As part of their ‘New Years Revolution’ taking place from the 3rd to 16th of January, King Tuts hosted four young upstart punk bands on the 11th, going by the names of The Gap Year Riot, Pareto, Light Guides and Young Aviators. Alex Embiricos checks out the hype…
First up were the fresh faced The Gap Year Riot, who, holding steady to their rioting gap year traditions, packed all six members on the small stage along with their deafening power chords and pounding drums. A nice uniform of checkered shirts and long fringes prevailed, whilst lead guitarist Johnny Sunshine ripped off a few short riffs and vocalist Fraser wailed away in a loud explosion of pop punk.
The second earth shakingly loud set came from Pareto, this time all clad in grey t-shirts, obviously not wanting to distract from their rhythmic guitars and the epicness of their self described ‘epic pop’. While lead singer Kunal Kapur zealously sang over the shrill guitar feedback and bouncing drums, the energy was so much that that he exhaustedly exclaimed that playing was like doing your “rockexcercises- that’s exercises for people who want to rock!” And rock they did to the hefty charm of post-punk pop goodness, the lead guitarist even throwing in some teeth picked guitar riffs à la Jimi Hendrix.
A true band of the Myspace generation are LightGuides, and by this point Tuts is really starting to fill up. Composed of Mark Cowan, Martin Murray, and David Cowan, the two guitars + drums trio really know how to blast out some catchy tunes. Their fusion of upbeat yet heavy guitar orientated melodies and their feverous stage energy make for some good entertainment, calling themselves ‘Alternative Scot Punk with a twist of Flamenco’. Guitars hoisted high, between loud bursts of erratic, ecstatic riffs melds the surprisingly smooth vocals which jump seamlessly between melodic crooning and that oh-so-close-to-shouting all punk pop fans are familiar with.
Last but not least were the Young Aviators, giving the last burst of thrashing punk with a good dose of pop the audience had become accustomed to. The trio, buoyant and rhythmic, powered through their first song, the chorus of which almost begged to be likened to one of Blink 182’s harmoniously disjointed ballads for the disenfranchised. Short, juicy morsels were delivered one after the other with ‘Good Morning Consumers’ chugging through at a steady pace, without losing any energy or dissipating any of the good vibes that had built up over the last three bands. Tuts held strong, and were rewarded with a good send off to rib cracking, ear- splittingly good night.
All in all a thoroughly successful beginning to the New Year and to the new term.
www.myspace.com/thegapyearriot
