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KENLEYS PADLOCK / TURN OF PHRASE
1st March 2004
By Terry Bullen
After a much anticipated wait Battle of the Bands 2004 finally arrived and a large crowd of eager music fans packed into the Atlantis Arena to see the event get under way. Kenley's Padlock were given the privilege of kicking the event off and took to the stage first.
Kenleys Padlock:
The band in whole produced a set that was full of enthusiasm and they certainly gave the impression that they'd come a long way since last years nightmares. The best songs in their set were the covers of Jimi Hendrix and a rousing version of “Rollover Beethoven”. In with these covers were a few of the bands originals, with the highlight of these being “Forgotten Echos” and “Dead Legends”. The only let down in the their whole set was a rather average cover of the classic “Black Magic Woman” which seemed to lack the passion it required. But at this point they had already done enough to please the crowd.
Kenley's Padlock certainly made up for last year's disappointments and you could tell this by the crowds reaction to them. The band still needs to show a bit more togetherness and more confidence in themselves and they should certainly keep producing the originals, as these were one of the highlights of their set. In my opinion I believe they've done enough to get through to the next stage, but we shall have to wait for the judges verdicts before we know for sure. Well done lads!
Turn of Phrase:
The second band to take the stage were Turn of Phrase and you could sense the nervousness throughout the band as they opened their set with a lacklustre intro by “Rage Against the Machine”. The band seemed to lack a sense of stage presence and each member seemed to be playing for themselves instead of playing as part of a 6 piece. The band tried their hardest to give their best performance and the vocalist did seem much more suited to the Alanis Morissette cover “Hand in my Pocket”. The band plodded through covers from Nickelback, Greenday and Blink 182 but never really brought the stage to light, apart from the bass player who seemed to be settled and enjoying himself.
They continued in this vain until the last song, which was a rousing version of “Real Wild Child”, which left the crowd begging for more and also wondering why the band had left it until their last song to come out of their shells.
Overall I don't think Turn of Phrase have done enough to make the next stage and I'm sure when the band look back on their performance they may well agree. The band needs to find confidence when on stage and need to concentrate on playing as a band rather than individuals. In saying that the band has the capability of performing better than that and with time, should become a much more solid 6 piece. Obviously the decision is with the judges but I feel they could struggle to get a second bite at the cherry.
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Other reviews:
Steven Mccreery wrote:
Kenleys Padlock, as accomplished musicians that they are, lack something. Im not quite sure what, they seem confident, their few originals were pretty good, but the set just seemed to trundle along without ever grabbing my whole attention. I think, however, they have improved a great deal since I saw them at the last years competition, and this time probably will go through to the second round. But I fear that's as far as I can see them getting.
Turn of Phrase never really got going. Their covers were mundane and quite poor, although they were songs the younger members of the crowd wanted to hear. But lots of bands have done the same covers with a much larger success previously. I didn't pick out a single original song either, which will go against them in one of the categories. There was very little energy on stage, with the slight exception of the bass guitarist, and their interpretation of their songs seemed very tiresome. Credit to them for being there though, they are a young band and have plenty of time to improve. I think, however, this is as far as they'll get this year.
Liz Macfarlane wrote:
The first band, Kenley's Padlock opened their set with aspiration and desire to give as good as they could after last years attempt. They played covers by Pink Floyd and Chuck Berry among others, which appealed greatly to the crowd. The band seemed content yet excited and energetic about their performance, although they weren't together in places. They played three originals, “Forgotten Echo's”, “Dead Legends” and “Pop Idol” which went down well with the audience. Overall, it was a very good performance by the band, fingers crossed it will get them though to the next round.
It was then turn of six piece set “Turn of Phrase” to begin their performance with an excellent cover of “Rage Against The Machine”. Then on came the lead singer, Emma who found it slightly difficult to start with but resolved this by singing a brilliant version of an Alanis Morisstette song. The band finished their set with an astounding cover of “Real Wild Child” which left most people wondering why did they leave it until the last song to show that they were at ease playing together.
Janistalis wrote:
Battle of the Bands kicked off in a much better venue, with much better sound and if the 1st round was anything to go by, a much better standard of entrants.
Kenleys Padlock certainly appeared as the confident, experienced musicians that they are.The band has found their style, looked comfortable with it and their sound was the best I'd ever heard from them.
An average ‘Light My Fire' began the set, but they got going after a couple of songs. Their covers were, at best, entertaining, at worst (Black Magic Woman!) good background music. What stood out for me were the bands originals –‘Dead Legends' particularly.
On the whole, the guys were quite ‘together'(although pity we couldn't hear the backing vocals) and performed well with few hiccups. Whether they are outstanding enough to incite passion into the hearts of the audience is doubtful, but they remain good at what they do and did justice to the opening of the competition.
Turn of Phrase, on the other hand, appeared far from confident – with the exception of the bassist, the band played with little energy, both guitarists looking down and one with his back to us for most of the set. A six piece band should produce a much fuller sound than they did, but they appeared to be playing it safe.
The singer had an excellent voice, but this did not suit most of the songs. She really came into her own with the Alanis Morissette and Meredith Brooks covers and clearly felt more comfortable singing this style of music. The musicians, however, seemed to prefer Greenday and Blink 182 and perhaps this is the reason why all of them never looked comfortable at the same time. But finally there came a fantastic, adventurous cover of ‘Real Wild Child', which was like a breath of fresh air! I could finally see an optimistic vision of the future for this young band, but sadly, for this competition, I think it may have been too late.
Photos:
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