It may not have been the busiest night at the Wedgewood Rooms, but local act Coax were determined to make the most of the relatively small crowd. The 4 piece have already been making their mark in the right places, appearances on both local radio and national TV.
The evening was to be the opening slot for Roddy Woomble, frontman to Scottish indie-rockers Idlewild, a night that would also feature ex-B of the Bang singer Wit.
While it would be more challenging for Wit to showcase his moody solo venture, Coax showed why they were an obvious choice for support. Going on tonight’s performance they’d probably be an easy band to market, given the opportunity.
They’re talented musicians and as tight as a pair of trendy indie-kid jeans. That’s not meant as derogatory towards their potential following, just while they’re not anything particularly different, they are however damn good at it.
COAX – WEDGEWOOD ROOMS
So what does make a fairly conventional indie-rock band stand out? Like I say, firstly they’re musicianship was hard to fault. They clearly have an ear as to how you write a good tune, their harmonies on stage were pitch perfect and elsewhere they’ve other successful ventures.
One of Coax play in a popular function band and the drummer is on the roster as a session musician to a major label. All the while, singer/guitarist Andy Muscat is well known as a local singer songwriter when armed with an acoustic guitar.
Speaking of acoustic, there was just the one moment in their set where you could tell even Coax don’t get everything right. Following a stripped back (and slightly cheesy) love song, the return to full electric wasn’t quite as smooth as planned.
That’s pretty much the only negative, other than on a personal level maybe they could stretch their musical barriers a little more. There’s clearly still a market for indie-rock, although even the nights headliner has moved on from his mid/late 90’s beginnings.
Coax on the other hand are still a band in their early days and it’s going well so far. With tracks such as “Fire” sounding great, no wonder it was chosen to air on ITV’s “This Morning”. It says something about their potential audience too, they’d sound at home on commercial radio and would easily appeal to a more mainstream fan base.
Elsewhere there was enough to keep an alternative ear listening, while visually they looked the part too. Confident without being cocky and enough stage presence without distracting from the quality of the songs, which ultimately is what Coax are all about.
COAX – WEDGEWOOD ROOMS
