Words & Pix By Ian Harvey

 

Shiver me timbers . . . it’s a cold night as my son Rob and I, plus two of his mates, turn up at JB’s for an evening with ”Scottish folk metal pirates” Alestorm.

 

I’ve spent most of my time as a parent trying to instil a love of rock music into my kids. It only seems to have worked with Rob though.

 

Tonight he returns the favour by introducing me to one of his favourites.

 

But when we arrive as the doors open it’s clear JB’s isn’t going to be packed tonight, with fewer than a dozen fans waiting outside. Mind you, a couple of them are sporting pirate paraphernalia, so at least we know we’re in the right place.

 

Bang on 8pm, by now with only about 30 people in attendance, Eden’s Curse hit the stage and blow me away.

 

A six-piece, multi-national band, featuring twin guitars and keyboards, they hit us with a brand of rock heavy on riffage but also laden with melody and rich harmonies.

 

American singer Michael Eden is sporting a Foreigner tour T-shirt, and while there are hints of his AOR heroes – from Steve Perry to Jeff Scott Soto - in his vocals, the band’s overall delivery is heavier and dirtier, with some seriously scorching guitar solos to boot. 

 

I particularly like the epic Lost In Wonderland and Games People Play, as well as the set closer Angels and Demons, which on record features a duet between Michael Eden and Pamela Moore, aka Sister Mary from Queensryche’s Operation: Mindcrime - although she’s obviously not here tonight.

 

 

I make a mental note to check out Eden’s Curse online while we wait for the next act, The Rotted. Banners on their amps reading ‘No Gods, No Governments’ hint at a band with attitude  . . . and that’s no exaggeration as they explode on the stage like animals unleashed.

 

Singer Ben McCrow looks uncaged, unhinged and quite unlike anything I’ve ever encountered,  screaming and bellowing as he hurls himself around the stage in a hardcore, almost punk frenzy, quite unable to keep still for a second.

 

Kissing Fists, Nothin’ But A Nosebleed and Get Dead Or Die Trying say it all really. It’s brutal stuff and I’ve got to admit it’s simply not my kind of metal. As their set wears on it’s noticeable that the applause is becoming more and more sparse, to the point where one song ends to near silence.

 

Still, they do raise a laugh when bald-headed McCrow, with bald-headed bassist  Rev Trudgill beside him, says: “I’ve tried to get a few more people through the door – we told them we were Right Said Fred on our comeback tour. It didn’t work though.”

 

 http://www.myspace.com/therotted

 

At this point I bump into some of the members of Eden’s Curse. Michael Eden is really disappointed at the turn-out, especially as they’d had plenty through the door at Sheffield the night before.

 

“This is the smallest crowd I have ever played to. I played to more than this when I was 14,” he says, making me shake my head at the state of rock in the so-called birthplace of heavy metal.

 

By the time the lights go down for Alestorm there are maybe 50 or 60 fans in attendance but at once we’re embroiled in the band’s epic universe of pirates on the high seas, wenches, taverns and mead.

 

It’s gloriously bawdy, with lead singer Christopher Bowes commanding attention, bare chested and armed with his Roland ‘keetar’.  And while Dani Evan’s guitar work might evoke Metallica, there’s a Jolly Roger never far away courtesy of Bowes’ accordion-style keyboards.

 

The fans down the front are more than happy to join in this gleeful insanity,  headbanging furiously to the likes of Terror On The High Seas, Nancy The Tavern Wench and Heavy Metal Pirates, all huge tunes delivered with deadly precision and, most importantly, all great fun.

 

Band and fans seem to be enjoying the occasion tremendously and it soon turns into a request show, with Bowes asking members of the audience to shout out what they’d like to hear next – turning the tragedy of such a tiny turnout into a triumphant night to remember. At one point Dani Evans even takes a trip down into the audience for an impromptu walkabout.

 

The biggest cheers of the night are saved for favourites Captain Morgan’s Revenge and Wenches & Mead. That Famous Ol’ Spiced is a corker too.

 

Before we know it, the lights are back up and the general consensus is that being a part of something so intimate made it all the more special. Alestorm deserve a bigger audience, but at least tonight everyone felt like they were on the front row.

 

http://www.myspace.com/alestorm