Not only was Warp Riders a breakaway album for The Sword in terms of their musical style, but the sci-fi narrative within the album itself looked inwardly at the band capturing the stresses of their biggest and longest tour to date. Cabin fever seemed to spill over during the original opening tour dates to this album, and these stresses resulted in the departure of drummer Trivett Wingo. He has since said that there could be a time that he will return to the band, but not for a few years. Previously to Wingo’s departure, The Sword played a different gig in London at The Barfly, and oddly enough, current tour support Gentlemans Pistols were a part of that earlier bill. Many of those in attendance for tonight’s event may well have found themselves wondering if perhaps The Sword should have chosen someone else.
Turbogeist (1/5) are a strange bunch of lads, and tonight it doesn’t seem like they are having such a good time. Throughout their set they battle with annoying feedback, malfunctioning amps, and broken guitars: “everything about today has been shambolic” notes guitarist Jimmy Jagger. His laid-back, self-deprecating swagger ironically injects confidence into the band, who perform a mix of 70s rock and 80s punk with a pop twist. Sing-a-long choruses adorn a thick sounding 3-guitar onslaught, yet some of the finer moments of tracks such as “Song For North Korea” are lost within the manic and sometimes loose delivery. On the whole, their performance was rather lacklustre, despite some cheers from the crowd.
Gentlemans Pistols (4/5) however, are anything but lacklustre. Beaming with charisma and consistent retro flamboyancy, the four-piece from Leeds take to the stage with bassist Douglas McLaughlan sipping a heavy dose of what looks like Tia Maria. In their own words they “are a rock band who play rock music”, and it is a simple as that. What sets them apart from bands such as Firebird – whose guitarist Bill Steer also plays in Gentlemans Pistols – is the overall stage presence. These guys just want to party and jam out those rock licks in a sexy-swing-time kind of way. Countless times through the set, guitarist James Atkinson would set about trying to seduce his other band mates, joining them for a quick bit of banter in between verses. The band are just about to release their latest album At Her Majesty’s Pleasure, so the crowd are provided the opportunity to hear some of the new material live in the form of “Some Girls Don’t Know What’s Good For Them” and “Sherman Tank”, with the latter’s hypnotic and long-winding riff dominating the track. It isn’t surprising The Sword invited these guys back – by about a third of the way through their set it is clear that The Sword and Gentlemans Pistols probably have a lot of musical influences in common, and the Pistols‘ set hints at the lighter moments of Warp Riders. They have all the tones and stage presence of yesteryear’s equally bell-bottomed bands, and could well be Leeds’ possible answer to, well The Answer.
I honestly wondered if the recent difficulties within The Sword (4/5) would be evident from the band’s on-stage performance. Tonight’s gig is the last date of the rescheduled Euro tour which should have happened back in December, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the band were looking tired or even slightly relieved that it was all over. Well, to look at guitarist Kyle Shutt performing, you would think that this was the first leg of that tour. I don’t recall J.D Cronise ever being too extroverted whilst onstage. He is a more methodical guitarist, delivering the riffs for Shutt’s solos – a bit like the Hetfield/Hammett partnership if you will. But Shutt seems to be ready for anything as he hammers out the solos during the set.
It seems at first as if the band are going to treat the audience to the whole ofWarp Riders, as they immediately played the first three tracks from the album. But instead the set mostly consisted of a combination of cuts from Warp Ridersand the band’s full-length debut, Age Of Winters. Of course, one of the biggest cheers on the night occurred during “Freya” – the track that first introduced many of the people here to the band in the first place, as it did for myself. Without doubt the tracks that work the best are from those two albums, with only “How Heavy This Axe” and “To Take the Black” working their way into the setlist from Gods Of The Earth. It is an almost faultless set, full of precision riffs and duelling solos, and the crowd are eager to shout their appreciation. In hindsight, it is plain to see why the band chose to change direction, and it seems to be working well for them right now.
[Originally published on Onemetal]
