Google Aatma Manchester and you get a picture of a posh looking place in Stevenson Square. But in truth, the door to the venue is around the corner, down a dark alley, and up some steep, slippery stairs. In short, it's a bit of a shithole. But even so, tonight's event was well attended and pretty good all round.
We missed Vieon, but arrived just in time to see Def Neon sound checking. There was a dude who looked like Gene Simmons circa 1992 (with a dash of Dimebag Darrel thrown in) and a very short blond girl with a Rickenbacker bass that looked hilariously big on her. As I recall those things are fucking heavy as well, so she must be made of solid stuff!
The music, OMG, the music. Imagine if Celldweller did a side-project with Pikachu... Analogue Trash describe the band as sounding like 'Peaches' mixed with 'Van Halen', I don't know what 'Peaches' sounds like, but the VH bit is definitely valid.
It could easily have been fucking annoying, but in actual fact it grew on us... although some of the songs seemed to go on way longer than they should have.
Next up was Advance, and the Scottish band continue to waver (in my honest opinion). The first album is great stuff, but everything since has disappointed me and the new songs I heard tonight are not filling me with high hopes. I guess we'll have to wait and see when the album comes out, but it grated slightly that I only knew about three or four songs out of the whole set, especially when there's a whole album of great songs they could have played.
Tom streamed the gig on Facebook (as people are wont to do these days), which is fine, although I can't help thinking maybe a little more time could have been spent on learning the lyrics to new songs rather than reading them off pieces of paper. Or just play the (great) songs you already know!
I've seen Advance three times now, and each time has been less good than the last. It's a shame because the first time was a fantastic surprise. Thankfully Neonsol saved the day.
They too played quite a lot of new songs, but for the most part they were quite promising, although 'How Much Heat Can You Take' is most definitely not. I think they've changed the vocal emphasis on that one as well, or if they haven't I've got a better idea if they want it!
Easily the best band of the night, despite the obligatory technical difficulties (I don't know why electro bands have so many tech problems, they generally have less mics and leads than Metal bands), Neonsol played a good chunk of the debut album, alongside 'Another Day' from the Analogue Trash sampler, and a slew of new ones. Rose was slightly disappointed they didn't play 'Black Sunday' and I would have liked to hear 'Sonus Solis' and 'Road to War', but I guess those songs are probably not going to get much stage time in the future as they don't have any conventional vocals.
Ah well, we each got a Neonsol T-shirt, and rocked our glowstick bracelets, before leaving the crowd to enjoy the rest of the night. 3AM - I don't think so. And what a bunch they were... leaving aside the stick thin transvestite, there was that guy with the lopsided hair who was at the Cyferdyne show in Lancaster, a tattoo'd lady who danced all night in slow motion, and best of all, the guy who looks like Krusher Joule and dances like an absolute spastic. There were signs on the wall warning that strobe lights may be used during the performance, and you'd have to say it wouldn't be a surprise to find out he was epileptic.
Walking back across Manchester post midnight was fun, pissed up people everywhere and a plethora of girls wearing dresses three sizes too small... not that they cared, bless em!
Oh, and lesson learned, never think of buying Strepsils from a service station, you simply can't afford them - and next time look in the glove box before buying Halls as a substitute. That was a double fail indeed.
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