Live Review

The Amazing Snakeheads – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow

• 22nd Nov 2011

Young Glasgow band The Amazing Snakeheads gave a large audience a taste of what they can do last night with a blistering set of fast paced rock.

This was billed as a No Phone Show, and all electronic devices were indeed confiscated at the door. The idea was to have an old style gig – just the performers and the audience – and the gimmick worked well.

First up was Tragic O’Hara, who performed a nice acoustic set that showcased his strong voice well. Preaching To The Choir was a highlight, a good song delivered with style. For his final track he dropped the tuning on his acoustic guitar and sampled a riff before adding some very nice bottleneck guitar work to end his short set on a high.

Andrea Marini also played an acoustic set, accompanied by Simon Shaw on double bass. He has a nice tone to his voice although many of the tracks were rather downbeat. Children started slowly and built nicely while the melancholy You Don’t Know What Love Is was perhaps the highlight.

The Amazing Snakeheads took to the stage after a short break. The young three piece band doesn’t waste too much time interacting with the audience, preferring to let their music do the talking. And right from the start they played hard and fast.

Combining old time rock n roll with the speed and energy of punk they have created a refreshingly different sound. It may be rough around the edges at times, but there is no doubting the dynamism and commitment in the performance.

The opening Testifying Time set the tone. It’s a short song based on crunching guitar chords, pounding bass and drums and screamed lyrics. Guitarist and lead singer Dale has an animated, in your face style that is manic and expressive, and of course extremely entertaining.

On several songs the guitar wasn’t used much, leaving the bass, played well by William, as the lead instrument backed by the crashing drums from Jordon. This created a heavy sound that complemented the vocals well, and the menacing edge created on tracks such as Where Is My Knife was both dramatic and effective.

There was some good lead guitar work on show too. Not the extended solos of some rock bands but short bursts of frenetic, high sounds over crashing snare drums and the ever present pounding bass. And there were a couple of instrumental tracks on show too. The closing Beautiful End displayed a slightly softer side to the band’s music – but only for a minute or so before they exploded into the big finish.

The Amazing Snakeheads have an approach to music that is unusual and exciting. It will be interesting to see how the band matures and whether they can continue to build their following with more thrilling live shows.

If you are close to Glasgow, they will be playing the same venue on both 13th and 28th December. Get yourself along and experience something just a bit different.