Red Stripe Music Award 2010
Reading, Purple Turtle
12/03/2010

The folk at Red Stripe towers have spent the last couple of months jettisoning their way across the country in a haze of sticky floors and sweaty crowds, all in the name of championing the unsigned heroes of music. A worthwhile task indeed, but by no means an easy one; there is always the chance of finding some diamonds in the rough, but the vaster the amount of rough the harder it becomes to sift those little shiners out.

Nowhere could have demonstrated this better than Reading’s guitar-band heavy, testosterone-fuelled leg of Red Stripe Music Award. From the hundreds of bands who applied for the chance to showcase their talents, the chosen selection for tonight might all be in the guitar driven indie-rock – except for some metal rackets, anyway - mould, but the gig is by no means a disappointment.

First up, Johnny Arrow & The Cheap Day Returns serve for more than pleasant listening, their tight, perfectly timed instrumentals combining with chirpy vocals and toe-twitching riffs, leaving The Fly with a much-needed feeling of summery-bliss. It’s a feeling which is brutally hung drawn and quartered by adolescent angst-ridden metal band Clockwork, who labour in the mistaken belief that inane throaty screams passes as music. Thankfully a level of karma is returned to the room by Ravens In Paris, who work a 60’s look and a 90’s sound reminiscent of Supergrass in their heyday, but with a sprinkling of Foo Fighters thrown in for good measure.

The Britpop theme is continued by Sevasa, who receive noisy support from their fans in the crowd, although it’s hard to see why, as they deliver a sound as worn-out and dated as Jane Fonda’s leotard. Penultimate band Attention Thieves, meanwhile, fight admirably against appalling sound quality to deliver a blistering unadulterated rock’n'roll set. Unfortunately, Young Lust ended things on a much less original note, their traditional style well executed but at times not dissimilar to a Guns N’ Roses cover-act.

All in all, the Reading leg of Red Stripe Music Award isn’t without its highlights, but with such a diverse live music scene, Reading could have offered up some rarer gems.

Esther Press