"First up were Starscreen minus the drummer.An acoustic set to start the night, would it work? damn right it would. Personally, i love Starscreen tunes but it was the first time i heard them doing an acoustic set, the verdict... they sounded brilliant, a chilled out unplugged set, if you get my drift. Tight, melodic tunes which you could here the bands' influences, Pearl Jam, The Doors, with a little old school rock mixed in for good measure. i ve got to say that one of the songs sounded almost like a Lenny Kravitz riff but maybe that was just me. A good tight all round performance (apart from the guitarist losing it at the end lol) Bring on the next gig"
Reviewed by Kev (Giggedweb/Agent Straker)
The second band on were Starscreen, who I'd also not seen in a long time, and was really looking forward to. As with everyone else on the bill, I get on with them all really well. I still haven't got a clue how to categorise Starscreen, but then I hate to pigeon hole music anyway. Daz's lead vocal just seems to be getting better every time I see these guys. He's got some real balls to his voice, and his occasional guitar work is nicely fitting too. The twin guitar front end on the songs were he and Neal play is great, and when it's just Neal on his own that's where it should be. They have great arrangements, and there's no way anyway can question Neal's guitar playing because it's stunning. The whole band are as tight as Lee Fewkes' wallet
I love Neal's use of chords and patterns on guitar, the melodies are awesome, the bass pumps likes hell, and the new drummer really is the glue that holds it all together. I'm sure that when they play the frog for Gigged on Saturday April 1st, that Worksop will fall in love with them - if they haven't already of course. There's such a fucking awesome rawness to their music.
Reviewed by Marv
Up next - StarScreen and the guitarist Neal is wearing a tie for the night - out to impress!! I've seen this band a few times now and they definately get better every time I hear them, indeed a quote from one of the crowd was "Best I've heard them play" and I have to agree (another audience member told me she thought they were "The best band so far tonight" which is a fantastic compliment for the boys). They're music seems to be inspired by 70's style rock with a new edge to it, i'm thinking of bands like Led Zeppelin and The Doors - which are never bad bands to be compared to! The guitarist is really good and seems to drive the songs throwing quite a few effects into the mix keeping things interesting. They even kept things topical with the fourth song being introduced by mentioning the recent fire at McArthur Glen - I didn't catch the name but I did hear the word fire in the lyrics!!! Nice!
Reviewed by Tony from Alcohol