You Me At Six: support Lower than Atlantis, Deaf Havana

Starting of the show is pop-punk band “Lower than Atlantis” and judging from the reaction of the crowd, people weren't just there for You Me At Six. The band interacted with the crowd proving to be a brilliant warm up for You Me At Six. The crowd goes nuts when they end their set with their crowd pleaser “Deadliest Catch”, which receives the first mosh pit of the night.

Next up “Friends Like These” band Deaf Havana slow the show down a pace with their likes of their acoustic, more emotional songs “Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life” and “You Are Beautiful” from their 2010 album “Meet Me Half Way at Least”. The crowd seem totally connected with the band, singing the chorus loud. It is clear to see that there is a positive, excitable atmosphere at this gig.

Of course the main prospect of the night for the majority of the people at the gig was to see You Me At Six, which is shown when Josh Franceshi comes on stage. The crowd screams and from then onwards, there doesn't seem to be a quieter moment. They played the obvious releases from their “Take Of Your Colours” and “Hold Me Down” albums, however there is equally the same amount of excitement for the tracks of their newly released album “Sinners Never Sleep” which currently in the charts. Josh Franceshi doesn't keep quiet about this and shouts: “The Guardian Published the other day that rock music is dead,” there is a sudden chorus of “boo’s” in the audience, “Our new album reached the top 10 in the charts this week, that and you all here tonight proves them wrong!”

The energy and excitement does not die down by the end of the gig, if anything the crowd seem more energized, they go mental after Josh Franceshi orders everyone to go crazy and crowd surf despite the signs saying no crowd surfing allowed. “This is your last chance to do whatever it is you want to do, if you want to crowd surf, crowd surf, if you want to jump up and down and go crazy jump up and down, and if you want to sing at the top of your lungs, sing at the top of your lungs!” said Josh Franceshi. The gig ends on a massive high note with their popular single “Underdog”. The fans seem to sing more than the band in this track, there is a chorus of screaming girls and guys. 

Trivium Review

Defenders of the Faith Tour 2 - Trivium, plus:  In Flames, Ghost & Rise to Remain


Florida’s metal band Trivium headline The Defenders of the Faith tour 2 and disappoint crowds with an unsatisfying performance.

Trivium have released their fifth studio album “Waves”, they’re touring around the world alongside guitar heroes In Flames and promising metal new comers Rise to Remain. Surely things couldn’t be going any better for them right? Well you could be very mistaken. Trivium kicks off the Defenders of the Faith Tour 2 at the Guildhall in Southampton, it’s not a sold out gig and I’m not surprised why, Trivium are somewhat displeasing live.

Despite the tour being a perfect opportunity for Trivium to step up their game in the world of metal, they debatably have gone down in my books.

They come onstage four hours after a handful of bands. Fans suffer a tedious and agonising 20 minutes with Swedish metal band Ghost who seem to come on stage dressed to impress or perhaps dressed unusually to cover up the fact that they aren’t talented. After three years since the band has formed the anonymous front man still thinks it necessarily to keep his identity a secret. Yet again he acquires an interesting taste in clothing as he strides confidently onto the stage dressed, ironically as the pope. The band plays with the tours theme Defenders of the Faith, but their dress code doesn’t particularly make them appear clever or humorous instead they seem over the top and cliché.

Perhaps it’s time for Ghost to stop hiding behind their ghoulish outfits which quite frankly has become a boring routine, that metal god’s such as Slipknot can only get away with. The crowd comes to a standstill when they begin their repetitive, not so impressive riffs and depressingly dull and satanic vocals. It’s hard to believe this band is on after British newcomers Rise to Remain.

Metal core Rise to Remain don’t mess around with hiding their identities. They don’t attempt to look scary or try to create an eerie atmosphere. They are simply a 5 piece metal core band from London and don’t feel the need to hide it. They have received a lot of promising reviews and praise from us recently and as predicted their songs go down a treat. Anyone who caught them playing at Download and Sonisphere festival last year know what to except from the band. They opened the set by playing their single Nothing Left which no doubt created a frenzy of mosh pits in the venue, masses of metal heads expressing themselves.

Austin Dickinson’s charms work on the crowd as he managed to unite the crowd by ordering everyone to put their arms around the person next to them and head bang together. The venue turns into an army of metallers embracing the music.

Rise to Remain are the definition of metal. They are loud, embrace individuality and fear nothing. Despite front man Austin’s famous Iron Maiden roots being the son of their lead vocalist and song writer Bruce Dickinson, they have in no way used that to their advantage to attract attention. Or in any way have tried to sound similar. They set the gig off to a hopeful start, which seems to be destroyed when Ghost ruin the atmosphere for the remaining of the gig.

Trivium’s main influences are Swedish band In Flames do turn the tables around with playing Immersion. Immersion is their biggest hit recently, mainly because it was collaborated with the popular band Pendulum. It gets the crowd moshing and alive again. Considering it’s the first year with new band member Niclas Engelin In Flames are impressive. They play the appropriate amount of time, so the audience doesn’t lose interest. In Flames don’t need gimmicks to make them look good, they’ve been round since the 90’s and without them the bands which played tonight wouldn’t be where they are now. I can’t understand why the pioneers of melodic death metal aren’t headlining this gig.

The excitement for Trivium lasts for about 5 minutes. The crowd still buzzing after In Flames gives Trivium a chance but the calm atmosphere across the venue should not be created at a metal gig. Matt Heafy tries to win over the British crowd by yelling: “Britain was the first place that accepted us, we feel like were home when we come back!” This gets a few cheers but nothing major.

On the optimistic side there is no doubt that their classics such as “Dying in Your Arms” and “Pull Harder on the Strings of Your Martyr” gets everyone screaming along but it seems to be that although there’s  a mixture of old and new Trivium fans and their new material from more recent albums still doesn’t go down as well. Eventually a sense of boredom arises in the atmosphere, perhaps due to the lengthiness of the gig, there is a few sighs of relief from the audience that the 4 hours is finally over.

Interview with The Pigeon Detectives

Q & A with lead singer Matt Bowman and guitarist Oliver Main from Leeds favourite indie band The Pigeon Detectives, who are nearing the end of their tour for their new album Up, Guards And Get Em.  They tell splash how the tour is going, about their new material and joke how they play the Ouija board in their spare time.

How are you enjoying your tour so far?

Matt: We’re in the final stages of it so everyone’s a bit tired, but it’s been great so far. We've had some amazing shows. Manchester stood out for me, London, Sheffield and still got Leeds to come which is our hometown.

Brighton was good, it was a soldout gig and a Saturday crowd so they’d all been drinking all day, was fun, bit messy.

Have you played in Southampton before? Do you like playing here?

 Oliver: We’ve played in Southampton many times.

Matt: (Jokes) No it’s awful and the crowds terrible, that’s a joke - Southampton’s always a good gig.

If you could play live anywhere in the world where would it be?

Matt: I like cold places, New York in winter time.

What made you decide to record your new album in America? How did you find it in America, did you feel like you fit in?

Oliver: It’s just something we’ve never done. We did our first one in Leeds, our second one on a farm in Wales.

Matt: When we toured America, it was amazing because we got to see the really big cities; we did Boston, Texas, Chicago, New York, LA.

When we were in New York we had two months recording the album was probably my favourite experience because we kind of became New Yorkers if you know what I mean.

Oliver: I remember one time that I knew we felt like New Yorkers when we were staying in Hell’s kitchen which is kind of near time square so we had to get the subway to the studio Brooklyn and Times Square was full of tourists – started to get annoyed because everyone got in our way.

When we were in New York we had two months recording the album was probably my favourite experience

How have audiences reacted to your new material?

Matt: All new material takes time to bed in, people have their favourites of previous albums but this is actually the second tour of this album. The new stuff seems to be going a lot better than the first time we toured. I think that’s a good thing, people have gone out, brought the album and liked it. Its relief to see people’s faces that their reacting to the new stuff rather than just standing there waiting for old stuff like found out or this is an emergency.

Are you planning on any festivals next year?

Matt: I think we are. It’s a shame Glastonbury isn’t on didn’t do it last year so I feel like could of played it next year. But no bands are telling anybody what festivals their playing next year, everyone’s still negotiating fees and trying to get as much money as possible.

Oliver: We’ve had a few offers for some, definitely will be playing some.

Do you have any advice for bands trying to make a name for themselves?                              

Matt: Put a lot of time and consideration into your actual band name because if you do make it you could end up getting stuck with it like us. I think playing live is the most important thing.

Oliver: You get better at practice.

Matt: Hone your skills, because if your entertain people live that’s when people go out and check you out online. If you’re a good live band you’re gonna start getting invited to tour with more established artists and that’s when you get your name out. I think practice, practice, practice and keep writing songs. You’ve never written your best song.

If you could change your band name would you?

Matt: I would quite like to be called just The Pigeons. But now were called The Pigeon Detectives I love the name, I’ve seen it on the Leeds Festival bill and on a Tokyo poster - it comes normal to us now.

Oliver: I think everyone’s bands name is stupid really, like The Beatles is a stupid band name

If you could collaborate with any artist alive or dead who would it be?

Matt: Could say something a little less obvious like someone from The Beatles like John Lennon. Think I would go for collaboration with Kayne west, something a bit different.

Oliver: Would make us sound better.

Matt: He could run me through an autotuner job done.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened gig?

Matt: We get flashed the odd bare chest, males and females they all seem to get involved

Oliver: We used to get underwear thrown at us quite a lot. Like Tom Jones but that stopped.

Matt: I’ve been punched in the face by a fan, been hit in the face with a can of red stripe. It’s what you expect when your entertaining people that have paid to come and watch you.

Do you have any rituals before you go on stage?

Oliver: We sacrifice a pig… no we like…

Matt: (Laughs) no, keep it at that answer, that’s the best answer we’ve ever had for that question!

Oliver: …Sacrifice a pig

What do you do in your spare time?

Oliver: Ouija boards stuff like that, basically satanic things

Matt: Me and Ryan have started to play golf – I know it’s not very rock and roll.

Oliver: Our spare time is still consumed by the band when were not on stage touring were in studio writing songs – and the same as what everyone else does like playing fifa.

What was the first ever cd you brought?

Oliver: The first cd I brought with my own money was Sgt Pepper

Matt: That annoys me so much! The first one I ever brought with my own money was crazy chef - the chef from south park chocolate salty balls.

What was your first job before becoming a successful band?

Matt: I worked on a golf course cutting grass believe it or not. I’ve had a few office jobs here and there. But the cutting grass job was my favourite.

If you could have a super power what would it be?

Matt: It would be cool to go out clubbing and have the power of invisibility you know so when someone comes up to you completely hammered and spill your drink down you, you could be invisible - I’d like to be invisible but I’d like to turn it on and off - The ability to turn on invisibility.

Has the ever been an awkward moment where you’ve been approached by a fan and don’t want to be?

Matt: Burger King last night, me and Dave were eating chips - that’s just awkward you have salty hands and mayo all around your face and they stride over wanting a picture.

Oliver: It’s especially worse for him as he’s more recognisable. If you’re having a meal with your family or something it’s just a bit inappropriate.

Matt: Overall though you appreciate people asking for pictures and that because there only doing that cause there into the band so we have a lot of time for fans.

Do you ever get fed up with each other being together all the time?                       

No we’ve known each other since we were six years old and we’ll still be knocking about when were 60. Believe it or not four of us have brought houses all on the same street.