Cactus Knife
The opening act at the imperial is many a local bands first live experience but few are as strong as the set performed by Cactus Knife. Their sound was grungy, psychedelic and towards the end even leaning in the direction of an early Weezer.
The first few songs follow a similar train of thought starting off slow and rhythmic but catchy enough to draw you in then leading into a more powerful sound to put a smile on the face of any rock crowd. Towards the middle of the set was an instrumental section which was much more upbeat followed by what they jokingly described as their new reggae song dedicated to the headline act that night Jeramiah Ferrari. In truth this song had a very familiar sound and sat well with the rest of the tracks that night only with the inclusion of an offbeat guitar to lighten the mood.Cactus Knife was reaching the end of the set with only a few songs left to play. Their confidence was high and rightly so. They seemed more focussed and well-rehearsed as they pull the already close crowd in right up to the microphones. The announcement comes that there are two songs left and I miss the name of the next one. The bass and drums start, its punchy and aggressive, the dual vocals that have been somewhat muted so far come alive and they break into a powerful chorus followed by further verse and practiced guitar parts. Its 10 pm and the last song is about to start a quick look around sees the Imperial has really filled up and the crowd are waiting.
The final song by Cactus Knife is different the first few notes made me look up and pay attention. The track has a much more blues feel but still with the grunge rock attitude. There is a greater energy to this one, the vocals are strong and confident and push the song on to its conclusion.
All in all an excellent first “proper” show from Cactus Knife and can’t wait to hear them again.
Jeramiah Ferrari
I have spoken to many friends about this band over the last year after hearing a few of their MP3’s online and their reputation is widespread as a very professional enjoyable group. The day before I saw them in The Imperial Chorley I managed to get a look at their video for Mindless Riots my first thought was towards weather bands of this genre still pull in the crowds and whether they would be as entertaining live…last night I got my answer.
Jeramiah Ferrari could possibly be the best band I have seen so far this year. With their catchy guitars, super smooth vocals and bass lines played with such ease their brand of chilled out feel good tunes ended the night in such a way every person in the venue left with a smile and at least one song stuck in their heads.
At this point I feel I should point out that as a musician (bass player) my first serious band was a ska group back when ska punk bands like Less Than Jake and Capdown where starting to be phased out in the local venues and club nights for the more “trendy” emo and metal bands of the time so I have a real appreciation for the amount of work it takes to get a ska band the recognition it deserves in these hard times of music venues shutting down and the ever more common pay to play shows.
Anyway enough about myself, the review of Jeramiah Ferrari is as follows:
It’s a mix of reggae, ska, punk and rocksteady that at first listen screams Sublime to me but as I stood in the imperial listening to Mr Ryan Barton sing with a passion and conviction familiar to the late sublime vocalist I realised there was something else. Ryan is one of the most engaging frontmen I have seen in a band regardless of genre in a long time, his cheeky banter with the crowd draws people in and his performance holds them there for the whole set. Bass player Hanson Pollitt plays on stage with some serious style locking into Stuart Welch’s drumming with driving reggae bass lines and solid backing vocals with total ease, Even equipment failure couldn’t deter this guy a string snaps ¾ of the way into a song and he barely bats an eyelid he just goes on to the end of the song and with a shout to the Cactus Knife guys a new bass appears and the show resumes like nothing had happened.The show had started with a short instrumental, now I’m not sure if this was just a warm up or something for the guys to do while they were tuning but It got the whole room in the mood for what was to come setting the tone for the remainder of the set.
The stand out track of the night was Scarlett, which began typical of their style but towards the end the guitar solo was reminiscent of RX Bandits. This was closely followed by a cover but more on that later.
The band also played some of their newer material including Island Girl, a slower number that had the crowd skanking in unison which is something I don’t believe I have ever seen in the Imperial before.
The end of the set arrived and cheers for more and some persuasion of the sound tech lead to one of the best reggae covers I have seen live it was Toots and the Maytals classic 54-46 That’s my Number. See the video below (apologies in advance for the poor video quality…it was dark and there’s no light on my camera).
If you’re a promoter BOOK THIS BAND!! …..If not go get the CD
I will be following this band with great interest over the coming months and can’t wait to see more of them. Hopefully next time I will remember to take notes and can give you a more detailed review!
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