As I entered the venue, a young band called SIGN were coming towards the end of their set. With quite irritating wailing vocals, from my position at the bar, they sounded somewhat like a heavier version of JJ72. On the basis of what I heard, I wasn't going to lose too much sleep over the fact that I didn't catch the whole set.

It was SLAVES TO GRAVITY, a band who rose from the ashes of what were THE GA GA'S, who were up next and they proceeded to put in a memorable performance. The band's strong grunge influence shows though in their material, which sounds like a rocked-up ALICE IN CHAINS, with a modern twist. Energetic frontman Tommy Gleeson literally spit's out his vocals, his saliva raining down on the front row as the band ripped through songs from their impressive 2007 debut album 'Scatter the Crow'.

Unfortunately, Mark Verney's lead guitar was far too flow in the sound mix, and as a result, all of his flashy solos were wasted. Still, this only slightly hindered the enjoyment of the show, as SLAVES TO GRAVITY motored on with hit songs like 'Meantime' and 'Big Red'. After a 30 minute showcase, the band left the stage to a warm reception, and they had certainly left their mark on the Stoke audience.

That scary word 'emo' is rightly or wrongly attached to any number of bands these days, but one band who are unmistakably 'emo' are American post-hardcore foursome AIDEN. As tattooed frontman Wil Francis walked out to the front of the stage, he was grabbed all over by a bunch of rabid 13 year old girls, all dressed in those bizarre colourful hoodies, and some even having 'I love you Will' written on their arms in permanent marker pen. If ever I felt out of place at a gig, it was now.

AIDEN are a pretty entertaining live band, and do like to get around the stage. However, after about 40 minutes of their set, I became tired of their samey material. There are some decent songs like 'Die Romantic' for example, but most of the other stuff is quite forgettable, particularly to anyone who's teenage years are behind them. AIDEN were OK and certainly did a good job of getting the crowd worked up – but for me, the night belonged to SLAVES TO GRAVITY – a very promising band who made this night out worthwhile.

Ratings:

AIDEN: 2.9/5.0

SLAVES TO GRAVITY: 4.2/5.0

Review by James Allman

Photography by Alexander Shaw

SLAVES TO GRAVITY

AIDEN