GIG REVIEWS
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GIG REVIEWS |
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Skull Branded Pirates
@ Leeds University 7.2.09 www.vanguard-online.co.uk So after 10 years of marriage, how do you celebrate your wedding anniversary? Well, you could spend a romantic evening in an intimate restaurant with good wine, food and company or you could get dressed up as a pirate and end up jumping around to Leeds’s premier ‘Pirate Metal’ band. Well, from recent experiences, I can’t advise you on a good restaurant but I can whole heartedly recommend spending an evening in the company of ‘Skull Branded Pirates’ and their unique take on the genre that is ‘Pirate Metal’. The venue in question, ‘Rock of Ages’ pays homage to all things loud across two floors within Leeds University’s Student Union, through bands and on the dance floor afterwards. So to whet our appetite for the main event, ‘Firebrand Super Rock’ kicked off proceedings delivering no holds barred performance that was as tight as anything I’ve seen in a long time and their recent inclusion on the cover CD of Metal Hammer is a true representation of their ability and professionalism. The support band set the bar incredibly high and it would take something unique to maintain the heady atmosphere but as the stage was set for the ‘Skull Branded Pirates’, we were left with no question about the genre of metal we were going to experience with flags, skull and crossbones and a ships wheel on the main microphone stand. When Captain One-Ayed Wilson and his merry crew hit the stage to ‘Cross Skull Branded Thieves’, I expected a certain level of comic value but it was clear that this was definitely not the bands intention apart from a difficulty in head banging in a pirate hat as they ripped though the opening song. It became clear that Pirate Metal works, no, really works. I bet you never gave ‘Rime Of The Ancient Mariner’ by Maiden a second thought did you and I’ve jumped around to worse lyrics, my collection of dodgy eighties metal is a testament to that. As they bashed out songs such ‘Stormed and Cursed Seas’, ‘Sea Doggin’ and ‘Far Beyond Forever’ interspersed with adlibs heavy with pirate dialect, the enthusiastic crowd sensed a band that believed in their music and return the enthusiasm, you haven’t experienced true live music until you’ve seen a baying crowd raise their fists in recognition alongside plastic cutlasses, both shaken with equal vigour. As if sensing the need not to take things too seriously, during ‘The legend of Salty Jim – The Lobster King’, said Lobster King made an appearance in all his pink paper mache glory on stage only to be slain by the twin guitars of Fradders the Cabin Boy and Scar-V-Knave but even this comic interlude couldn’t detract from a set that meant business. ‘Blackbeard's Last Stand’ came across as a tribute to a past hero, albeit one that raped and pillaged but I can think of a few musicians that fit the same bill. After ‘Hempen Gig’ and the penultimate song did I finally realise the pure genius of Pirate Metal as the band request that “all the pirate wenches join them on stage” as they performed ‘Inside the Inn’ surrounded by a large crowd of the females dressed in buxom 18th century garb, think about it! This concluded the set but what would the encore entail? A cover of ‘A message in a bottle’, what else. A fitting end to one of the best gigs I’ve seen in a long time, I expected an entertaining evening but didn’t think I would discover a band with true commitments to this fledgling genre of metal. So no crass comments or references to a Disney pirate trilogy because as I was standing there, it came to me that some 27 years ago a then little known band called the Sisters of Mercy stood not too far from where I was and they were to define the gothic scene that is still in existence today. I doubt that Pirate Metal will reach those heights but if it does, you can bet you’re last doubloon (sorry, couldn’t help myself) that Skull Branded Pirates will be at the forefront. I’ve said this before in a number of reviews that I’m convinced that the music scene is in fine fettle when you can get two great bands and an evening of rock music. Forget the bloated 15 minutes of TV fame rammed down our throats, search out real music and if you have to don a tri-corn hat and plastic sword, go with the flow because the rewards are well worth it, hell after 10 years, how else am I going to get my missus to dress up as a pirate wench on my wedding anniversary!!!! |