Messina / Remember The Hurricanes / Patriot Other / Morain

It's time for another Two By Four night at The Hop in Wakefield, but this time it has been taken over by the local roller derby team, the Wakey Wheeled Cats, for their third fundraiser. Funds from tonight's sale of tickets, merchandise, tombola and cookies all goes to the not-for-profit league. All bands tonight are from the Wakefield area too, so it's a real local get together...



Morain start off the bill early with some alternative indie rock, with an interesting mix of complicated duelling guitar riffs and fast drum fills. 'Comfortable Now' and 'Did To Dead Lines' could have an indie / emo taste to them, I can sense a little bit of Alien Ant Farm in the latter track too. A great start to the musical line up.



Patriot Other now bring some experimental rock to the fold with a comical front man in the shape of Dean Austerfield (he has just won a cut and blow dry, not much use to him (see photos!). Shifting from soft intricate guitar noises to full on metal riffs this band are just fantastic, really tight and great fun to watch. 'Don't Throw Away' is a great tune.



The crowd tonight seems to have a constant flow about it. Some people may leave but new faces arrive, ensuring a constant crowd for all the bands here. Remember The Hurricanes are up next, and the crowd are quite large for these. Singer Ben Brenthall has put this night on for nothing to support the roller derby cause, resulting in a mosh pit full of sporty girls down at the front! That's what every band wants (even the female ones, come on!). These local lads manage to mix 80's pop styles and indie with 90's techno beats using a live band set up, it's really interesting to hear. The aptly named 'Waiting For The Weekend' is a great example of this.



Last but by no means least are Messina, a band with a huge amount of Wakey music calibre. Ex members of Milloy, Dugong, Everyone Must Die and countless other praised local bands have come together to produce a sound with at times the riffs of RATM, but wiit it's feet securely in the genres of prog rock, funk, and alternative rock.

Guitarist Ray Tovey is on top form tonight, cracking a joke about wanting to win Labyrinth on DVD (the winner of this prize does actually give him it at the end). The rest of the band members are as tight as always, keeping the trippy time signatures and complicated riffs and beats all wrapped tightly together.

Singer Matt Broadbent has a tendency to start a mosh pit all to himself, with a few brave souls trying to move with him, but coming nowhere near to releasing the energy he has built up. 'Spilt Your Heart With An Arrow' stands out as their first single, but personally it's the heavy edge of 'Arrows' that I recommend.

The night is a success in every way; the Cats raised the most money yet for their roller derby 'kitty', the bands looked to have a blast as did the crowd and the cookies went down a storm. I can't wait for the next one.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.