JACK GLASS + JUNIOR PRIEST + ESTRELLA + SHOTGUN LIBIDO + SAZ + CORE + ATTICA RAGE + FIREBRAND SUPER ROCK + MAIDEN SCOTLAND + 15 TIMES DEAD + VOLTS - "Monsterz of Rock" 14 Hour Festival, Hustlers, Dundee 05-04-08
Yes we waited for the "Monster to Rise"....he did and by anyone’s standards... the audience, organisers, DJ, Venue staff and bands – the first Mermaid Rock Promotions "Monsterz of Rock" festival was an outstanding event and a 100% unqualified, spectacular success.
Held at Hustlers in North Lindsay Street, Dundee on Saturday April 5th, the doors opened at midday and the last of the rockers left the building somewhere around 2.30am the following morning. In between, a sizeable audience who remained there throughout most of the event witnessed 14 and a half hours of non-stop Classic Rock & Metal. The event went so well in line with our timings, that by the time the penultimate act in the evening ended their set, we were running a mere 5 minutes over, this, after 10 bands had been on since 12.30pm. To that end we send out a massive "thank you" to all the bands who worked with us and between themselves to ensure that the changeovers went smoothly and within the allocated times. Also, we must give a huge thanks to venue owner and stage manager Dave " The Boss" whose valuable work ensured that this went to time, not to mention the amazing stamina and sterling work of sound guy Joe who kept it all going strongly and consistently.
Things kicked off with our newest discovery, a band from west of Glasgow named Jack Glass who we’d not seen live before, but who credited themselves to the highest degree with a striking set of original rock that featured one of the best rock vocalists that we’ve heard in a long while. With meaty riffs and surging rhythms, as well as a series of red hot guitar leads and breaks, they were the perfect act to open the festival and won justifiable acclaim from the already decently sized audience who had turned up at the beginning.
From there, it was the turn of Judas Priest tribute band Junior Priest, for whom crowd numbers swelled quite considerably. Sounding more confident as a band than at any time I’ve heard them in the past and with front-man Murray being the consummate Rob Halford, they had the audience gripped by the throat from the start as they proceeded to unleash in the east 75 minutes of Classic Judas Priest covers, with Murray in top vocal form and the two guitarists providing this electrifying sea of riffs and solos, over a rhythm section that kept it all driving on. With "Hell Bent For Leather" and "Breaking The Law" just two of the songs that they made sound positively fresh, vibrant and outstandingly "now" the band didn’t put a foot wrong and won a rapturous round of applause from the crowd throughout the set – a headline slot beckons later in the year, me thinks!!
Up next were Aberdeen’s Estrella, providing a more varied mix of solid rock, their own takes on AOR and some consistently sound commercial metal. With the songs tending to lift off rather than drill holes in you, they played a more melodic metal that could really see them gaining acceptance from a much wider audience nationwide than just the rock community. With band and vocalist on great form, theirs was the most varied set of the day.
Shotgun Libido our first Dundee act of the day, they played a set that really smoked. I wouldn’t say that they were anything akin to the Classic Rock style that the event is all about, but they more than acquitted themselves and gained warm acceptance from an audience that didn’t know what they are all about. Playing a furious brew of rock that mixes sleaze-rock with a sizzling punk approach, they launched into each and every song like a missile, with their lead vocalist really commanding the attention of the audience, as the songs positively blasted out of the PA. That the band is hot enough and good enough to figure on a bill from Classic Rock to punk, is a mark of just how wide-ranging their appeal could be if they could find a greater consistency of writing.
There was a serious buzz of expectancy going around before Dundee’s SAZ came on stage, and it’s a credit to the band, and my Mermaid Rock partner, bassist Marina, that they did not disappoint, playing a set that won rousing applause after each and every number. With vocalists Amy and Nicola clearly audible through the excellent PA system, they roared through "Destiny", powered through their anthem "Gotta Get A Grip", and delivered a smoking set that could do no wrong, and showed that they remain the most potentially commercial mix of punk and metal that the Dundee Scene has to offer, as well as being, visually, the most striking stage band of the event.
Core, the fastest rising band on the Dundee rock and metal arena and they played a rip-roaring set, despite sounding a tad nervous on the opening number. This trio play a steamhammer set of raging rock that has its feet in the classics of the seventies to the nineties, while sounding for all the world as being completely contemporary as far as modern metal goes. They have this flair for writing songs fuelled by some of the most addictive riffs around, the vocals ranging from menacing to a positive roar as they deliver excellently arranged real songs with enthusiasm, energy and electrifying effect, the whole band whipping up a tight and flowing storm of a set.
Atttica Rage came on stage and gave us the closest thing to a 70’s styled set of original tracks that we could have hoped to have witnessed. The band started as they meant to go on with a twin guitar attack that didn’t let up until the final notes had gone. With a strong and attention-grabbing lead vocalist/guitarist, the band delivered solid song after solid song, complete with a wicked series of leads and solos throughout. Sometimes sounding a bit like Molly Hatchet without the "Suvvern" influences, only way heavier, they provided a set that was unfamiliar to most of the audience there, whose numbers had remained consistent since the early part of the day and which now were increasing markedly as the afternoon was wearing on, that this audience greeted what they did with huge enthusiasm, is a mark to just what a seriously great band they are.
Final act of the "daytime" events – even though it’s now 7.30 in the evening – were Edinburgh’s fiery metal quartet from Edinburgh, Firebrand Super Rock. Fronted by the amazonian Laura Donnelly, whose vocal just powered through the songs to jaw-dropping effect, the band gave us an absolutely blistering set of heavy metal thunder and won over a whole ton of new admirers from the audience, again most of whom hadn’t seen the band play before. Their no-holds barred cauldron of Classic Rock & Metal songs took everyone by surprise and won rapturous rounds of applause as the rhythm section went positively nuclear under the eruption of guitar riffs and solos, topped by the stirring and attention-grabbing voice of Ms Donnelly – a perfect end to a nigh-on perfect day of the best that Scottish rock and metal has to offer.
But it wasn’t over yet – not by any means!
The UK’s number 1 Iron Maiden tribute band, Maiden Scotland, kicked things off in the evening with a shortened 70 minute set (they will play the full 2 hour+ set when they headline at Hustlers on 10th May) and by now the place was jam packed with metal fans, many of whom were upfront for the whole of the Maiden performance which saw them deliver a scorching set of classic metal anthems, and at many times during the set, you really did think that they were as good as, even better than, the current band. Choosing a wide variety of songs from the entire Maiden career, they could do no wrong to an audience, of which, whose energy they positively lapped up, to give back one unforgettable set of anthemic metal and roaring rock, as familiar as it was exciting, the band red hot and the singer on fire – you couldn’t argue with a single note!
To separate the two tribute bands, we thought that original band 15 Times Dead would fit neatly between Maiden Scotland and last act Volts. We were right! They came on stage and erupted into this supercharged set of searing metal that owed more to the mighty Metallica than anything, only without the thrash of the early band and without the sweetness of the later band, instead substituting these for a far more directly heavy metal approach, with guitars blazing and fierce vocals commanding the attention of the vast audience, song after song. That a lot of the audience elected to remain headbanging at the front of the after the Maiden set, was a testament to just how highly regarded and red hot in action, this band undoubtedly is.
Final act of the event were Volts, Scotland’s top AC/DC tribute band and over a faultless 2 hour set, they provided the perfect AC/DC performance and I have to say that I love the vocals of the lead singer as much if not more than the original band singers, as he tends to deliver a more solid, slightly less high-register, less "throat-treading" performance that fitted each and every song to a tee. That they played a blinder from start to finish, that "Angus" provided the expected sea of all-time classic electric guitar riffs and leads, and that they had the entire audience on its feet and rocking along with them, was a justification of the high quality of the band’s performance and the huge enjoyment they convey in each and every audience in front of whom they play.
With DJ Andy H keeping the momentum and the atmosphere going before, between and after the bands had played, as he spun series after series of spellbinding Classic Rock tracks, the event proved to be a complete success from the points of view of all concerned. Marina practically got a standing ovation at the end, while people were coming up with mile-wide smiles and shaking our hands in congratulations. It really doesn’t come much better than this, but of course, this is just the beginning. But it put Mermaid Rock Promotions firmly on the map as an organiser of Classic Rock & Metal events that the audience out there can know and trust to be every bit the enjoyable night out that any rock fan could hope to have – and you can’t say fairer than that!