Biker Rock Radio News blog

“Some where over the rainbow, way up high… Where was I? Oh Feck, need to stay calm, think nice thoughts and try not to eat your own fingers!” These were the thoughts going through my head last night (Friday 1^st February, 2013) in Scallys as Biker Rock Radio worked alongside The Hand Of Doom in presenting a fantastic gig of furious metal with two of the best bands that the South West region has to offer. 

Yes, I am biased because I love Throne of Demise and Made to Waste for their music, for their humour and their gentle natures as they blast out the sort of music that frankly makes the ground shake and the heavens take notice. 

But back to last night and why I was so anxious? After a busy day I got home just in time for the Biker Rock Radio Roadshow team to depart from the BRR HQ and head down to Scallys, Weston Super Mare’s Premier Biker Friendly Pub located on Carlton Street a few hundred meters from the sea front. Scallys management had agreed with Jonny of THOD (The Hand Of Doom) to put on a metal gig once a month to encourage and support the local music scene. Not only does this keep the scene alive, but maybe it can introduce some new young blood to a friendly and happy pub. 

Alex and I rode our bikes down to Scallys while Carol, The Prof and DJ Ghost came down in the car and once we were all parked up at Scallys, we began the set up of sound equipment and a sound engineers booth at our usual outside table. You should have seen the number of cables running through the window to the amplifiers and speaker stacks though. Just watching Carol and the team set it all up mystified me and I had to stand back and watch. How she is able to understand something that to me resembles a spaghetti of wires is beyond me and I had to stand back, but with technical equipment like this, there is always going to be some setting up required. 

The bands for this evening were as always total gentlemen and I have to say that both Max and Adam from Throne of Demise deserve a special mention for being so helpful to Carol and the team. There is a level of professionalism in these young bands that both impresses and earns respect. However, trying to sort out a minor technical glitch and then discovering late into the evening that some of the equipment provided from else where had several electrical faults, was just annoying for all concerned. As the tension rose I began to feel anxious just watching it all happen and began to nibble my fingers in ways that had people asking me if I was cold. Being in no way technical and having so little understanding of what was happening, I had no idea how to help or what to do, so I just had to stand back and watch, fearful that the gig I was so excited about was not about to happen. 

Finally I was able to speak to Jonny from THOD and it was explained to me in basic easy to understand language (the sorted used when explaining complicated things to an aging senile aunt!) that the drum kit was way too loud and drowning everything else out and the monitor speakers needed by the band had failed to work. So simple and yet so complicated. Eventually, it was sorted and the bands sound checked and started to get ready.

Throne of Demise consists of Max, Adam and Ricky the guitarists. Vocals are performed by Jake and sat quietly at the back belying the ferocity of the onslaught he is about to unleash is Haydn the drummer. The levels were set for the venue so perfectly that I did not need my usual ear plugs, however the sound from the stage was as you would expect from a band of this calibre, an assault of utter brutality, every aspect of the bands sound was richly present and I had to congratulate Carol and her team on making a band that she had never heard before sound so clear and crushing. 

I tried to keep notes through out the set, but was so blown away by what I saw, it was impossible. All I managed to write down were a few clichéd statements of what I thought of the band and then commented on how many bright and beautiful new faces were in Scallys. If there was ever a way to make us regulars feel old, it is to bring in a group of youthful beautiful people, who don’t have to worry about wrinkles and walking in uncomfortable shoes and how much they will hurt at work in the morning! 

The Thrones (they would just like to point out that there is no plural in their name!) were fantastic, at a recent gig in London where they were viewed by some music business executives; I can only imagine how much they brutalised the audience with their fearsome sound. Their set came to an end far too soon for my liking and once again, Haydn the drummer disappeared like a Troll returning to his cave. Now this may be a strange thing to say, but then I am in a relationship with a drummer. It is my view that drummers need more love, flashy guitarists are all well and good, but it takes some real skill to play a blast beat like that and with out it, the sound is a whole lot less aggressive. 

Then the music started and it was with the usual awesome battle front, a wall of total metal and a pit opened up almost immediately in front of the stage. Again my usual clichés felt inappropriate for the band that has repeatedly rocked my world, I must admit to a great deal of Bias here though. It is true, I feel no shame in saying it. I love Made to Waste. Guitarist/Vocalist Alex has a strut to his stage presence that is part predator and part holy man. Snyffs and John have so much charisma on stage and then off it as they dive into the pit, that they just continue to impress me and Jake the percussionist is a war machine. His brutal assault on an innocent drum kit gives Made to Waste a sound so deep, I worry that it can crack the earth in two or push the moon from its orbit! 

As I looked around the pub, all I could see were people having a great time, the dance floor in front of the stage was a heaving turmoil of heads heaving up and down as the waves of sound broke across them. The passion and belief in what they do is so evident and having seen them several times I can only marvel at what they do. Every show is another step up in terms of power and delivery. There is no glass ceiling for these boys and they will continue to grow upwards. If you have not seen them yet, do so soon before they get so big you can’t shake their hands afterwards or even get a hug from them too. 

Both bands were broadcast out over the Biker Rock Radio station, there were a couple of glitches but the sound going out was impressive. Listeners from all around the world tuned in for one small gig in a pub in Weston and Biker Rock Radio is so proud to have been involved. Not every band in Scallys will deserve such an event, but both Throne of Demise and Made to Waste are so polished, so note perfect and so professional that they deserve to be big and they deserve every bit of help to get them there. The turn out for their show was good, but if you chose to stay sat at home or went out but stayed away from this gig you really and truly missed out. 

Shortly after my chat with Ian, I met a charming couple of people who chatted freely and seemed to know about these blog posts that I write here. It turned out that these lovely people were the parents of Alex, lead singer of Made to Waste. I suddenly realised to my shame that when interviewing the boys on air or writing about their gigs, I have used language that it is not really appropriate to use around other peoples parents! However I did comment that they had a great deal to proud of in their boy. Sadly before we could chat further I was called away to help with BRR stuff. 

So when summing up both of these bands and their performance all I can say is that they are both completely and utterly spectacular. They are the leaders in what they do, thrashing out a new pathway. They are though on subtly different facets of the same extreme metal diamond. So if you call yourself an extreme metal fan, it is about time that you gave these bands you attention.