Last Man Standing are playing their first ever gig as a band tonight and as yet have no recorded work available to wrap our ears around. If this conjures an image of a ramshackle performance in front of their mums than you couldn’t be further from the truth. They may be third on the bill tonight but they can easily claim to have pulled in a majority of the crowd (of a full house) interested in seeing these local boys new project. It’s fair to say no-one left disappointed.
From the ashes of melodic rock band Curvy Nature, Chris Taylor (vocals and guitar) and Darren Hudson (lead guitar and backing vocals) are now joined by Al Rainbow (bass and top name) and Dave Plankhurst (drums). They have retained the best aspects of their previous band, namely their winning way with a melody and songs that heard once take up residence in your brain but the new blood and clean slate has meant a harder edge. And they’re all the better for it.
First song ‘Weekend Love Affair’ sets their stall out nicely. By turns subtle and harmonious yet quick to leap into hard riffing it’s a refreshing twist on the quiet / loud dynamic. Chris Taylors voice is built for soulful pop and creates a nice contrast to the harder edged guitar work. Al provides a solid and subtly funky backbone coupled with Dave’s excellent drumming. On first glance The drummer didn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat such is his restrained way with the sticks, but by listening to his fills and energetic work this is obviously a façade.
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The real joy to behold however is the smiles that appear on the bands faces. When they launch into the heavier sections that tells you all you need to know about how good this feels as well as sounds. The energy coming off the stage is palpable and contagious. By the end of third song ‘She Said’ the crowd is with them all the way. Even when Chris construes to break both his guitar and vocal effect, an event that could see a band fall apart especially at their first real gig, they recover brilliantly with an impromptu jam. By the time they finish with a cover of Supergrass’ ‘Richard III’ it’s been a triumphant start to what we can only hope will be an interesting and successful journey.
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