25-01-2008 Emergenza Göteborg

Venue: Musikenshus, Göteborg (Sweden)
By: Sabine  van Gameren

  Tonight is my second night of Emergenza in Göteborg. Tonight ten bands
  are on the bill and it seems to be a quite various program.

The evening starts with the acoustic act of Serenity Now. The band starts off a little shy, almost insecure, but the voice of the singer wins power after the first song. When she sings a song together with the guy on the keys, I am  dreaming away. It touched me. You would expect this music to be played on a romantic dinner in a restaurant in Paris, but then I realized I was in Göteborg and not in Paris. Serenity Now has the power to change geography and make Paris  move to Sweden. Way to go, I wonder what they can bring me more.

While seeing the second band I was wondering why this band was playing here on Emergenza. Shouldn’t they be very famous already? For Aye makes emotional radio rock and brings us a great performance. The singer has great charisma and you can see he is born to be on stage. Or even in front of the stage, as he jumps off the stage to get a little closer to the audience. I have seen this mix of performance, musical talent and charisma only once before and that was with the band Poets of the Fall. Though, their music is rather catchy where For Aye chooses to be more emotional. I enjoyed it a lot and this band deserves a place in the semifinals. Therefore I voted for them and luckily they got a place in the semifinals, which shows that I was not the only person who was impressed by For Aye.

Next band is Random Sound. They make alternative rock with some funk influences and they definitely brought an audience to Musikenshus, but for me there was an element missing. The surprise element. They are not much different from other bands and not standing out. They do play quite well and the stage act is also ok, but they definitely do not win the concurrency from the band before them.

The Sidekick Project was lucky with many people in the venue when entering the stage, though I have never seen so many people leaving in such a short time.� I took a run to the bar myself as well. The band is clearly influenced by Nirvana but the sound of the vocals was horrible. Like a goat. If the band just had an off day or was this a normal performance of them, I don’t know, but I hope I won’t have to hear this again. Nice try, but I suggest they keep on practicing… somewhere deep under the ground perhaps.

Seven Circles was next. This band somehow reminds me to a band that was a quite popular gothic band in the late 90’s called Danse Macabre, which has been one of my favorite bands until they quit playing together. Though, for those who do not know this band, I can name HIM, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride as influences. The band has a quite static way of performing, which kind of suits their music.� The lyrical part is the most important here so you have to listen to the words and enjoy.

Dirty Dollars bring us some punk/rock with a sleazy image. The band is quite young, they started in February 2007. They kind of remind me to the band WASP, but not completely in the old classic style. More with some modern punk influences than WASP is bringing us nowadays. I would say they did quite ok, but the vocals tend to be too much screaming. They were quite active on stage, which of course is necessary with their music. Nice band, nothing special yet, but definitely has potential.

A quite different sound compared to Dirty Dollars came when President Roadkill entered the stage. I checked their MySpace before the show, and I expected a little more aggression in the songs than what was actually shown onstage. The band started performing live by the start of 2007 and tonight I saw a quite active stage act, which I liked. Though, overall I expected I would like the  band more while I was listening to their music on MySpace, so I ended up being a little disappointed.

Revolve was up next. I liked the way they took attention for what they are wearing. The band is together since 2003 and you can see they know each other well in the way they play together. Musically they caught my attention mostly by their instrumental arrangements. The vocals do not do that much with me. The songs sound a little bit too much the same. The band did not have a huge audience but the people who were there seem to be there especially for them.

Revolve left the stage for The Mary Major. The music is alternative, catchy rock with aggressive edges. The venue changes quite a lot in the half hour that TMM is on the stage. They own the stage while the audience is coming out of their corners to give it a closer look. The band is having advantages from their stage experience since four out of five were also playing in the successful gothic band Beseech. I voted for them and they made it to the semifinals.

Last band this evening was Fadingfriend. They make some hardrock like you can expect from Foo Fighters. Their sound is quite steady and is just there, no way around, you will have to listen to it. They kind of demand your attention.� I tell you, their performance was quite ok as well, but maybe after the catchy show of The Mary Major, the whole idea of Fadingfriend more or less fell away in darkness. It just disappears and after ten bands most people are just waiting for the results and waiting for the last band to finish rather earlier than seeing them an extra minute. Too bad.

Results:
  1. Random Sound
  2. For Aye
  3. The Mary Major
  4. Dirty Dollars
  5. Fadingfriend (wildcard)
  6. Serenity Now
  7. Revolve
  8. Seven Circles
  9. The Sidekick Project
  10. President RoadkillFor more pictures: Sabinevangameren.com

Links:
  For Aye Myspace
  Random Sound Myspace
  Seven Circles Myspace
  President Roadkill MySpace
  The Mary Major Myspace