Tag: rescue rooms

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Music: Heck ‘Instructions’ Album Launch

‘Instructions’ has been a long time coming for Heck but it was totally worth it. Check out what happened when our music writer Amber attended their album release show….

It was an honour to witness Heck’s album release show at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham last week, and hear what is an outstanding debut album performed in full with an audience, who had clearly backed the band from their first tours to that very day.

The album was released the day of the show, which meant I had it on repeat at work all day and then on the journey to Nottingham that evening. I was so excited to hear them play live and by the time the incredible Raketkanon had got our hearts pumping I was well and truly ready for ‘Instructions’.

‘Good As Dead’ from the get go had Matt flinging himself from a stack of monitors and parting the crowd with the mic lead. It was only fitting that the audience knew the drill- pass the mic stand back then the mic lead.

Heck are becoming more and more renowned for their wild on stage performances and it is incredible that their iconic debut comprises all this live energy into just ten tracks. Their musical dexterity, creative talent and raw power is pushing the boundaries of music and Heck deserve every second of praise not only for ‘Instructions’, but for the mark they have made on music.

Rescue Rooms proved to be the perfect venue for an album showcase. The balcony was rammed with family, that feared for the balcony hoping band and friends safety. A balcony, however, didn’t mean that they were going to miss out on any of Heck’s convulsive action.

Within all the raucous chaos ‘Instructions’ is an album that binds every band member together, conveying their originality perfectly.

‘I. See The Old Lady Decently II. Buried Although III. Amongst Those Left Are You’ was probably the best 16 minutes of my life (although that doesn’t say much for me!) it closed ‘Instructions’ and the release show with a passion that reflected everything Heck have to offer.

Despite all their lunacy Heck never stop thanking the crowd throughout, and it just highlights that not only is ‘Instructions’ pushing the boundaries of music but that these guys have fought hard for this album. As the set closed you could feel the emotion and gratitude in the room. I had the pleasure of talking to Jonny and Matt at Reading Festival last year and there was a strong sense of hestitation about releasing an album that to attend the album release show less than a year later was an honour.

Nothing you read will even begin to sum up this band or ‘Instructions’ until you hear it for yourself.

 

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Music Review: Atreyu

Our guest music writer Robert Moody continuously trawls the country for live music. In this post he reviews Atreyu and Shvpes who played a sold out Rescue Rooms in Nottingham last week.  

Atreyu

The ‘Sold Out’ signs were on display at The Rescue Rooms on Friday night, as Metalcore pioneers Atreyu descended on the venue as part of their first full UK tour in nearly 5 years. Following a lengthy hiatus, the band had torn apart The Underworld in Camden back in April of this year, and were now playing the similarly sized Rescue Rooms as a warm up show for their appearances at the weekend’s Reading & Leeds festivals.

The sole support for the evening came from Birmingham quintet Shvpes, who wasted no time launching into an energetic set to get the crowd warmed up. Shvpes are an interesting band to critique – having previously been known as Cytota, they have been touring for several years now and feel like a familiar name.  Yet the band are still very young as they played their first shows when most of the band members were under 18. Because of this where many bands have had time to hone their craft in the confines of smaller venues, this band have done so in the limelight, often supporting much larger bands. Since bringing in new vocalist Griffin Dickinson just under a year ago, the band have really begun to gain momentum, and watching them tonight it is clear to see why. Griffin commands a great stage presence and has a powerful voice to complement it, notably on latest single ‘State of Mine’. By the end of the set the pits were breaking out and the band left the stage to a warm reception.

But there was no doubt which band had sold the tickets for this show. Atreyu walked onstage to a thunderous applause, and launched into ‘Becoming The Bull’, which like every song in their set was well received. However, it was fair to say that throughout the set, the deeper Atreyu went into their back catalogue the more raucous the crowd became. Such that the intro riff to ‘Right Side of the Bed’ was enough to open up a large space in the packed room. Moments later bodies were flying across the room and as they moved straight into ‘The Crimson’ the room erupted.

As the band revealed to us in an interview before the show, they are not planning on playing live shows as frequently as they did prior to their hiatus, and instead want to focus on giving their absolute all to every show they play. This is firmly evidident throughout the show with drummer Brandon Saller still managing to deliver a great vocal performance during the most complex drum beats. Whilst bassist Porter McKnight even found himself out amongst the crowd towards the end of the set, with them promptly organising a circle pit around him. Lead vocalist Alex Varkatzas seemed slightly more muted on stage, but later revealed that his initial jump into the crowd 2 songs in had not gone so well, so on this particular occasion he was understandably forgiven!

The band’s hour long set covered everything fans expected and had come to see, right down to their cover of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. Yet it was pleasantly surprising to see the first of the band’s new songs ‘So Others May Live’ generating a huge reaction from the crowd. By the time the band closed out with the classic ‘Ex’s and Oh’s’ the capacity crowd were in little doubt that Atreyu are not just back, but they are back at their best. Fans of the band can only hope that the decision to the title their upcoming album ‘Long Live’ is as much a reference to the band’s future as it is to their past.