The Chase / Old Crow
Week 16 - 2nd June 2005
By Majere

With the half term once again swelling the numbers in attendance, tonight's BOTB is shaping up to be an interesting encounter, not least because it looks like we'll finally find out what the previously-missing member of The Chase does...

THE CHASE - ...and it turns out he's another guitarist who also takes on some of the singing duties. Given the apparent importance of said returned prodigal, it seems somewhat churlish to point out that The Chase don't actually sound much different with him there. So call me churlish if you will, but they don't. Of course, being at full strength does greatly reduce the amount of messing about between songs, and gives the frontman more time to conduct the now traditional harganguing of the BOTB audience, to some eventual effect as a small crowd forms. It still seems, however, that The Chase are having to work very hard to produce their innovative and unique sound, to the extent that the appeal of their set is somewhat limited. Though perhaps they will struggle to break into the third round this time, The Chase certainly seem to be a band that are worth following...

Whilst I am not at liberty to divulge the secret talks your correspondent entered into at half-time, I type this a day later than usual and with a slightly sore throat. Make of this what you will.

OLD CROW - Speaking of following The Chase, tonight this is the task of blues-stoner four-piece Old Crow. Another band to have taken the 'if it ain't broke' approach, little has changed for this still inappropriately youthful and flightless quartet. As before, their set is as replete with riffage as their heads are with well-groomed locks, and once again the set closer is a belting behemoth of a track that makes the interlocked moshers wish they'd saved a tad more energy. Sadly though, a broken string once again bedevils the frontman to the extent that a track is killed stone dead and a quick jam session has to fill time as a replacement is cajoled into tune. Whilst my ignorance of the craft of guitar-playing is matched only by my incomprehension of Mongolian, it seems odd that an identical mishap at the very beginning of Old Crow's first round set was smoothly ignored. Overall, though, Old Crow stick to their task well and play another very strong set to a fair crowd, and do at least keep things together in the face of adversity. There is, shall we say, life in the old bird yet.

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