Sunday 6th November - Staks Battle of the Bands 05 (3/3) By Michelle Dee

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Photograph Gallery   Hollywood Gallery ,    the Vels Gallery 1,    Gallery 2.    Minus 272 Gallery.

With a brace of songs that not only get you singing but dancing as well, especially the sixties rock n roll tempo of Saturday Night Champagne Bright Light. The Vels have made for themselves the perfect platform to launch what could become a career littered with many highs. Today saw Alfie playing atop one of the speakers adjacent to the back wall, which heightened their stage performance considerably and leant the band certain rock kudos.

Lastly Minus 272 took the floor, and are, or perhaps were, a likable band with a female lead doing a mix of covers and original songs. I was surprised that today's set consisted of the same songs from the heat a few weeks previous. Echo Beach was covered again along with a shortened version of Teenage Kicks, in a set that was hurried and unremarkable.

They have a pleasant enough sound and could do well on the pub circuit. In fact covers bands are what the average punters want, and are likely to get far more monetary benefits than a band doing original compositions. However, some will look down upon the lowly covers band, even though they can probably all afford to go on foreign holidays this year. As you might have guessed the Vels won hands down; what they won I don't know, I left before the backslapping and presentations began. If you really want to know why not ask Alfie at his shop, next time you're in town.

Now, I will be the first to admit that the Vels were, without question, the best band on that day. They are contenders for the fastest rising band in Hull at the moment, garnering considerable support and backing from some influential people, landing some highly prized gigs and getting their name known. Whether they were the best band from start to finish of the competition is another question entirely. Questions which will, by most, go un-answered.

They are probably one of the most popular bands right now having many fans on the scene and with the release of their first CD this number can only grow, making them a popular choice for bookers and promoters. But how do you choose, without first having a rigid framework set in place, what does makes one band better than another, one writer better than another, one genre better than some other? Music taste is and always will be a personal choice purely subjective, that's why the weekly pop chart has little or no relevance to what is actually happening within our music culture today. Arctic Monkeys being the exception, of course.

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photographs courtesy and Copyright ©  Michelle Dee 2005

Photograph Gallery   Hollywood Gallery ,    the Vels Gallery 1,    Gallery 2.    Minus 272 Gallery.

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