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Battle of the band competitions – genuine career opportunity or an admission that the only recognition your band’s destined for lies in the votes of local radio DJs: discuss.
When I was approached about coming to review The Volantes, I agreed straight away - I'll give anyone a go, me. Then our mutual contact enthusiastically added that they'd just won a local battle of the bands competition. And there's the dilemma. Does Tin Can do bands that enter these things? Am I risking the shame and humiliation of my new friends and colleagues by even turning up? Will I be cast out from the Tin Can team before we've even really got going? Well, Volantes, if I am, then I did it for you!
The Volantes are Mike, Pete, Dave and Tristan (vocals, guitar, bass and drums respectively). Five years into their life as The Volantes, they enter and win a battle of the bands shebang organised by Manchester's Key 103 radio station, first prize in which is a slot at Manchester's Hard Rock Café, which might then lead to a regular slot. And these days, that, my friends, sounds like a decent bit of business to me. Can any band honestly say that given the choice, they'd really rather play to 4 people standing at the bar of some hyper-cool indie venue? Don't get me wrong - I'm all for artistic integrity and all that, but that means jack if no-one's hearing you.
Now, if I'm being absolutely honest, you're probably not going to read, see or hear a lot about bands like The Volantes on a website like Tin Can. A quick peep at their MySpace page prior to the gig betrays some worrying signs. Exhibit A - the title of a song called 'Woke Over Hung Up'. Exhibit B - the opening line of said song; "I woke up this morning with my trousers round my ankles..." They trail themselves as a mix of blues, indie and rock but the reality is that the emphasis is on the rock. As in foot on the monitors, widdling guitar solo, husky vocal rawk. But hell, isn't this the point of a site like Tin Can - to ignore preconceptions and go for it anyway?
So here we are at the locally legendary Witchwood. And it's packed. Properly packed. This can't just be the usual crew of mates and mums, these guys have a genuine following. And in singer Mike, they have a genuine frontman, ticking all the frontman boxes. Voice? Check. Looks? Check. Charisma? Check. They're not breaking any musical boundaries, but then they're probably not trying to, and for every musical cliché they trip out (and there are a few, especially lyrically), there are some genuine moments. 'No Way Out' breaks free from its RHCP-cribbing intro to become an anthem of the sort beloved of 30-something couples the world over. People buy this sort of stuff, you know. 'One Night' has an intro that could almost come courtesy of The Cure. 'Feeling In You', though, probably sums The Volantes up in one song; a song that encompasses so many styles that by the widdling guitar solo you're almost worn out. Feels like they're almost trying a bit too hard. That, for all their obvious ability, The Volantes don't really know what they want to be.
Not that any of this matters one bit to the gathered faithful. An irony-free (and, to be fair, why should it be ironic?) cover of Guns n' Roses' 'Sweet Child o' Mine', played almost embarrassingly early in the set is greeted exactly the same as any of the set's other offerings. And 'Woke Over Hung Up' overcomes that terrible title, and that terrible, terrible opening line to reveal a nagging hookline. People buy this stuff, you know. The Volantes aren't going to change the world. The Volantes probably aren't going to change Ashton-under-Lyne. But they're nice guys and they're doing their best and the Hard Rock Café's gonna love them. You might have every Aphex Twin release ever on limited edition fluorescent yellow vinyl. And you might have the complete set of Postcard Records releases. Twice. And you might have been to every Glastonbury festival since you were 3 years old. You know what? It doesn't make you a better person...
Tags: the volantes matt rynn 360 degrees witchwood rock music review
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