Wild Rumours

Vocals                                 Tony HUGHES

Lead Guitar                        Wayne CROWE 

Drums                                 Marc MADDISON

Bass                                    Lee WILSON

Warm Up 

Wayne, on lead, went through the effects pedals quite fluently and Lee on bass sounded spot on. I thought the drums were a bit tinny and you couldn't really distinguish the bass drum from the bass guitar which would be alright if they were in perfect sinc. with each other. It was when the sound check number 'Rockbottom' that a number of us felt that the Tony's vocals were in need of sound assistance, but it was nice to see three backing mikes used by all three instrumentalists.

Set 1

A song by U.F.O kicked proceedings off with 'Doctor, Doctor'. Not a bad start and the balance between drums and bass was fine and the lead in both terms of intro. and solo was good though could have done with a touch of volume added. Tony's vocals were a bit on the light side and was overpowered when the backing refrain hit the mikes. 'Rescue Me' by Y&T followed and there must have been some prompted adjustment to Tony's vocal settings as this was much better. Not a song I know, but they produced a nice menacing sound which was spoilt by the inappropriate 'WHOA' in the backing. We were informed that there would be a twist to Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' and despite a very good individual treatment of the intro. I couldn't distinguish anything different from the norm - still not bad. 'Too Hard to Handle' by The Black Crowes brought out Tony's vocal qualities but where we needed a dominant lead guitar solo, there was a distinct lack of volume. 'Don't believe a Word' by Thin Lizzy quickly followed, and if anything can be said with a definitive plus is that these lads know how to intro. a song. Wayne did fine considering that he was doing the job of two guitars on the solo. Also impressive is the variety of material they were covering as Judas Preist came next in the form of 'Breaking the Law'. Now the overall sound produced was pretty effective, and the bass line was spot on, but it was about here that there was a definite loosening in the teamwork, the drums were a bit out of line with the bass and the backing vocals seem to come in a different times, lessening the impact of what should have been opened out to the audience. It was back to Thin Lizzy with 'Cold Sweat' and this was probably Tony's worst song in terms of being a front man, it just lacked dominance. It was a little better and maybe better suited on Def Leppard's 'Wasted' but still could have done with more umphhhh!!!! Again rhythm, lead and backing seemed to be a bit more together on this one. To finish the first set, we had a bass oriented song by Alice Cooper with 'Feed my Frankenstein'. Tony is not Alice Cooper and certainly not menacingly enough, and the overall shout and blast treatment during the chorus by the rest of the lads did not make this a good ending.

It would be safe to say that there were some frank exchange of words with the lads at half time. This is a group that has all the attributes of being a very good band, but there are basics of sound set-up and ensuring that they all as tight as they can be crossing all areas of each song they play. There was some tweeking on the sound deck done by our own Brian and welcomed by the group, but more importantly there was determination and energy.

Set 2

'Jailbreak' by Thin Lizzy was the first indication that things were tighter, the drums and bass, in particular were much better together. Marc had found that freedom of expression lacking in the first half - he was starting to hit hard. Promising! One of their own numbers came next, and it was the Website song 'Virus'. The difference from the website was staggering and definitely heard better live. There was better passion in their performance which is understandable when it's one of your own,and Tony was now beginning to show what I expected - quality. Not being into Megadeth, I'm sorry I didn't get the title, and neither did my reliable band of song identifiers. Passion continued  with a strong bass line and an excellent introduction. Another of their own came next, 'Nightstalker' - in line with their first song, well composed and executed, possibly a little too heavy for the location but a good song all the same.  Perhaps one the best musically played songs came next, 'Clap of Thunder' by Kiss, as quite simply the drums were played as they should be,hit hard but in perfect time with the bass. The difference in the group was clearly visible in their faces, they were enjoying themselves, more so on the next of their own numbers 'Eye of the Storm'. Relying on a strong bass line in sinc. with cymbals, this in my view was their best number, not only of their own but of the night. You had everything in the song, lyrics that you could hear and make sense, and excellent use of effects by Wayne on lead. 'Here Comes the Water' , by Primal Scream? was very well played, particularly on lead. The final song was actually their warm-up number - 'Rockbottom' by U.F.O. - no comparison, and I have to agree with the general feel of the room, this was a different band, and consequently this song was excellent with everyone working together as a unit.

Reprise time saw decent treatments of two Free numbers, 'Wishing Well' and ' The Hunter' resulting in richly desrved applause.

Wild Rumours are a young band who can only improve their whole performance by playing more gigs, and rehearsing together, as all the qualities are there, they just need honing to a higher plain. They do need, however, to get the sound set-up right straight from the start. Their own numbers were very good and indicate where they are trying to get to in terms of setting up eventual recording deals. Although the crowd wasn't bad, it is one of my bugbears, where groups don't promote themselves in terms of posters, website work and creating a wider fan base, and consequently bigger crowds. I hope the lads enjoyed themselves as they appeared to, and I hope to see them and their Dads again in the future.