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Make Notes Make Plans

Playing only their second ever gig, Hartlepool's Make Notes, Make Plans provided a thoroughly enjoyable half hour of instrumental... dare I say it... I'm not sure... sorry... argh, EMO.

There, I've said it.

I don't mean like the rubbish boy band pop-metal that Kerrang! calls emo these days, I mean the "post-emo indie rock" of the mid nineties like Clarity era-Jimmy Eat World, like Mineral and like Braid.

Hints of Explosions In The Sky and Death Cab For Cutie in there too, but all instrumental, which was a little bit of a shame as a few subtle vocal passages could have had a really positive impact.

It's early days, but on this showing Make Notes Make Plans are on the verge of creating some manifold treats.

Brian Higgins

One man with his guitar, his harmonica and his voice. Quite a contrast to the rest of the line up down at "Sumo On Tour" at The Lobby, but a very welcome addition to the line up.

A strong Bob Dylan influence is clearly evident in Brian's songs, but for me there's also a touch of Bruce Springsteen with maybe a hint of Ryan Adams in there too.

At times, the tracks sounded like stripped down versions of full band songs in the vein of Lucero or Drive By Truckers; perhaps a hammond organ, a drummer and a bass player could be just what B.

Higgins needs to get the best out of his laid-back, booze-soaked, country-tinged numbers.

Move Girl Move

One day, I'm going to turn up to see Move Girl Move and they're going to be one of the best bands I've ever seen.

Today, I turned up to see Move Girl Move and they were, well, they were alright. The last song of their set was an absolute beauty and emphasised just how much potential this young Saltburn quartet have.

Playing the kind of spazzy post-punk that you'd normally associate with Washington DC rather than East Cleveland, MGM show moments of true genius especially on guitar where Bruce Hobson shines with his Dischord style riffage, reminiscent of Sunderland's This Aint Vegas at their best.

Give them time and maybe a little bit of TLC and I'm sure they'll deliver some thoroughly splendid results.

A Thousand Battles Lost

Yes they've got the tight jeans. Yes they've got THOSE fringes. But when the music is this good, it really doesn't matter.

The Lobby was packed from front to back and there were people queuing down the stairs, all desperate to get inside the ridiculously hot venue to be a part of a very special performance from a very special band.

Not only was it packed, but the crowd were justifiably going off the hook.

A Thousand Battles Lost do that whole "dugga dugga WUGH!" metal-core thing far better than everybody else is doing it these days and although it鈥檚 fairly generic and was being done much better almost ten years ago (kids, track down The Opposite Of December by Poison The Well and Petitioning the Empty Sky by Converge), these Teesside youngsters defy their age with musicianship which quite frankly leaves me feeling a tad inadequate.

Mind blowing guitar riffs, pounding bass and some of the best drumming you鈥檙e likely to see from a 鈥渓ocal鈥� band. This is what the edge of your seat was made for.

Shigeru

The band appeared onstage got the instruments ready and then came the music, tearing out of the PA, and the room exploded with people cheering and dancing.

Shigeru have really got a good grip on their audience and played every track the people wanted to hear, even new songs, 'Who will Guard the Guards', 'A single word Lullaby' and 'Blade to Blade' were greeted with the same enthusiasm as their other well known material.

No one was left unsatisfied; the small room was a mass of bodies eager to watch Shigeru and even the immense heat in the room didn鈥檛 stop people staying to watch.

The energy from the band and the audience made for a truly entertaining evening and it was a shame to only have a half hour in the company of such an awesome band.

Shigeru will go far.

Reviewers: Henry Carden, Mark Thompson