Unless; The Story So Far By Michelle Dee

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Photograph Gallery   Unless Gallery .

If you have been listening to some of the John Peel tribute programming you may have heard this band from Grimsby being played a number of times. He was quietly making positive noises about them before he sadly passed away. They are a punk-rock four piece that have been together for a number of years and are in the process of recording their third E.P. After members having stints at University and other distractions they are eager to get back into gigging to promote the new material.

They explained that their hometown lacks a vibrant and varied scene. The promoters in Grimsby tend to try and pigeonhole them with the Emo kids and mini-moshers, of which the North Lincs. fishing town has in abundance. That and the recommendation from one of the most authoritative voices on music, has spurred them on to be heard live by greater audiences. Having listened to their first demo False Laughter I imagine some of the things that John maybe heard in them. They have a mix of influences including the disaffected grunge and explosive energy of early Nirvana with a nod to some more uproarious punk-rock influences on the way.

Listening now to Some High the song takes a swift journey through seventies punk tinged with ska rhythm section, a bass line left hanging in the wind before a barrage of drums from Adam brings them all crashing together. Other highlights include the rather good Last Gun and the final track on the five-track EP with a heavier industrial sound called Loose. Track three, Goodbye has more of a seventies rock vibe: eruptions of frenzied riffage that will appeal to many an axe swinger. This attention from John led to them being picked up by a number of interested parties. One of those interested parties led to Unless going down to London to record a mini album.

The result was a packaged complete disc that the band felt didn't leave room for new ideas and raw experimentation or give a true reflection of their sound. Once again, they felt like someone else was trying to steer them in a direction they didn't want to go. Call me a cynic but if some hotshot management company got hold of a band John Peel was busy bringing to a wider audience they'd be in like Bassets down a foxhole. After a brief hiatus the band decided to go back and rediscover what it was that John first saw in them.

A band that has had a taste of both the positive and negative aspects of the industry, they are now looking to gig in and around Hull again. Having already played Hull Uni and Adelphi a year or so ago they recently added a new name to their list of Hull venues. Fiday 11th November at The Ringside saw Unless playing alongside post punk band Sal Paradise. Sadly for both bands the sound levels weren't right. I asked a number of people and they all concurred with this statement.

Strange because the night before, when Thee Unstrung played alongside The Bonnitts, The Blackouts and Park n Ride, the sound quality was vastly superior. Unless unperturbed ignored the sound issues and treated the audience to a set that was suitably raw and chaotic. Marc even decided to tryout a few guitar leaps on and off the stage. Nothing would have tamed his unbounded energy that night.

They even got the chance to show their faces at a Birthday party down De Grey Street later that night after a number of wrong turns in their van called Nell.

Continued.....Next Page

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