With an array of pedals and vintage style amps surrounding the venue, Champagne Justice was looking great and gave an insight into what was to follow, so without further ado it was down to You’re Smiling Now But We’re All Turn Into Demons to crank up the volume with their Black Sabbath meets Mogwai sludgefest.
Having been around on the Portsmouth scene for the past ten years You’re Smiling Now But We’re All Turn Into Demons never disappoint, although a band who heavily focus on instrumentals the Demons open up with two tracks with vocals layered under the riffs to great effect with noticeably fast drum fills.
The next piece goes back to basics and is all about the instrumentation, a new slightly slower number but still with the same psychedelic tendencies the Demons have certainly got the night off to a good start and end their set as they had started with a number reminiscent of Jesus and Mary Chain, whilst reinforcing why these guys have stood out above others that have come and gone over the years.
Now I can’t imagine people wouldn’t enjoy the opening act or Fuzz Orchestra without loving Black Sabbath and so with three members of the Demons being joined by guitarist “Paddie Iommi” Sabbath tribute band War Pigs entertained the crowd with a greatest hit set by Birmingham’s finest export.
Musically War Pigs were spot on, and I’m sure the band themselves would admit their frontman isn’t necessarily the greatest Ozzy impersonator around but this didn’t matter whatsoever – it was all about a mutual respect for Black Sabbath between the band and crowd, and the light hearted approach to the set made it all the more entertaining complete with rubber bats, fake moustaches and cue cards for “Into the Void” and the song “War Pigs” itself.
You only had to look around the room as Ozzy went to the bar mid-set and the reaction upon his return to see that pretty much everyone had a grin on their face, and with the music being well executed you couldn’t help throwing horns whilst nodding your head and singing along to classic 70’s heavy metal.
It had been a while since discovering Italy’s Fuzz Orchestra down the road at the Fat Fox all those years ago, so it was a pleasure to see this three-piece again, albeit with a new drummer, and was great to reminisce of the previous gig with the band after their set.
Fuzz Orchestra combines heavy (Sabbath influenced…) guitars and drums with an array of keyboard, samples, radio noise and old 12 inch records making for visually a great performance.
Having started out from a more improvised band, Fuzz Orchestra have developed into a heavy wall of noise feeding off the sound manipulation of Fabio Ferrario whilst guitarist Luca Ciffo casually plays some meaty guitar parts doubling up for the lack of bass player as new drummer Paulo Mongardi beats the hell out of his drum kit.
There are times when the samples are there just to add more depth to the bands’ sound, but despite the language barrier the sentiment of anti-fascism and political references shine through as well as the intrigue into the Italian records each being discarded from the stage as they’ve served their purpose.
Ultimately this was another successful evening supplied by Champagne Justice and perfect for a Friday night, although if you don’t like Black Sabbath you may disagree… but then again, if you don’t like Black Sabbath I’m guessing you wouldn’t have been attending in the first place!
Thanks for listening,
Mr Teeth
