The grubby back room of The Bullingdon is the natural home of all things rock and roll, so it’s fitting that one of Britain’s finest, Turbowolf, has chosen it to host the first night of its UK tour. A fair few people make it down early to catch Hyena, whose infectious brand of solid rock gets most heads nodding. Front man Jake Ball’s howling vocals combine superbly with the band’s driving rhythms, particularly on singles ‘Mental Home’ and ‘Come Down To Hilo’; other songs are reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age at their very best, all riffs and pounding drums. The band could take a few lessons on stagecraft, but they’ll certainly get that from touring with bands such as Turbowolf – one to watch for the future.
Dolomite Minor is another young, highly vaunted band, and it’s easy to see why: the duo are staggeringly musically proficient. The sound that the pair produce is pure blues rock. However, the skills on show take their music far beyond simple White Stripes worship. This should be vastly enjoyable, but unfortunately the pair fail to keep the attention of the crowd. The whiny, drawn out vocal style is interesting, but hinders the tracks from blossoming into the high speed bangers they deserve to be. On the other hand, with a more charismatic delivery, the experience could be captivating; perhaps the reasonably well lit stage and early evening slot is not for the
m.
It’s up to Turbowolf to wake the (sadly small) crowd up, a task which the Bristol rockers are more than up to: frontman Chris Georgiadis is an animal on stage, combining humour, heartfelt delivery, musical quality and a penchant for stage diving to great effect. It’s a testament to Turbowolf’s wide appeal that approximately half of the crowd here tonight were around for the original hey-day of proper rock music, although the majority of the movement remains confined to the younger elements of the audience. It’s to these fans that Georgiadis primarily plays, exhorting them to sing along with tracks both old and new. Single ‘Rabbit’s Foot’ is a killer, whilst tracks such as ‘Rich Gift’ bringing appreciative nods from all with their mash-up of all sub-genres rock and metal have to offer. The subtlety of tracks from the new album Two Hands contrasts well with the intensity of those from the self-titled first album, and keeps the performance varied.
Turbowolf’s live show has always been their major strength, having toured inces- santly for seven years; however, the addition of the new tracks has taken their show to the next level. There are bigger things to come from the band at the forefront of British rock ‘n’roll.
