Bullets and Octane/ Takota/ Sucioperro
16/10/2006, Camden Barfly, London
By James Willcock
Now, right about here you were supposed to be reading an interview with Bullets and Octane. In fact, I did not only manage to organise the interview, but met the vocalist, Gene Louis, and the guitarist, James Daniel , in the downstairs bar of the Barfly. I did, in fact, start the interview, which was going quite well; the guys were in good humour, they even gave me a beer. Then, after about ten minutes, I was looking at my dictaphone and realised the tape heads weren’t turning. The light was on, but it wasn’t recording. SHIT FUCK ARSE CUNT.
Fortunately, the guys didn’t seem to mind when I admitted to the slight technical hitch I was having, indeed, they even made an effort to try and fix it. The good news is that the plan is for me to get the interview done with them when they’re back in mid-November, supporting Stone Sour. Anyway, that rather chunky disappointment/embarrassment aside, I migrated my way to the stage area upstairs (via a few pints, of course). Two things struck me immediately about this gig - having never been to the Barfly before, I wasn’t quite anticipating just how small the stage/dance floor area is, I’d guess it’s around a 150 capacity, maybe only 100. The other thing was just how many kids were there, and I do mean 14-16 year old children. If you think that metalcore kids are young, try going to Kerrang-sanctioned rock gig.
Anyway, the first band of the night, Sucioperro, quickly took to the stage. If I’m honest, their name is about the most exciting thing about them, and - let’s be fair - even that’s pretty crap. They play a slight version of indie rock that comes across as a less whiny Travis, possibly to do with the fact they’re from Scotland. The music was bland, derivative and sounded like another half dozen bands I’ve dismissed immediately before. They were not helped in the least by the complete lack of onstage presence and charisma, including the vocalist coming across as somewhere between scared and confused by his surroundings. In fact, because the music was of such little interest to me, and it was being played loud with a lot of treble coming through, I ended up putting my headphones in my ears just to block out some of the unpleasant/painful noise.
Next up were Takota, a band from Orange County, which was evident from their more upbeat, sunny disposition. They play a fairly standard style of rock and roll that came across as somewhere between mediocre and alright. One problem was that the band went to the other extreme stage-wise, coming across as rather OTT, especially the frontman, who was all crotch grabbing and one hand in the air with his back-to-the-audience posing. This ground against my nerves a little bit, probably because it was coming from a supporting band who weren’t even that great musically.
Anyway, the time had finally come for Bullets and Octane to take to the stage. Pretty much from the first note they were better than either of the two bands that had already played. An energetic 45 minute set included songs such as Pirates (not actually about pirates, which was one of the things I was going to bring up in the interview) from their previous album The Revelry, as well as a fair amount of material from their latest effort In The Mouth Of The Young (is it just me and Russell that think that’s a slightly dodgy name for an album?[Maybe we're just sick fucks? - RG]), including Ain’t Your Saviour and My Disease. I did notice a pleasing lack of their softer material, indicating an absence of songs taken from their first EP, One Night Stand Rock And Roll Band.
Their catchy, sing along, yet fairly hard rock style had the crowd moving from the get go, but it was only after a few songs went by that a proper pit got started, which soon got bigger thanks to Gene Louis picking a random member of the crowd and designating him as responsible for making sure that a pit got started for each and every song from then on. Pretty sensible really, when you think about it. I have to admit, I found moshing quite fun at this gig, as I was distinctly larger (and more used to being hit by people from different angles) than the kids in the crowd. The band also seemed to get a real kick out of things, especially as they had clearly been drinking steadily since I had seen them before doors opened, and indeed continuing to do so on stage, at one point simply yelling into the crowd a request for some shots until one of the bar staff obliged.
Once the band had finished, they went beyond the standard call of duty of shaking a few hands from on stage by continuing down into the crowd and signing anything and everything they were asked to. I can see Bullets and Octane going far, unfortunately it will probably be in a mainstream MTV/Kerrang kind of way that wont really do the quality of their music any favours in the future.
7.5/10 - An excellent headlining act, let down by pretty bad support.
16/10/2006, Camden Barfly, London
By James Willcock
Now, right about here you were supposed to be reading an interview with Bullets and Octane. In fact, I did not only manage to organise the interview, but met the vocalist, Gene Louis, and the guitarist, James Daniel , in the downstairs bar of the Barfly. I did, in fact, start the interview, which was going quite well; the guys were in good humour, they even gave me a beer. Then, after about ten minutes, I was looking at my dictaphone and realised the tape heads weren’t turning. The light was on, but it wasn’t recording. SHIT FUCK ARSE CUNT.
Fortunately, the guys didn’t seem to mind when I admitted to the slight technical hitch I was having, indeed, they even made an effort to try and fix it. The good news is that the plan is for me to get the interview done with them when they’re back in mid-November, supporting Stone Sour. Anyway, that rather chunky disappointment/embarrassment aside, I migrated my way to the stage area upstairs (via a few pints, of course). Two things struck me immediately about this gig - having never been to the Barfly before, I wasn’t quite anticipating just how small the stage/dance floor area is, I’d guess it’s around a 150 capacity, maybe only 100. The other thing was just how many kids were there, and I do mean 14-16 year old children. If you think that metalcore kids are young, try going to Kerrang-sanctioned rock gig.
Anyway, the first band of the night, Sucioperro, quickly took to the stage. If I’m honest, their name is about the most exciting thing about them, and - let’s be fair - even that’s pretty crap. They play a slight version of indie rock that comes across as a less whiny Travis, possibly to do with the fact they’re from Scotland. The music was bland, derivative and sounded like another half dozen bands I’ve dismissed immediately before. They were not helped in the least by the complete lack of onstage presence and charisma, including the vocalist coming across as somewhere between scared and confused by his surroundings. In fact, because the music was of such little interest to me, and it was being played loud with a lot of treble coming through, I ended up putting my headphones in my ears just to block out some of the unpleasant/painful noise.
Next up were Takota, a band from Orange County, which was evident from their more upbeat, sunny disposition. They play a fairly standard style of rock and roll that came across as somewhere between mediocre and alright. One problem was that the band went to the other extreme stage-wise, coming across as rather OTT, especially the frontman, who was all crotch grabbing and one hand in the air with his back-to-the-audience posing. This ground against my nerves a little bit, probably because it was coming from a supporting band who weren’t even that great musically.
Anyway, the time had finally come for Bullets and Octane to take to the stage. Pretty much from the first note they were better than either of the two bands that had already played. An energetic 45 minute set included songs such as Pirates (not actually about pirates, which was one of the things I was going to bring up in the interview) from their previous album The Revelry, as well as a fair amount of material from their latest effort In The Mouth Of The Young (is it just me and Russell that think that’s a slightly dodgy name for an album?[Maybe we're just sick fucks? - RG]), including Ain’t Your Saviour and My Disease. I did notice a pleasing lack of their softer material, indicating an absence of songs taken from their first EP, One Night Stand Rock And Roll Band.
Their catchy, sing along, yet fairly hard rock style had the crowd moving from the get go, but it was only after a few songs went by that a proper pit got started, which soon got bigger thanks to Gene Louis picking a random member of the crowd and designating him as responsible for making sure that a pit got started for each and every song from then on. Pretty sensible really, when you think about it. I have to admit, I found moshing quite fun at this gig, as I was distinctly larger (and more used to being hit by people from different angles) than the kids in the crowd. The band also seemed to get a real kick out of things, especially as they had clearly been drinking steadily since I had seen them before doors opened, and indeed continuing to do so on stage, at one point simply yelling into the crowd a request for some shots until one of the bar staff obliged.
Once the band had finished, they went beyond the standard call of duty of shaking a few hands from on stage by continuing down into the crowd and signing anything and everything they were asked to. I can see Bullets and Octane going far, unfortunately it will probably be in a mainstream MTV/Kerrang kind of way that wont really do the quality of their music any favours in the future.
7.5/10 - An excellent headlining act, let down by pretty bad support.
