Review of

“Spaced Out”

On: Saturday 09/09/06

At: The Grebe, Great Holm, Milton Keynes

By: Gaby

As this was my first chance to have a listen to this long standing and much reputed Milton Keynes based band, my expectations were running quite high and overall I really quite enjoyed myself, listening to a wide variety of rock, indie and pop covers.

Now wait one minute. Did I just say “pop” covers!? Yes, you heard correctly. “Spaced Out” are an interesting act to say the least. Their band name might bring to mind a set of Prog Rock classics, but you would be very much mistaken. Though predominantly their set is “rock” focussed and I truly believe “rock” lies in the belly of the beast so to say, their musical set is probably as wide and as varied as any band I have seen for a considerable amount of time. Their music comes thick and fast across a wide musical spectrum with something from the likes of Alice Cooper, Feeder, Queen, Elvis, Green Day, Rolling Stones,Thin Lizzy, Billy Idol and dare I say Ronan Keeting to name but a few!

Now if I’m to be perfectly honest (and I usually am) the Indie and Pop tunes don’t fit as comfortably in my ears as the usual sort of noise I consistently seem to bombard and abuse them with, but this was actually quite an enjoyable evening and the band’s varied set list certainly seemed to go down well with the large pub crowd in attendance.

Dexter on lead guitar gave one hell of a fine performance justifying in my mind at least that out of only a handful of what I would call really good guitarists in the Milton Keynes area, he most certainly is one of them. On Rhythm Guitar and Lead Vocals was Simon who drove proceedings along nicely, together with Baz on Bass and Backing Vocals who I felt put in a strong and rock solid Bass performance and lastly but certainly not least was Paul on Drums who delivered a fine, solid and dependable set of beats.

As far as sound goes I did feel that at times the vocals came across a bit on the harsh side but this may have been due to PA and/or environment as much as anything else.

Overall the sound was not that bad, but could have been better if the vocals came though as well as the instruments did. Unfortunately at times the vocals were almost drowned out, which is a pity as Simon has a unique, dynamic and interesting voice and tone for a rock outfit such as this.

I also must say that at times the songs seemed to finish all too quick and hard. They are certainly a tight band but sometimes being too quick to finish a number can seem a bit abrasive and does not help to justify the song nor their obvious talents.

Overall this was a good pub covers band with just enough of the hard stuff to appeal to hard core rock fans and more popular stuff to appeal to the young, trendy and boozy. You most certainly can’t please everyone but I believe “Spaced Out” do a very good job at trying to do just that. They are engaging and approachable and most of all look like they are having some fun and not taking themselves all too seriously, which at the end of the day is what it’s all about. Add to this some good all round performances with some real gems of songs and what you have is a good live outfit.

So have this band boldly gone where no band has gone before? Well perhaps they just might. Their set list is certainly a brave and ambitious one. As to where they have gone, I’m really not quite sure but it was enough to put a smile on my face and a tap of my shoe.

Thanks chaps for a fun night out.