Collateral, Beth Blade and Beautiful Disasters, Pearler and Raider

Hangar 18, Swansea

Live review by; Mike S

Photos by; Mike S

A few firsts for me this weekend, I'm writing my first review, it was my first ever visit to Swansea (wow isn't the accent so much stronger than Cardiff!!) And finally the first time I have seen three of the bands tonight. I have seen Collateral a couple of times.

Chatting to the bands before the show, the general feeling was one of gratitude for being able to play to a live audience and in the green room the atmosphere was really friendly not an ego in sight, plenty of banter flying around, mostly about hair. I now know why Beth Blade and The Beautiful Disasters are called that now, as the hair straighteners came out for the Boys!! They took longer than Beth to get ready!!

So on with the show....

Raider took to the stage at 7.45pm and what a set, heads turned as the band broke through the atmospheric intro track, Aled Evans pumping the Keyboard in that classic 80s style, Mark Campbell blasting the power chords on his neon green Jackson, Stephen

Symmonds driving the beat of opener, title track of their 2020 EP Tokyo, there is no mistaking where this bands influences lie. Mike Platt's vocals are off the scale and easy to see how he did so well on the Voice (One for the bants if he's ever in the same room as Nathan James), the audience sat back a little and simply absorbed and appreciated the sheer quality of musicianship on the stage as they supped their first drinks of the night. The band literally flirting with the cameras pulling poses (especially the Bass player Johnny Winter). At one point Mike even provided the atmospheric smoke behind the lead guitarist James Went, as he has a sneaky vape. Talking about James, he had some skills with a lovely clean melodic style of playing. The band played a six-song set including the latest single Dusk til Dawn, a personal favourite of mine and got the audience on their feet and singing along with Going Down, which I felt had a bit of a Guns n Roses vibe to it, especially Mike's voice definitely taking on some Axl qualities. The set was over far too soon, as they closed the set with Give It All You Got, and they did, I think it was a first time for many of the audience, but listening to people talking, not the last. They also told me they have their debut album in the can, set for release later this year. I personally cannot wait to hear it.

Next up Pearler, before the show I wasn't sure if this was a good fit for this line up, on record they are much heavier than the rest of the bands on offer. This is what I say now..... Some bands are recording artists and some bands are born to play live. Pearler are such a band blasting onto the stage with an explosion of energy, good old full on really heavy Rock n Roll. The crowd surged forward for the local band who had played here two weeks previous. They blasted through their six-song set like an out-of-control express train driven by the formidable Wendel Kingpin with his growly vocals, opening with W.O.R.Z.E.L. Chuggage, setting out the stall for the next half an hour. Evs flitted around the stage, like he was trying to stamp out a fire, while making his guitar scream for the full set, I did become a little fixated on trying to get a clear photo of his very unusual guitar strap or him to be fair. The rhythm section of Gwary Hunt on drums and Freakster Sincity on bass (the latter with a permanent grin on his face, loving every minute) powered that train at full speed and they soon reached the end of the set with Sports Clothes Crimes. By which time I knew I had had one!! As did the rest of the audience as temperature had risen somewhat in the venue. If you see this band on a bill make sure you go see them, it's so hard to describe the experience. Such a lovely bunch of blokes too.

I disappeared up to the green room for much needed refreshments, and got chatting and forgot the time until the floor shook as Beth Blade and her Beautiful Disasters took to the stage, the crowd were at the front still and fully engaged. This set was straight up rock n Roll. With spectacular vocals and stage presence from Beth flanked by the hair straightener boys, guitarist Luke and Dan on bass and Sam on drums who kept the engine of the band rocking. They opened with the title track of their 2017 debut album Bad Habit, with its monster riffs and crowd-pleasing chorus.

Beth has this fantastic skill of making eye contact with individuals in the crowd making you feel like you are the only person in the room, which she used to great effect between songs and when using call and response on I Ain't Got Nothing (If I Ain't Got Rock n Roll). taken from the latest album, 2019's Show Me Your Teeth along with Give It All You Got and the closing track the crowd favourite Jack and Coke.

The stand out track for me in the set was the current single Sin Eater which felt a tad heavier, with a grittier vocal than the rest of the set and taken from the upcoming third album set for release later this year. How can this night get any better, three great bands so far.

Headliners Collateral are on a UK tour which they put in place to replace the postponed Dan Reed Network tour and had been on the road for a week, two nights previous Angelo had fallen off a bar stool and hurt his right wrist and back and throughout the day, we could see he was physically struggling with his wrist in particular. As soon as the opening few bars of Lullaby soared through the room all the pain seemed forgotten as he bounced to the rhythm with his arms outstretched. Lullaby came to a close like the ending of a set, really milking the audience applause. This is the first time I've seen Collateral play a full set live since they added Louis on guitar and Robert on keys, Although the latter was missing tonight. Their sound was slick with Jack and Ben on bass and drums respectively providing a tight foundation and Louis providing a platform for Todd to do what he does best, without losing any depth in the Sound.

Two guitarists with very different styles but very Ying and Yang making the perfect harmony. There were great moments of duel guitar solos too. The highlight for me was when Todd played a long solo on his white Jackson, the tone of his guitar is phenomenal and it's the perfect union of guitarist, guitar and amp, no trickery. He only uses two pedals, that I could see, a guitar tuner and I'm guessing a boost switch for the amp.

Todd took to the mic to introduce About A boy, and then we were treated to two brand new tracks No Place For Love and Sin In City, the latter showing a gutsier heavier sound and Louis taking his fair share on lead guitar. This was a band on top of their game having a great time, and then after an hours of great entertainment they came to a close with one of my favourites Merry Go Round. The crowd screamed for more, Angelo shrugged his shoulders, saying they'd played our whole catalogue, and the rest of the band left the stage. Angelo asked what to play and gave us a Beautiful acoustic rendition of Get Back To You. Meanwhile I'm half distracted thinking did I miss Can't Hold Me Down, how could I not remember them playing it?

They hadn't, the rest of the band returned to the stage informing Angelo that they had indeed missed out a track from their catalogue and sent us on our way with earworm that is Can't Hold Me Down ringing around our heads.

A brilliant night was had by all and full credit must go to the Midnight Tornado team and the venue, Matt on sound was on point. One of few venues where the sound quality on the barrier is still good, clear and balanced. We'll done everyone.