Daxx & Roxane / Dirty Sound Magnet / Last Of The Misfit Heroes
The Asylum 2 Birmingham 5/12/21
Live review by; DeeDee
Upstairs at the Asylum 2 in Birmingham for three bands tonight. A co-headline tour by Daxx & Roxane as they have paired up with fellow Swiss band The Dirty Sound Magnet. South London based The Last Of The Misfit Heroes are also playing, they’ve been added at the last minute, what a bonus. Before the start, I catch up with the Daxx guys, who also live in London at the moment and meet the Last Of The Misfit Heroes, who are a really friendly bunch.
Last Of The Misfit Heroes - Since their inception in 2019, this 3 piece have been steadily moving up the ranks of the current live scene. Having a post/punk style with originality and consistency, they came to my attention after listening to their debut EP ‘Misfit Misplaced’. Earlier this year saw the release of their first long player ‘Hope For The Hopeless’ which has 10 tracks that symbolise some of the political views and social awareness that the band aim to get across. After the opener ‘Play Dead’ the bass of Andrew Jackman leads into ‘Misfit Misplaced’ a whirling of angry noise that protests with harsh appeal and grabs you by the jugular. ‘Pieces’ stammers into being and the bass is a main factor again. Steve Catt on vocals and guitar, takes to the mic and as this one flows, the room, despite being sparsely covered, has heads nodding in appreciation. ‘Dead Behind The Eyes’ is massively chunky and simply bangs along. I do like ‘When My Empire Falls’ which appears on both EP & LP. The guitar licks are superb, quickly entering your ear and staying firm. The same can be said with ‘Creating A Monster’ a charming piece of music with a rousing spirit and the drums from Chris Catt are a menacing force. After the racy punk of ‘Pulling Punches’ they finish on ‘Wake Up Call’ which is probably their most strident number and the one most popular on radio shows. Is it harder to perform to a meagre audience than a packed venue, you wouldn’t know with the Last Of The Misfit Heroes as they gave it their all tonight. Chatting again at the bar afterwards, they were so generous, handing me a T-shirt and Beanie. Thank you guys.
Daxx & Roxane - It’s been a few months since I last saw one of my favourite bands Daxx & Roxane. It was just before the first lockdown, before the unknown storm of Covid 19. Changing the set every night is a Daxx standard, but they still open with ’Ticket To Rock’, the firestorm track is a great one to get the audience warmed up. The Sammy Hagar number ‘Heavy Metal’ that was written for the movie, Heavy Metal (Takin A Ride) comes up next, gosh these guys do have a decent range of musical tastes.
The stage at the Asylum is a bit small for guitarists Cal and Simon to run and jump around as per usual, but it doesn’t prevent Cal from nearly falling into a monitor on one occasion, he cannot help leaping about. Actually the chaotic movement on stage is one of the things us fans love about Daxx & Roxane.
A couple from the last eponymous titled album, the mood swinging and bluesy, ’Strange Woman’ with its stack of catchy ‘Whoas’ and then the delicate chords and vocals of ‘Heal’ which frontman and bassist Cedric handles so finely.
Back to the first album ’Ticket To Rock’ for a few favourites and the band are on maximum power mode now. ‘Hard Rockin’ Man’ and ‘Wild Child’ are fast and furious songs with piles of stomp and heavy pounding from Luca on drums. The obligatory cover of Mr Wonders ’Superstition’ is followed by the down and gritty ‘Lust And Love’ and the Asylum audience are rocking on their feet. ‘Good Vibes’ and there are always plenty, finishes the set and it’s yet another winning performance.
Dirty Sound Magnet - A trio made up of guitarist and vocalist Stavros Dazodzos, Marco Mottolini on bass and drummer Maxime Cosandey. Dirty Sound Magnet are from Fribourg in Switzerland and play last on stage tonight. Having never heard of these before, I didn’t know what to expect from Dirty Sound Magnet. I have seen a fair amount of bands over the years, but even so, I was a little unprepared for what was to come. They are exceptionally progressive and experimental and play with a large amount of effects, especially on the pedals, so the overall type of sound is one I haven’t heard for many a year. Meeting Frank Zappa, Perry Farrell and Steve Hillage after a year in solitary, would probably amount to the same level of arty and psychedelic paranoia. But you know what, after a couple of songs I was totally getting it. ‘USA LSD BNB HIV’ is off the ’Transgenic’ album and eerie vocals are mixed with turbulent guitar and reverberating bass. ‘Cash Cow Superstar’ is more subdued and it’s hard not to be transfixed with how Stavros swings and holds his head in tune to the music. Also from the ‘Western Lies’ record, ‘Sophisticated Dark Ages’ has a haunting chime of an introduction, slowly growing into a bass focused fusion. Marco certainly knows how to handle his bass, he’s left to perform a solo more than once and his ability is so amazing, you just drool.
One that definitely stood out was ‘Social Media Boy’ howling backing vocals and a pulse off the grid, it has bags of charm and I love how it got so enthralling, building and building into a massive crescendo. ‘The Poet And His Prophet’ was even more intense and innovative. Apart from the effects pedals and slide guitar, I was told Maxime also uses a Theremin, so that explains how the level of electronic vibes and feedback were increased to the utmost. Avant garde, inventive and unorthodox, Dirty Sound Magnet are something you have to see to believe. I managed to get a few of the songs from the set off Stavros afterwards to help compile this review, although many they performed were new and previously untried, which sums them up really.
If you want to escape from your comfort zone and be taken into another dimension, I would recommend these wholeheartedly.
A Sunday night in Brum and it was a brilliant night, so entertaining and enlightening. Lovely to see the Daxx & Roxane boys, who are always so happy to see you and meeting the Last Of The Misfit Heroes who were so charming.
#rockmediauk #daxxandroxane #dirtysoundmagnet #lastofthemisfitheroes #asylum2birmingham #switzerland #progressive #sammyhagar #livemusic #livereview #bluesrock #swissrock