EUGENE SPEED + ACER2nd March 2000Again another one of the big/small bands were in town, a band who have already received Radio 1 airplay with their previous single and were now promoting their second release as part of a 35 date UK tour. Thursday 2nd March saw East Anglian trio Eugene Speed arrive in Peterborough, the first night of their tour. I managed to arrive early, and the interior of the club had revolved 90 degrees to the right, which increases the floor space by nearly three fold. As always at CWNN there are some really great support acts to be seen, the majority of whom are local, though there has been the odd one or two from out of town. Acer were in attendance that night and have been kicking round the local scene for around a year, their fanbase is growing and once again they impressed me with their self-penned material. The last time I managed to see them was last year when they were just starting out, vocalist Damien has got stronger since then, and their set list has grown stronger, with a lot of their material being fast and furious though played with sheer passion. Lead guitarist Dave Smith was once again brilliant with his virtuoso playing, pulling out more effects than Jonny Greenwood! Good work fellas. Eugene Speed are a trio consisting of three guys, Gary on guitar and lead vocals, Dan on bass and vocals and Stuart, drummer and vocalist. Eugene Speed subjected the 150+ audience to a crunching set, with material based on their lives and experiences they have met, promoting their new single ‘Get Me Through This’. The track has earned mixed reviews in all of the leading music papers. One pet hate I have of writing this page, or talking to people about these bands, is to try to describe their style of play. Put it this way, every band has their own distinctive style of playing, and yes on occasions you can hear a few similarities between them and who may have been their idols when starting out, but these musicians aren't rip off merchants like some of those multi-million selling album artistes. What I and many others heard that night were pure guitar fuelled tunes. Some really powerful songs often driven by the bass guitar, though not too heavy but enough to say that they were upbeat, supported by some melodic lines and, though I hate to do it, they were a little (only a little) bit reminiscent to The Jam. A few bum notes were dropped by Dan, though as the tour goes on these mistakes will disappear, and will be tighter than a ferret's backside! With a strong set that kept everybody interested, Eugene Speed failed to let anybody down; their name and presence in Peterborough was felt by all and it surely won't be long till they climb to the highest rung on the ladder. Peterborough Live. |