It’s becoming ever more evident that the general public desire less from heavy hitting Rock ‘N’ Roll and more from four piece indie bands with substantial financial backing to create dramatic ‘tumblr-esque’ music videos that somehow convey supposed deep emotion content, whilst their music couldn’t be any more from the opposite. So it’s a pleasant change to see two bands founded for the exact same reason – to instil a feeling of passion and excitement into their listeners’ hearts via heavy use of distortion, the over-presence of guitars and earth-shattering drum sounds. Now that sounds more like it, right? The Dark Horses and legendary The Dandy Warhols both graced the city of Nottingham and the Rescue Rooms for a night that would be a challenge to forget.
DARK HORSES are a six piece (five piece for live performances) alternative/rock band led by front-woman Lisa Elle, who for many were relatively unheard of, but after their performance on the night, have guaranteed an increase of members to their ever-growing fan base. At the heart of the band is fiery passion in the form of powerful reverberant vocals with soothing male accompaniment, a clean but rough-around-the edges rhythm guitar, smooth bass and an obtained kick and snare sound that any band would be proud to possess. Upon having heard their first live track, it was noticeable that these guys weren’t anything to look-by on; they are truly underrated in every essence of the word. ‘Radio’ had people fixated on the legendary stage of Nottingham, with a bouncy Beck-like bass hook, the prior mentioned deadly deep kick and snare combo, a 60’s tambourine sound and a spine tingling chorus hook with the phrase ‘It’s all over now’ repeated alongside a high end keyboard melody. ‘Traps’ had more of a relaxed vibe about it; with the bass line reminiscent on The Zombies track ‘Time of the Season’, an eerie keyboard melody, 90s lead guitar and shoegaze-sounding vocals. By the end of their set, I was truly wishing for more, it was a short set, obviously to make room for The Dandy Warhols, but I think the general consensus was that we all wanted to hear just that little bit more.
After a short intermission it was time for the moment we had all attended the gig for, to see THE DANDY WARHOLS. In my head I had built up the idea that the start of their set to be something I wouldn’t forget; this could be them dropping into one of their well renowned hit records, or a heart-shatteringly loud drum pattern intertwined with classic Warhol lead guitar sounds – but it was far from that. In fact, it seemed like it never really ever kicked in. There seemed to be no distinctive separation between any of the instruments, which led to a very lifeless feel – the main point of energy coming in the form of Six by Seven frontman Chris Olley, who joined them on stage for their final song ‘Boys Better’. By no means was this a lack of energy as a result of lack of care by the band members, there was just something missing you couldn’t quite put your fingers on. Maybe it was how quiet they seemed to be comparatively to the Dark Horses, or maybe it was their drums which weren’t as powerful as the prior band, but something wasn’t quite right. Despite all of these points, they certainly did not fail to get the crowd excited. ‘Horse Pills’ really got the crowd going, with the grunge guitar oriented chorus, cheeky spoken word for the verse and catchy lyrics for the chorus. ‘Solid’ had everyone chanting their iconic keyboard melody and as expected, ‘Bohemian Like You’ went down a treat; it embodied the essence of true Rock ‘N’ Roll – a simple-yet effective four chord rhythm guitar riff, a smooth but powerful bass guitar following the likes of the rhythm guitar and one of the catchiest vocal hooks of the 21st Century.
This is what makes live performances so special and different from recorded material – you don’t quite know what you are going to get. On this night, we were pleasantly surprised by the Dark Horses performance and could barely contain our excitement for The Dandy Warhols, despite there being various technical difficulties regards to their live sound. The appropriate links to both bands are below, if you have not heard either band, check out their back catalogue, but make sure you have an hour or two, because one song will most likely lead to another.
Dark Horses
https://www.facebook.com/darkhorsesmusic
The Dandy Warhols
https://www.facebook.com/TheDandyWarhols
Review by Paris Lindon-Hall
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