Terra in town for Glasswerk night 17/6

• 13th Jun 2004

Tonight I’m off to see Nic Armstrong support The Bees. Now obviously it’s a bit of a step down for the lad, because 10 days ago he headlined for Glasswerk London.

And damn good it was to. The biggest Glasswerk crowd of 2004 piled in to watch great sets from Kingston Road, Street Regal and The Great Statesmen before Nic got all Sixties on us.

Now a lot of you music lovers out there also love your football. Talking about you? Well, Thursday could be one of your best nights of the year. Early evening sees England take on the Swiss in Euro 2004, but that’s all over around 7 ish, and Upstairs at the Garage opens early at 7.30 so you can all pile straight in. There’s even a pub directly opposite with a big screen. What more could you ask for? Except a Rooney hat-trick…

But music nights aint much fun without good music, so it’s a good job we’re not going to let you down. As if we ever would…

Headliner: Terra (22.10)

Terra first launched on to the UK rock scene in April 2002 after a demo of her single “Bust it” was aired on the Radio 1 Rock Show by Mary-Anne Hobbs. The industry press soon picked up on her unique style, Music Week described her as Nelly Furtado meets Slayer, “her fusion of Rap-Rock is non contrived the first we’ve heard from a UK Artist”.

Touring as Natalia throughout 2002, a key moment came in October when she landed a main support slot with US punk band Goldfinger at the Garage in Islington ,London. Her incendiary live set was spotted by the industry scouts and early in 2003 she penned a contract with Sony.

BlackBox management, having previously worked with Steve Kelly, asked him if he could put a band together. Unbeknown to them, Steve had been playing lead and writing for the last year with a band called Goodman Ray.

GMR as they were fondly known, were originally formed in Swansea, South Wales circa 1999 by current bass player Andrew Barber and his brother Paul. After a move to London in 2001, they hooked up with current drummer Stephen Leach and singer Matt Clayson, working the pub and club circuit of London. This lasted until early 2003, just after recording the EP ‘Legacy for a Revolution’, when with the departure of Paul the position of GMR guitarist was vacant. This is where current guitarist extraordinaire Steve Kelly stepped in, bringing a whole new dimension to the GMR sound.

The line up blended hooky melodies with powerful riffs that gave the band an edge on the London music scene, especially when coupled with their powerful live performances. With the band not achieving the recognition they deserved it was time for a change in direction as well as a new lead singer. Terra paid an undercover visit to a GMR gig at The Dublin Castle, London, was blown away by their live set and the deal was done!

The new line up formed late in 2003,and the fusion of the two acts at their first gig was seamless, it was as if they had been together for years, a totally natural progression now known simply as “Terra”.

Support acts: Blackheart Trust (21.35), Sinister Footwear (20.55) The High Times (20.15)

This is the second Glasswerk night for The Blackheart Trust after a great performance earlier in the year. Citing influences from the Smashing Pumpkins to Elvis Costello, the band doesn’t care much for musical boundaries. They let their live performance do the talking……….. Perhaps it is more than a coincidence that on the night of an England game we have a band from the north-west with a lad called Scholes in their midst. Sinister Footwear bring their own quality brand of rock down from Blackpool on the back of support slots for Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, and with a great London following, we welcome the ‘Footwear to the big smoke………. The last time The High Times played Glasswerk London there were members of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in the crowd. They were due to play downstairs at the Garage and we think they got lost. Still they liked them enough to stick around. These south London boys are set to open the night with a great indie set.