Miocene - live review @ The Charlotte, Leicester, England (19/07/2001)

I was, once again, looking forward to this gig. Ever since I first managed to see Miocene, I have looked forward to their return and another opportunity to watch the splendour of their live performance. But before then, we had two other bands playing tonight.

First up were a band called Product Of A Fall, who to be honest, I hadn't heard of before. Their first song was a run-of-the-mill rapcore style number and I have to admit to thinking "here we go again, just another rock band with talky vocals". However, as their set progressed, so did my impression of them as they produced a good varied assortment of songs, covering different styles and influences. On more than one occasion during their thirty minutes, I found myself quite impressed and by the time they had finished I was convinced that they have something to offer. They certainly didn't seem short of confidence, particularly the vocalist who seemed to be taking himself a little too seriously with maybe too much self-assurance? Anyway, they were not too bad at all and worth catching live.

The main support was Porcelain Roach, a band that I had come across on the recent Copro Records 'Cop-Out' compilation CD with a track called "Shimmer Man". They are definitely more on the melodic side of rock with some outstanding vocals and nicely written songs. "We're Porcelain Roach and we're not your average stompy stompy growl sort of band..." announced the vocalist at the end of the first song, casting down a gauntlet to the moshers in the pit.

A mix of styles, sitting somewhere between heavy indie, grunge and hard rock with a modern twist and often reminding me of what a heavier Pearl Jam, stripped of ego and dragged into the new order of metal, might just sound like. Elements to impress were the vocals throughout, with excellent harmony and tune that was professionally maintained (utilising what looked like earphone monitors) regardless of how heavy or mellow the songs were. I think this band show an awful lot of promise and I will be very interested to see how they progress (and like a fool, I didn't pick up a copy of their demo! Doh!).

And so to cap off a night of splendid music, it's Miocene. This is their first headlining tour of the UK and they are out to impress and that is just what they did... There is probably little more that I can say that I haven't already said about this lot. They are just such a good band producing some extremely intense and heavy songs, which are always played passionately with so much power and energy it's no wonder the band are so emotionally drained at the end of the gig.

Despite a few problems with a mass of white stage lights that were frying the band alive (and had to be turned off two songs into the set) and tuning, the gig was excellent. Apparently, those naughty boys had been drinking and smoking an awful lot during the day and that makes it all the more difficult to tune instruments. They played a set that contained the core of the songs from their mini-album (Refining The Theory - Infernal 7CD) and included Free Reign, Pure, 9mm High & Rising, Shine and Fits Like That but which also included a new song called Sustained Reaction, dedicated to everyone that came to see them last time on the Sunna tour.

Unfortunately, the record company had let them down by neglecting to supply any CD's for them to sell on tour (which was a shame for those that don't own their album, as it's a gem). However, on a more positive side, there is news that there maybe an EP released later this year with all their stranger moments on it (most likely on Infernal), which will give us new material to look forward to.

After 47 minutes of witnessing a band that have such engaging presence and play so well together as a unit, the overall effect was very impressive and highly enjoyable. The only slight disappointment being that I was unable to locate Ben after the gig to have a chat. The rest of the band said he'd gone off to melt somewhere (oh yes, it was very hot) and as he wasn't anywhere obvious, I thought I'd give him his space rather than hunt him down. It was a shame, because I would of loved to shake his hand and say thanks. Oh well, maybe next time and I really look forward to seeing those guys again, next time...

Rigsby

Note: My damn camera messed up and I ended up with all my pictures on two over-exposed photo's (the film wasn't winding on). That was a real bastard as I'd taken a lot of pictures and got some quality shots (as well as the end of my Earthtone9 shoot being on the same film). I was furious and the camera is history!