looking forward to seeing them again. Sure enough, I wasn't disappointed. This three piece from Sheffield not only make the mighty noise of a 5-piece band, but have vitally remembered that live rock/metal music is about having a good time.

With that in mind Headup proceed to slay the expectant and sizable crowd (60+) with songs to slice your head off a thirty paces. But they played with a sense of humour, something that I found made frontman Rick Morice instantly likeable. Musically i would have to describe it as the bastard offspring off Anthrax and Slayer, liberally splashed with a dose of good old knees-up Punk rock. Whilst it is evident they take their music very seriously, they are not as po-faced as many metal musicians have a tendency to be.

Speaking to Rick after the show, he tells me they have gone down well on several Punk bills, as there is less pretension and often a greater willingness to listen to something outside the usual scope, as long as it has four fast guitars and steam train drums - something Headup have in Abundance. I can say that here is a band ready to do the biz (recording, touring, press etc), so a label really needs to look at them and give them the backing to take their music to the masses.

Once again The Ringside has come up trumps, and continuing like this is going to make this venue THE place to go and to play, as they unearth gem after gem.

Check the thisisull.com Gallery Photograph Gallery   Pitiful Reign Gallery   Headup Gallery 1   Headup Gallery 2 Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Mo thisisull.com

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