RFTK Promotions

I’m a bit later than usual with my M2TM heat round up (Heat 5 this time).

Believe it or not, in the crazy world I live in, after the gig I got on an over night bus to London to film a pop music video cover of an RnB classic. No, really.

Where was I? Heat 5, yesss…

Opening tonight is Coma Violet. It’s only their second gig. They’re a kind of Fuzz-Pop. Although it’s their second gig, plenty of familiar faces from other bands, the guys have experience and they make it pay off. Plenty of catchy powerful songs. They bounce their way into the semis.

Pretty Livid Imps are fairly well known although are saying goodbye to a member tonight. They deliver a very enjoyable 25 minutes of rock n roll – pretty entertaining.

Vindicter have some moments of brilliance, they’re another band with some fairly familiar faces – metal, metal and metal is the order of the day. Metal as fuck, to say the least. With some cool melodies and harsh vocals they were unlucky not to go through, but a touch more consistency would tip them a long way.

First and last is the order of the day, Molasses deliver some blistering metalcore which seals their place in the semis and lays a brutal ending to the evening.
So much energy and power crashing around.

So that’s the 9th and 10th bands through to the semi finals. This is going to cause some serious headaches because the quality of bands hitting the semi finals is unreal.

So, next up, April 20th… round 6…

Cor, round 4 has thrown up some interesting ones.

Creature have helped shake the curse of the opening slot by being the second band to go through despite drawing the early lot. 90s grunge throw back, they like their Nirvana like – but there’s enough enjoyment about them that helps tip them through. Sweet. Just like Honey.

Potentially the band with the furthest to travel – Vigil – they are a powerhouse of modern melodic metal. I thought they were going to lose it when announcing “the next one is a Drowning Pool cover” – but opting for a triumphant ‘Sinner’ (that much forgotten second single!) stunning. The bar is raised and set. They’re like making love on the edge of a knife. Hope they’ve plenty of petrol money handy… they’re through

Auto-Immune exitted at this stage last competition – they’ve come an awful long way since then. Some more 90s grunge but this time more shouty. Their energy is appreciated and they make a good effort despite having such a difficult act to follow. They help contribute to the inevitable headache of who goes through – I guess that’s why I’ve always got the blues.

Odin’s Revenge – you know – I was well into the whole female fronted metal thing. What can I say – Delain are probably one of my favourite bands and I’ve seen them 5 times despite having never headlined here. Anyway. My point… yes, fuck… that voice. Holy shit. Not heard a voice like this in metal for a while and that was stunning. Her lips spoke gold and honey. I think, now, I want to keep these write ups positive, so, they’re a band I would like to see again and I’d like to see how they come along because natural confidence and progression will bring them along nicely.

To finish the night, we’ve a guest headline appearance from Souls of Jack Ketch – it’s funny, I remember their first gig in this last year and me liking them cos they sounded “a bit like The Haunted” and I quite like The Haunted. Incidentally, any bands who sound “a bit like Tiamat” or “a bit like Paradise Lost” or “a bit like My Dying Bride” are very welcome and encouraged, but to be a dick I’m not saying which era of each band.
Anyway. Back to point. Holy fucking Christ… how much they’ve come on since the competition is unreal. They just ooze confidence. Brutal and superb. This lads and lasses – this is your bar. Keep raising it.

Anyway. Class. Enough ramble. There were loads of gigs on in Newcastle tonight, thanks all who came to ours. I wanted to go see The Jesus and Mary Chain – so, for all the bands tonight, take it as a backhanded compliment you collectively were worth missing JAMC for… I have been adding their lyrics to your reviews.

Although most of our heats are a Thursday, to avoid other clashes, Heat 2 was a nice midweek warmer.

Four competing bands again this week and interesting mix of bands and styles.

“We’re from the bad side of the Tyne,” announce Sunderland band Razorjack who play an enjoyable and competent slice of modern metal, influenced by the likes of Slipknot, they’ve a mild stage presence and some interesting songs.  A cover of ‘Gay Bar’ is also quite amusing and they warm up nicely.

It’s another good way to start the evening, good quality and hopefully they will grow in confidence.

Teeside Thrashes Trendkill (I love alliterations.   Mr Scorer called them the Parmo Pantera.  If you don’t know what a Parmo is, then, you need one in your life… your arterys don’t, but you do.)
Fuck me, what they been feeding kids these days?  The teens deliver face-melting thrash.

They’ve travelled quite a distance to be here, but are going home with some new found friends.

Horrorbilly band Dead By Dawn remind me one of the things I dislike about the competition is the inevitability a good band will have to go out.  They’ve got a bit experience and play a very enjoyable set of songs about zombies, more zombies, reanimation of zombies and general horror songs.  Massive kudos that they carried on despite illness to their drummer, borrowing Dan from the bar to drum their set in his break.  He did this for Lovely Wife last year.  He’ll get through one day.

I did wonder, with the standards tonight, if last year’s finalists I’ll Play the Villain could fall at the first round.  But, they play tonight with a massive whim of confidence, added to their mix of melodic metalcore (alliterations!) and they take the competition and grab it by the balls and punch it a few times.  Last time round, I enjoyed them in the heats, loved them in the Semis but they weren’t on top form in the final, tonight’s performance is probably better than their semi performance last time and they’re going to be one to beat.

Talking to IPTV afterwards I discuss that the 4 bands already through could make one Hell of a final already – and – there’s still 4 more heats to go…. eek…

So, genuinely, there were no bad bands tonight, but congratulations to Trendkill and I’ll Play the Villain who join Kraken Waker and Blood Moon Bandits in the semi’s in May.

After the excitement of the 2016 competition, I was very excitied to see what 2017 would bring.

Last year we had 5 heats and there was a mixture of applications and me nudging a few bands asking if they might like to apply.
This time round we’ve filled 6 heats without me having to nudge anyone, as we had more than enough applications.

Now, when I took on the 2016 competition – I hoped that most of the bands would get some form of benefit from it – the general feedback being many had, some seeing it as a good networking opportunity, playing with bands they wouldn’t normally play with, making new friends, showcasing themselves to the venues, other promoters, etc and while there can only be one prize winner, getting as many to benefit as possible is a plus.

There’s a lot happening in Newcastle at the moment – and I think it’s very exciting. I don’t want to start name dropping or anything (because I am likely to miss someone!) and I don’t get to nearly as many shows as I would like to – but there are some good DIY promoters doing amazing things for underground bands of most genres.
The net result of this is that a clash was inevitable – we’d moved a few dates around to try to avoid clashes, but tonight we end up clashing with Anthrax… oh… hope we didn’t take too many from them.

The plus of this is it means that although Yersin draw the cursed opening slot, they have a full bar to play to of people finishing their pints before going to see Anthrax. Quite a few stick around to watch them also.
To give an idea, they have a setlist of 12 songs and stick within the 25 minute slot, loud, punky crust – and whilst I didn’t not their track names, I did think with a closing song like “Dave Mustaine Must Die” they’d be ideal for Bloodstock 😉

The set is abrassive, energetic and enthralling – they keep people in the venue (apologies to the opening band at Anthrax) and their quality is superb.

Ladies and gentlemen, the bar has been set. What away to open the competition.

And – spoiler alert, they DON’T go through. Although a very close third place.

Fuck.

Kraken Waker took slot number 2 – lots of beards, riffs and groove metal. Opening with ‘Born with a Beard’ is about the size of it, they also manage to retain some of the Anthrax stragglers and soldier professionally despite seeing a lot of the venue having to reluctantly leave – they’re here to have a good time and it was unsurprising to see them go through.

Stoner Witch is a bit of a surprise package and I think he’s picked up quite a few new fans. Solo acoustic performer, but yep, dark, dank and a good use of minimalism.
At first a lot of people do not know what to think, but by the third song there’s a lot less chatter as he captivates everyone.
I feel things were tough on him, but he held his head up and did himself proud and I’d hope this at least scores himself some attention.

The last competing band, Blood Moon Bandits are also the last entrants, being recommended for the competition after a stunning gig at Trillians last week – they’re straight up high energy rock n roll – and one of the few bands in the competition to have a clear considered image, a bit like a glossier Misfits.
They done well and raised the roof and helped cap off a very good quality opening heat.

Finally, Dirty King play a special guest set and, you know, they were always a good band – but you can see how far they’ve come in the year since I first met them. This is now the 5th time I’ve seen them and they just seem so focused and confident, I think their M2TM run last year has really helped them come on.
Unfortunately they have to cut a little short, but, wow, it is good to see them back.

Roll on Heat 2…