From the long standing Underground TV show, to the brand new Throwdown Tour, Scuzz TV have always been champions of up and coming bands in the UK rock music scene. The tour brings together 3 of the hottest young bands the UK has to offer, and enables them to play at venues up and down the country on a rotating headline tour, giving each city a memorable show. There is a feeling of companionship amongst the bands tonight, and they all watch each others set with admiration and respect- which is a refreshing thing to see.
Each of the 16 Throwdown shows comes with a local support, and tonight we are treated to Halo Tora (6)…which does leave us pondering why one of the many amazing Edinburgh bands were not selected for the slot, but anyway). The Glasgow boys have a post Tesseract prog metal vibe, which brings together massive riffs and intricate guitar work. Sadly the set is marred by a couple of technical issues which plague the set, leaving the bass guitar sounding like its being strummed through a drain and the vocals barely audible at times. However the band rise above this and give a very earnest and enthusiastic set. Halo Tora are clearly very serious about their music, and this shows in their intense musicianship. Definitely one’s to watch out for in the future.
Now on to the rotating headliners, which tonight see’s Press To Meco subbing for Allusondrugs….but first we have midlands four piece Max Raptor (8). Gobby yet engaging vocalist Wil Ray is hard to ignore as he marches through the crowd with all the energy of a drugged up Duracell bunny. There may not be thousands of people here (in fact the room is only half full) but the band give a show worthy of a much bigger venue. There’s a lot to new said for a band who give the same a how to 20 people as 2000, a lot of bands could learn a thing or two from tonight’s show. No mosh pit? Well why not send your guitarist in to start one? With guitarist Ben Winnington and bassist Matt Stevenson throwing themselves around, it was all action from Max Raptor tonight. Brilliant performance.
The energy continues as Press to Meco (7) bounce on to the stage accompanied by a deluge of lovely harmonies and chunky guitar noises. Press To Meco are an incredibly exciting band with an accessible sound, which means you could confidently recommend them to any rock music fan. With a mosh pit that is full of hugs rather than punches, before waltzing one moment then hugging the next, the band go down a storm. Press to Meco certainly don’t hold back, and slam us with sharp guitars and mashing hooks. Press to Meco prove once again that they have all the potential to be the festival headliners of the future.
It’s getting very sweaty as five piece West Yorkshire new grunge kings Allusondrugs (9) take to the stage. Their set tonight is like a trip through time to Seattle 20 years ago, but with a modern twist. Whether Allusondrugs are actually all on drugs is debatable, but there is a considerable amount of banter about how they haven’t set up their merch but it will be on sale from the stage after the show. There is no denying that these guys are quirky, slightly mad and effortlessly cool. Bangers such as ‘Nervous’ and ‘I Should Have Gone To Uni’ go down a storm with the now larger crowd, which in turn spurs on vocalist Jason Moules to declare ‘This song is about cunts who think women are class citizens. I love cunt!’ Erm, yeh. Its hard to not immediately fall in love with everything about Allusondrugs, from their dirty, fuzzy riffs, to their deliberate and dark vocals.
Tonight was the perfect showcase of the bands of the future, thank you Scuzz for bringing together such talent.
