LOGAN + THE FIRST SEVEN + SOLEY MOURNING
THE BAR ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM – 12TH JULY
Dudley based Soley Mourning opened the night for headlining act Logan, to a respectably full room for a Sunday night.
The five piece opened with new track Remove, a power pop ditty which kicked the evening off in fine form. With what little stage space the band had, they worked well with it and frontman Matt demonstrated his natural ability as a showman, moving around the stage as if it was thrice its actual size.
Soley Mourning are well known on the Midlands circuit and their three years together has given them that much needed experience to perfect their art of performance. Old school fans of the band will be familiar with their blend of funk and pop rock melodies and good catalogue of catchy little gems from their first album Mambo County. After touring their last release relentlessly for the past two years, Soley Mourning were keen to introduce fans to some new material which is due to be recorded later this year. There were some pleasant surprises from the band’s set tonight and while the sugar coated pop essence in their music still remains, Soley Mourning appear to be wading into the deeper waters of the slightly harder edge of rock music.
Bridges was the standout track of the evening with a corker of an intro reminiscent of Van Halen’s Ain’t Talking About Love. Structurally, Bridges is a masterpiece with great vocals, solid and precise drum beats and a stunning breakdown in the middle eight similar to Queens of the Stone Age’s No one Knows.
www.myspace.com/soleymourning
The most surprising act of the night award goes to The First Seven who completely obliterated all preconceptions of them being a lightweight indie band. The First Seven in fully suited attire shattered the illusion immediately when they blasted into first track Cut Trans. This track had a strong Guns n Roses feel to it with some fantastic vocal harmonies in the chorus, robust drum beats and ball busting metal guitar riffs. Vocally, The First Seven’s frontman had a good range and sang with drawling tones comparable to Jon Bon Jovi, take that as you will but one word that couldn’t be used to describe the First Seven’s musical style is cheesy.
The First Seven have some blistering driving power rock anthems in their live set and this exciting four piece are well worth a look. On observing the crowd, it was fascinating to see the appeal they had amongst a vast age range of people and their musical dexterity is something that will doubtlessly get them noticed. For a band that look like they are in their mid twenties, their stage presence shows them as a highly accomplished ensemble with a polished and mature sound. Stand out track of the set was the short punchy Damaged which screamed metal heaven with lots of guitar feedback and delays and relentless bass pedal and crash symbol action. Brilliant.
www.myspace.com/thefirstsevenband
Glasgow five piece act Logan made their second return to Birmingham to headline tonight’s gig and by the time they took to the stage the room had filled dramatically. 2008 appears to be the year for Logan to triumphantly descend from the struggling depths of unsigned band anonymity to the dizzy heights of success. With supporting the likes of Alterbridge and Bon Jovi amongst their accolades, Logan’s biggest achievement to date is their dazzling track The Great Unknown featuring on forthcoming movie soundtrack The Jump Off. To add extra cherries to the cake, Logan’s Kenny delightedly told the crowd “We’re having Slash play on our fucking record! How fucking amazing is that”! Subsequently adding gleefully, “Ha, but what the Americans might not know is that in Scotland Slash means Pish”, which was met with a raucous escalating cheer from the crowd.
What was immediately impressive about Logan’s show was the interaction and mutual respect between the band on stage and their fans. A particularly nice touch was when Kenny asked if there were any party animals in the crowd and before storming into New Way, he requested everyone to strut their stuff so he could pick out the best dancer and arm them with band freebies. Congratulations to the couple in the middle of the room that won an armful of goodies after being spotted amidst the sweaty sea of bodies proliferating to the tiny barrier.
Kenny on vocals is a paragon with lorry loads of charisma and stage presence and pure conviction and sincerity in every note he sings, with a solid, musically tight band behind him. The gorgeous texture of Kenny’s vocals along with his impressive range merit him worthy of the same respect bestowed on the likes of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Creed’s Scott Stapp. Kenny’s performance exudes passion, conviction, which adds to the intensity of the power ballads in the set. Logan’s hour long set comprised mainly tracks from their first two albums, which were all crowd pleasers and well known to the fans including the magnificent Hey Mary, which could be deemed as eternally significant to the band as Jeremy is to Pearl Jam.
Logan’s sound is chiefly a cross between Pearl Jam, Creed and Alterbridge, with a real American quality to it, mainly down to its out and out rock and roll feel and powerful epic quality. Tracks such as Tell Me, Mean Mission and New Way prove that musical arrangement and melodic structure is like a form of wizardry to the band, and their magical concoction of razor sharp guitar riffs on a hotbed of delicious musical layers makes the listening experience an enchanting and spellbinding event.
With new management on board and their new mission statement “to become the biggest band in the world”, it seems this is no pipedream for Logan. Commercial success for this exceptional ensemble is inevitable. The question is not if but when.
www.myspace.com/loganmusic
Review by Mel Jones
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