Following successful nights hosted by Champagne Justice along with a yearly stage at Southsea Fest, Portsmouth Southsea Social Club now has its name firmly on the map as another venue for the underground music scene and tonight it was over to FXD Records to put on this evenings’ entertainment.
FXD Records themselves are a newly launched label who release their first compilation (featuring artists from both the UK and US) in conjunction with today’s show and although there are various plans in the pipeline for the label, tonight was about the live acts and an opportunity to see local Portsmouth bands alongside those from outside the city.
First up were My Great & Worthy Opponent and their take on the math-rock scene, this three piece from the Isle of Wight are very calculated in their writing (I guess this is part of the math-rock influence) however smoothly alternate between quiet/loud during their set and get the night off to a good start.
Then it was a quick turnaround and time for Migivings who having formed in 2013 feature members who have already been playing across the local scene and indeed across Europe, so onstage banter came naturally and as always it’s good to see people enjoying themselves and keeping up momentum in-between songs.
It wasn’t just about the on stage antics though as Misgivings keep themselves busy with both guitarists on vocal duties, mixing it up a bit along with they’re tight rhythm section to blast out pop-punk tunes such as “Gift to Nobody” and “Disappear Here” – both available to download on their two track demo.
Coming from further afield Bloody Knees made the trip down from Cambridge and despite their singer announcing he had just been fired from the day job were in high spirits and pleased to be back in Portsmouth after a couple of years out the city.
At times Bloody Knees are reminiscent of grunge bands of old with fuzzy guitars and distortion pedals cranking it up a notch, but combine this with a more modern indie rock feel and they’re sure to make an impression to fans of both Nirvana and the Strokes, providing a great addition to this evening’s line up – and if it wasn’t for the fact the Exposed were headlining I could have already gone home happy.
The thing is I’ve seen the Exposed enough to know they’re always going to be a great live act and having recently played across the US as part of the Warped tour they haven’t let things slip since their return to the UK and smaller venues in their home city.
With their upbeat punk numbers the Exposed have great delivery of songs such as “Sleeping’s a Waste of my Youth” and no matter what the crowd is like they always manage to get a sing a long during “Rebel City Rockers”, the only downside to this evenings set was it seemed to go all too quickly but I’m sure we will continue to see more of these guys in the not too distant future.
So with further gigs and releases planned throughout 2014, FXD are a welcome addition to the ever thriving Portsmouth music scene and will no doubt provide us with some more entertaining nights out with quality music… so how about next weekend, let’s do it all again.
