MAVIS / DECADENCE
28th June 2004
By Terry Bullen

This was the final heat of the second round, before the twelve bands are reduced to just four semi-finalists. The pressure was on to make the final four and this week saw the funky sounds of Mavis and the indie rock style of Decadence on show.  

MAVIS: Mavis stuck a very strong performance in for the first round and easily got through to the final twelve for this round. There was not the same size crowd as we saw for their first round performance, so it was going to be interesting to see if they could perform with a little less crowd participation. In all fairness Mavis did perform well again, but didn’t reach the heights of their first round efforts and struggled to get what little crowd there was going. They stuck at it though and the smiling and happy vocalist sang brilliantly yet again, to make the performance enjoyable and easy to listen to.

I picked up on a couple of small things from the first round that I felt the band could improve on. The first of these was that the guitarist stood side on for the majority of the bands first round set. So it was good to see that the point had been taken on board, as he faced the crowds for the duration of the set and also paraded in front of the audience for the occasional guitar solo. The other point was also on the guitarist, in that he’s harmony vocal was okay but his solo vocal on the cover of “ABC” was poor. The band wisely dropped this song and stuck to using him in harmony vocals for the odd song.

Mavis added a couple of new songs to their set, which were well performed and a good choice of songs. The first of these was a cover of “Carwash” where the new bass player showed off his skills and really enjoyed himself. The second song was a sensational cover of “Get Down On It” which contained another strong vocal by the stunning female singer. Mixed in with this was some great guitar work and some good support vocals from both the guitarist and bass player.

Overall Mavis weren’t quiet as spectacular as in the first round and seemed to lack the crowd support which a band like this needs in order to thrive on stage and perform more freely. The band also managed to lose track of their time allowance and went over, which will lose them points with the judges. However this was still a good enough performance and they have a chance of being in the final 4 bands.

DECADENCE: Decadence took to the stage wanting to impress after their average performance in the first round, which to be fair was not helped by a few sound issues. This second round performance was much better though and the sound problems had been ironed out of their set, which helped the band relax more and enjoy the performance. The front man yet again revelled in the style of music and was always interacting with the crowd to get them involved with the bands songs.

I mentioned in the first round that the bands cover of the Coldplay song “Yellow” was not great and the vocalist struggled with it. This song was dropped from this second round set and replaced with another Coldplay number “In My Place”. I initially thought to myself that it was a bit of a like for like replacement, which could see the band struggle again. However the vocalist was much more suited to this track and I was impressed with the way the band delivered the song and managed to get some of the crowd to sing along with them. I also noted that the band could have done with a few more originals in their set. So the addition of two more songs was nice to see and showed that the band have the song writing skills to develop and to steer away from just being a covers band.

Decadence showed their depth of material by adding six new songs to their second round set. Songs included “Teenage Kicks” by The Undertones and “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie. They also performed a song that you’d not expect to hear covered by this type of band, as they delivered a well crafted, rocked up version of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River”. For me the best of the new songs was one of the newly added originals “Bureaucracy Killed The World”. This was a well-structured song and contained some good tempo changes, which saw the song explode in places. You could tell that the band enjoyed this song, as the drummer really shone and went berserk on his kit, while the front man, guitarist and bass players talent was clear for all to see.

Decadence showed a much anticipated and much needed improvement from their first round performance. The vocalist was good and he continued to show the front man, indie style aggression, which you either love or hate. The band did perform much better but for me there was something missing, which I can’t quiet put my finger on. If the competition was still being reduced to the last six, then Decadence would be in with a possible shout. However with the competition now being chopped straight down to the final four bands, Decadence may well miss out. Like many bands this year, there is potential in abundance and they’re growing with each performance. So I suggest keeping an ear open for these guys in the future.

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Janistalis Wrote:
Mavis looked comfortable and gave a consistent performance, slightly improved from their last set by the deletion of the track originally sung by the guitarist.

I said in my last review that too much emphasis was placed on the guitarist and little on the bass and this was certainly resolved with the appearance of a new bassist, who was brilliant and whose style certainly suited the musical style of this funky band. He fitted in well and this time the guitarist was complimented by the great bass sound.

The lead vocalist was confident as always and sang well, trying unsuccessfully at first to get a crowd onto the dance floor.

The new numbers “Car Wash” and “Get Down On It” were really successful and their originals delivered with their usual style. This band are good and have probably, with this professional performance, increased their chances of making it to the final.

Decadence had taken some stick following their 1 st round performance, but did much better this time around.
They had a much better sound and this did make a huge difference!

Criticised for having only one original, Decadence turned out two more, both of which showed promise. Of the other additions, “Teenage Kicks” was well done, but Ziggy Stardust should be left alone. The words were totally in the wrong order and the band didn’t play heavy or soft in the right places, nor was it sung particularly well. Despite that, overall the set was entertaining and left me with a much better impression of this band.

The drumming I thought was tight, the singer showed his usual showmanship and the guitarists and bassist played well.

I don’t know if their overall performance was good enough to get them up there into the last four, but they are certainly in with a much better chance now than they were before this round.

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