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Young Promoters Network: Breaking Bands (08/08/14)

9/8/2014

19 Comments

 
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After a highly successful start to the “Road To Merthyr”, courtesy of KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES and a series of brilliant, intimate live shows, we must now avert our attention to the next generation of rising rock stars, as tonight, the YOUNG PROMOTERS NETWORK are back in Merthyr Tydfil’s Red House for “Breaking Bands”. This battle of the bands competition has been set up to allow one lucky up and coming Welsh band, the opportunity to open the main stage at MERTHYR ROCK, which is being held at Cyfarthfa Park on August 17th, and features a line-up including the likes of THE BLACKOUT, TAKING BACK SUNDAY and ANTI-FLAG. There were four bands booked for tonight, all ready to step up and grab the opportunity of a lifetime…there are three actually playing…this is what went down…

CIVIL FOES [N/A] from Aberdare were originally looking forward to playing tonight, looking forward to the chance to shine, however, due to circumstances within the band, they have sadly called it a day and have split up. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see them perform but we wish them all the best in any and all future projects.

CLEAR THE AUDITORIUM [8] are the first on stage and get the daunting task of having to set the bar early on, but boy do they do it in style. Playing a mixture of tracks from their “2021” and “The Final Broadcast” EP’s, their blend of alternative rock and dub-infused electronic beats goes down a storm and it’s hard to tell which is more energetic; the music or the band themselves! Front-man Dafydd Richards getting into the full swing of the occasion, climbs 12-15 ft up one of the venues walls, runs through the crowd, throws himself around the stage…it’s a confident, determined all-round display that demands your attention and is nothing less than impressive.

Up next are Cardiff’s LAST VENDETTA [6] who, despite delivering a quality dose of melodic punk-pop, just can’t quite live up to tonight’s opening act in terms of performance and hunger. Their set was good, the band are tight but really they lacked any real spark. The inclusion too of MICHAEL JACKSON cover “Man In The Mirror” didn't help matters tonight either, as while the track itself is a good one, and it was played brilliantly, when a band is looking to impress, you should be looking to stick to original material, it slightly cheapened the performance.

Finally then, we shift gears once more for the final act of the night, Bridgend’s SET TO BREAK [7] who pummel the unsuspecting crowd with a ferocious set of hard hitting metal-core. Their performance is strong, their technical ability, musically, is superb and vocalist George Ross has an impressive set of pipes on him to say the least. Inspired by artists such as ARCHITECTS and PARKWAY DRIVE, they end the night in brutal fashion playing songs from their newest EP; “Redemption”, leaving the judging panel with a lot to mull over…

Having taken each of tonight’s three performances fairly, weighing up pros and cons, the judging panel firstly decided that it was between two of the three bands without a shadow of doubt. Secondly, the panel took into consideration that tonight’s winner would be opening the main stage of Merthyr Rock, they would need to set the tone for a great day of live music and entertainment early on, supporting a mixed line-up of artists with a mixture of styles…and with that in mind, the panel reached a unanimous decision. The winners…Clear The Auditorium.

We wish the boys from Pontypridd all the best and look forward to seeing you again on the 17th, commiserations to our runners up, Last Vendetta and Set To Break, we’re sure you’ll be back for more in future, but this is CTA’s moment, and its thoroughly deserved.


For tickets to Merthyr Rock, please visit http://www.merthyrrock.com/
Article photo courtesy of Menai Richards: https://www.facebook.com/MenaiRichardsPhotography

19 Comments
Garron Williams
9/8/2014 01:54:29 pm

Totally agree with this review. I was there and even though the other bands were impressive and have got great talent, C.T.A clearly blew the competition away with they 're performance.

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GavTheGothicChav
9/8/2014 02:01:28 pm

Thank you for the comment! It was a great gig, but CTA did indeed step up their game and were worthy winners.

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Maria
9/8/2014 05:29:26 pm

Do not agree with this review at all . It was a blatant fix of a gig to be fair. Whilsy all bands were good in their own.right I believe bands who do covers and do covers well are mote versatile. I did not see a spark from the last band. You shouldn't review if ur going to be bias. But hey that's my personal opinion.

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 01:11:54 am

I appreciate your feedback and opinion Maria, I can assure you I personally went into this gig as I do with every other gig I review, with an open mind, an open set of ears and absolutely no personal bias. Last Vendetta's cover was indeed good, as I expressed in the review, but, when looking to win a BOTB, the consensus was that they should of been less prepared to use someone else's material. I enjoy a cover as much as the next person, but at competition level, it wasn't ideal to include one.

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ben
9/8/2014 05:34:53 pm

I don't agree that it cheapened the performance for LV.. I think it was cheap to tell the bands it wud br judge based and then have ppl vote at the end. Ah well.

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 01:15:02 am

Thank you for the comment Ben. Maybe "cheapened" wasn't the best word to use in this instance, I wasn't intending on being THAT disrespectful, as I've stated I did enjoy the cover, they played it well. With regards to how the voting and judging was planned, I can't answer or comment on that honestly as, obviously I'm not one of the organisers.

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joeIsDaMaaaan
9/8/2014 05:39:34 pm

Love how the promo girl had CTA tshirt on. LOL

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 01:19:15 am

As far as I'm aware Joel, all official promoters wore Young Promoters Network attire...the one photographer did wear a CTA shirt but she's related to one of the band members and was allowed to do camera work. I highly doubt any of the promoters would blatantly risk appearing to be biased, regardless of actual personal taste. :)

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Josh evans
10/8/2014 04:03:12 am

Haha I've seen last vendetta a couple of times and they've never even done a cover before. If anything they musta worked their ass off "re-writing" a pop song into their genre just for this competition. (Irony if thats the case). You kind of made it sound like they did a straight cover as in kept it the same when like the person above said, all they were doing was showing how they were versatile enough to punk up any song even one as poppy as this. I thought all the bands were good, does seem odd that cta won and they were the poster boys of this event since July though? Also shame it turned into a popularity contest. Great gig though harsh review on the band I picked to win

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 04:14:09 am

Hi Josh, I can appreciate the band may have taken the time to learn the cover which I will reiterate, was done very well, I believe the point that was put across was more of a case of, look, lets see how good your band is...ok you're good, but why play the cover? I think a BOTB should always focus on originality and playing a song you didn't write doesn't tick that box. With regards to CTA being poster boys, I saw four bands on the flyer, sadly we didn't get to see Civil Foes with them splitting up. Had they played, who knows, could of been completely different.

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Josh Evans
10/8/2014 05:09:51 am

By poster boys I mean there were pictures of them posted by YPN with road the Merthyr written on a sign in the photos at the end of July when the event was announced. They then used a photo from the same set to announce CTA had won on the night of the event (poster boys) not the event flyer. Look I don't know how many battle of the bands you've been to but a cover is very common. They had a set of original material and threw in one cover again to show versatility. CTA played a skrillex song at the end of their set...They didn't rewrite the song they actually played it through a sampler... THAT cheapens the event do your own version / transform it like last vendetta did.

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Taf Richards
10/8/2014 07:29:44 am

Hey Josh, I'd just like to clear something up about your 'poster boys' theory. The #RoadToMerthyr photo set we did was done of our own accord with our own photographer in order to promote the event for ourselves and to gain ourselves some support. The YPN watermark was included and the YPN did share these images, as we were promoting our taking part in an event organised by them, but this was OUR way of promoting and advertising OUR inclusion in this event. We weren't poster boys for the event, it was a campaign done of our own accord independently of the organisers.

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Maria
10/8/2014 05:44:02 am

I appreciate your reply but you're being quite lame about a cover. Everyone loves a cover and if ur at a BOTB then u bring ur a game to a battle. Which I PERSONALLY think last vendetta did. They threw a cheeky little curve ball in but I think ur taking it that they had none of their own material. When writing a review can I asj u research the bands on how much material they actually have of their own stuff?! They did play their own stuff but considering the crowd were as dead as door knobs I feel they were the only band who tried to interact with the crowd. Plus I saw members from tbe first band and also crowd members singing along. Maybe it wasn't a cover you personally enjoyed but none the less, the crowd including myself,enjoyed their rendition of the song. Maybe next time u cud use constructive criticism on how u think LV can improve rather than out right slate them. C'est la vie!

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 10:01:53 am

At the end of the day, without nit picking what I personally believed were pros and cons, ALL three bands were indeed very good, I have praised each participant within the review. I've given my thoughts on the matter, and to me, they were the least impressive ON THE NIGHT. I have nothing against Last Vendetta and I'm sure they will no doubt go on to have success, as they are capable band, as will Set To Break within their own respective heavier scene. LV was far from a slating if you've seen any of my other pieces...check out Issue 13 of Firebrand After Dark online magazine...read my review of a band called "Cocksure". With regards to the crowd, I was disappointed in the numbers myself and agree with you on that count. Each of the bands had a tough night in terms of audience.

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lewis214
10/8/2014 09:30:58 am

I thought all the bands were good, shouldn't have been a battle of the bands, they all deserved to win :-)

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GavTheGothicChav
10/8/2014 10:04:17 am

A very fair and diplomatic comment Lewis :)

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lewis214
10/8/2014 02:35:49 pm

Well in all honesty I wanted Last Vendetta to win but everyone has their own genre so I think it's unfair to compare 3 different types of band. CTA use synth. LV heavy rock and STB.. well I couldn't understand anything they were 'singing' they still do their genre justice. Unfair comparison so all equal winners :-)

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G-is4Goth♥
11/8/2014 10:54:50 am

Having taken each of tonight’s three performances fairly, weighing up pros and cons, the judging panel firstly decided that it was between two of the three bands without a shadow of doubt. 

Juding by your 'fair' review I can clearly see which 2 bands it was between.. emo synth and screaming #JusySaying

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GavTheGothicChav
11/8/2014 11:02:06 am

The style of band and genre of music wasn't in question, there was no quest for a specific type of band on the night, that wouldn't of been fair at all unless stated before hand. Genre wasn't a contributing factor in the decision. Thank you for your comment :)

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