Old Crow / Gridlock
Week 5 - 17th March 2005
By Sharkey

With an arm full of spelling mistakes I bring the award winning review series once again! This week its Gridlock and Old Crow.

Gridlock - Now it’s not often you hear bands with screamers in them, and usually the screamers are trying full pelt to sound convincingly like Killswitch Engage, but this week not so. The lead singer definitely has a good screaming voice, as well as having a good singing voice to back it up with. Put some good aggression into their music.

This Metal/Hardcore band had an incredible amount of energy on stage, really putting a lot of effort into movement and visual performance. Guitarists were full of posing stances and really putting themselves into the moment.

They played mostly original songs which, in my opinion, were brilliantly constructed. Ranging from full thrash metal to mellow ambient metal. There were perfect drop-down moments where the music goes from it’s verse chorus normal structure into heavy head banging moments, to which the band stomp into with full momentum.

It was aggressive music, designed to be what it was and nothing else, when they were writing them they had a clear aim in mind I think. And to top it off they were brilliantly played. Although at some points it’s hard to hear what the singer is screaming about but I suppose it’s the same with all screaming music.

Half way through their set they kicked off into “Killing In The Name Of” by (obviously) Rage Against The Machine. The crowd came pouring in for this number and, unlike some moshers I’ve seen, they stayed there for the whole Gridlock set. The vocals to this were screamed rather than sung in some points which was an interesting twist but gave the cover a “Gridlock” feel and sound.

Even near the end of their set they were still fully energetic not showing signs of exhaustion. “Big kisses to everyone that moshes” shouts the lead singer to the crowd and gets a cheer for his effort.

Usually I don’t like bands with screaming in it, but Gridlock have converted me with their sound and style.

Old Crow - Now time for some good old classic rock. Now usually there are hundreds of classic rock bands out there at the moment, but Old Crow are one of the best I’ve seen. Mixing a combined style of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath classic rock style with the 60’s psychedelic sounds. They had that 70’s rock sound as well as the look. Long hair, charity shop clothing and tie dyed custom rugs draped round the stage, this was a band to watch as well as listen to.

The songs themselves were well played and performed, keeping to their sound, despite the song being cover or original. Each original song had a quite broad range in them, going from full of rock chorus to calm down beat solo guitars. Some songs pushing the 7 minute mark. The songs going round various styles of music and were really well thought out in regards to structure.

They drew their own crowd of dawdlers rather than moshers, each person watching the group, quite an interesting difference to the normal moshers. Kind of like the crowds were like in the 70’s (not that I can remember, I have photo’s).

The singer had a brilliant vocal range, not afraid to push those high notes in his repertoire. The guitarists performed well too, despite them having so much hair I doubt they could see what they were playing, putting a lot of style and movement into the solo’s.

One of the covers they played was Break On Through by the Doors, and I have to say that the sound they had matched the song brilliantly. Keeping to the style of the doors but having their own distinct tone about it as well as having a nice powerful sound (felt like I was actually there…oh wait…)

Next week it’s a Two Tone dual as popular Ska-Punk band One Stop Earnest go against the Rock Steady band The Gangsters, see you there!

Jo writes:

After I’d sorted out the mix-up with my manager about sneaking people in round the front (hehe), I finally got down to listening to this week’s first band. Pity there weren’t more people to watch Gridlock – presumably everyone was at O’Gradys, although I spotted one or two leprechauns rising to the occasion very admirably.
This five-piece, however, looked less ratarsed than deadly sober earnest and damned angry, screaming their collective little heart out. Impassioned was definitely key as the tuneful emo soundtrack combined with the yelps and bellows of the lead singer.

Now personally, I love this sort or music – the genre’s certainly got Marmite tendencies about it, and there will doubtless be several posts on the forum slating the whole thing. But: I enjoyed the performance, the changes in tempo and variations in style helped keep it snappy, and the Rage cover followed by some lush tunes looked to have converted quite a few by the end. Sadly, their sound wasn’t always spot on – two guitars seemed to me to be overpowering and indistinguishable one from the other, and in future shows, a wider mix of sing/scream and use of distinctive harmony vocals could really help take this bunch to the fore. I want to see them again soon – but in a smaller place. To be sure, to be sure. (Oh, where’s PJ when you need him, eh?)

They were awesome, I love Rage Against The Machine with all my heart. And I’m as stoned as a motherf**ker – Pinky

f**kin’ headbangin’ f**kin’ real f**kin’ music! f**kin’ yeah! – “Scary On The Outside” Keiran

Then it was the turn of Old Crow, and by their soundcheck this band were sounding full and chunky, another great example of the good ol’ rock stuff we do so well around here. With a twist, though: a big fat tie-dyed banner, complete with bodyguard who remained on stage for the entire soundcheck. Well, why not?

The musical talents of these guys was solidly proven: for much of the set there seemed to be occurring an extended jam, and while I saw a fair few smilers, nodders and tappers, others appeared a little nonplussed with this apparent lack of audience involvement and action. The singing, whilst at first a little raw, noticeably improved as the set went on. Things also perked up after a pretty obscure cover of Rose Tattoo (correct me if I’m wrong!); in the closing songs, Old Crow had built up a sizeable bunch of fans standing at the front and were berating “you lot at the back” to get up and join in with the infamous Audience Participation Song.
So a slow start led up to a rousing finale, and while I wouldn’t say OC are up there with the Divide and Ornate Purpose as my personal faves so far, they turned in a cool show.

Oh… Meine… Gott! – Giles, Lynchburg Tenn
Ça m’écoeure! - Josh

There! Made it through a whole review without one witty reference to “sham rock”!…

Majere writes:

Well, here I am with my first 'proper' review! Ooh, I'm all nervous- well I would be if I hadn't written this bit last. Just for fun, as well as reviewing the two bands I'll be suggesting a track I feel they should cover- don't take it too seriously, especially if I've got the wrong end of the stick about what your band was trying to do!

Gridlock - Few bands have names as accurate as Gridlock, who opened the hostilities tonight. Their sound- edgy, very heavy, murky even- expressed perfectly a feeling of barely suppressed, seething rage. (Think Soil on the coach to Download last year!) There were, however, lighter tones in the sound, with the occasional cleanly sung vocal or sharper guitar adding plenty of texture which reminded me in places of Killswitch Engage. After seeing warnings on the forums that Gridlock were 'dreamy enough to make guys turn gay' I was braced for Good-Charlotte-esque prettyboy antics, but these were mercifully absent, although most members of the band did look very sharp, it must be said.

On occasion, I felt that the sung vocals were a touch out, and there also seemed to be the occasional breakdown in the rythm department, but overall Gridlock kept it tight and under control, only seeming a little flustered when a cable got accidently unplugged, a problem which was quickly solved. This was, however, a set of two halves. The early tracks seemed to go on a bit, and the aforementioned rhythm problems didn't help. These early danger signs were compounded by the frontman's habit of turning his back on the audience for quite long periods.

As is often the case though, a well-placed and chosen cover lifted things nicely, Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing In The Name Of..' generating a decent crowd response and creating a pit which stayed in one form or another until the end of the set. At times even in this much better part of the set there were some kinks, notably the fact that some of the tracks were unpredictable and tricky for the by-now enthusiastic crowd to mosh to. Overall, however, Gridlock can reflect on a good night and a job well done.

Majere thinks Gridlock should cover: 'Rose of Sharyn' (Killswitch Engage)

Interlude -Your correspondent is reunited with his hat, stolen by a cheeky young filly during the Rage cover, and gets to tour the hall handing out KillStory gig flyers whilst confusing the punters with nonsensical banter.

Old Crow - Well... they don't pick up as many points for the name. Dark-hued avians were conspicuous by their absence, and they weren't all that old. Things also got off to a somewhat iffy start when a broken string knocked the frontman off his stride in the very first track. However, that only seemed to get this solid blues-stoner-rock quartet fired up, and soon they were hitting their stride nicely, with clean, crisp riffs and solos galore.

Their repeated exhortations to the hall to get down the front were met by an appreciative, if somewhat static, crowd, pioneered by members of Gridlock. Well done to the Gridlock guys there, it's always good when the bands support each other! Unlike Gridlock, there was no killer cover for Old Crow to build a set around, their Doors track being a little old for the crowd (aha! There's the 'old'!) and so they were left to do it the old-fashioned way- by playing their socks off. And this they did, piling on the guitars with some truly excellent playing, culminating in an epic, bombastic set-closer which seemed to find a new layer of intensity every time you thought it was about to end.

There were somewhat successful attempts to start a singalong and some rythmic clapping, and by the end of the set there was so much jumping, shaking and gyrating going on up there that I was almost expecting a Slipknot-style inter-band brawl. These guys were clearly very into what they were doing, and didn't care who knew it! As is always the way with live performance there was the occasional fly in the ointment- once again there seemed to be a few lost beats and the vocals, especially early on, went awry in some places. All things considered, however, this was a great performance (especially considering the string problem) which I for one greatly enjoyed!

Majere thinks Old Crow should cover: 'Return To Serenity' (Testament)

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