A Saturday night, A small little high street pub, packed with attitude and tunes. The latest offering from the Littlehampton Alternative Rock Society; 3 female fronted bands and it was an awesome night of sass and rock 'n' roll...
First up we had Ark Orion, a five piece band from Chichester way. Describing themselves as Indie/Alternative pop rock, you can definitely see they like to put a bit of fun into their music and their performance. Pulling inspiration from all across the board, metal/hard rock to classic rock and folk music, their music definitely has all of those elements in there.
Kicking off their set with a punchy number called 'Kings', they had the crowd moving from the start. The track had a pop rock kinda feel to it with melodic vocals, a catchy beat and funky guitar riffs. Definitely one to get stuck in your head. Another track that got me was 'Savage Smile'. It's a funky track with a hint of a reggae beat to it to get you dancing along with them. Toe tapping drum beats, catchy lyrics, harmonious vocals, it was an amazing track.
The guys energy on stage was fantastic, keeping up their upbeat pace right through the set. Their covers of tracks ' I Believe In A Thing Called Love' and 'Bad Touch' added to the fun of it all, everyone was rocking out!
Next up we had Aren Drift a four piece band based around the south coast. Describing themselves as a prog rock band with heavy, melodic riffs mixed with international vibes from Eastern Europe, Russian gypsy and the Middle East, you can really hear those undertones flowing through their technically great music style with hints of the band influences from other rock genres too.
Kicking off their set with a cover of the haunting track 'In A House, In A Heartbeat' from the film 28 Days Later, you can see why they love the heavy riffs combined with melodic tunes as this track has both with that eerie yet deep sound. Leading straight into one of their own tracks, it kept that dark deep sound and heavy guitar riffs, with the added powerful and seductive vocals it was a truly blinding track to rock out too.
Their track 'Cage' is another one that stood out to me. Starting off with a slow, driving beat and deep vocals with passionate lyrics, the guitar riffs then breaks into a sweeping solo before the lyrics build up for the chorus. Their set really was immense. The guys on stage were amazing to listen too and watch perform, their technical music style really drawing the crowd in. Definitely one to keep an eye on and see again.
Lastly we were so ready for the headline act Pretty Little Enemy, hailing all the way from Minehead. This 4 piece band describe themselves as a metal 'ABBA' performing heavy pop with a bit of glitter and tequila... Pulling inspiration from bands like Incubus and Killswitch Engage to nineties hip hop and a little jazz, you can totally get why they've gone with the heavy pop description.
The track that kicked off the set called 'Get A Grip' is a fast paced track filled with chunky riffs, kick ass beats and passionate vocals. Starting with a heavy driving beat, the vocals have a darker/punchy sound before breaking into a more melodic tune. The guitar then comes in with a sweeping riff along with the bass. The track then takes a heavier turn at the end with a low 'whoomph' of bass that you can feel vibrate through you. Fantastic track!.
Another track I found amazing was their song 'Collide'.The track starts off with a fast muted guitar with the melodic vocals, almost 80's power metal kinda riff. It then kicks into a chunky riff and kicking beats for the chorus, with the vocals coming in powerfully over the top. That fast pace/punchy sound is kept up throughout the track before coming back down to the muted riff then exploding into the main tune again. Definitely a jump round, rock your socks off track.
The guys also did a brilliant cover of 'Anaconda' again with that low 'whoomph' of bass and heavy riffs with screaming vocals. Awesome!.The guys were absolutely rocking on stage and were a pleasure to watch perform.Their energy was boundless and we all had a blast. So when it was all over and we kicked back to Metal Meyhems tunes and tequila shots were done with the bands....I was absolutely in awe of these amazing bands and fabulous female leads. Despite some technical issues with the sound, a fantastic night indeed!
Thanks to LARS Promotions for giving us another brilliant gig. Thanks to The Crown for hosting. Massive thanks to these amazing bands for their epic performances. Thanks to Crimson Craft audio for supplying some of the sound equipment, and Thanks to Metal Meyhem Radio for allowing me to interview these colourful and amazing people and write this blog.
Rock on!
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Siobhan Trigg x
This Article was writen by Siobhan Tigg from our partner Metal Meyhem Radio.
The original article can be found here. Article ©Metal Meyhem Radio 2017.