29-03-2013 Easter Bash

Venue: Sture21, Helsinki (Finland)
By: Sabine van Gameren

In a cosy place in Helsinki there was a little Easter bash organized. Not the most likely place you would imagine it to be but when you enter the place a little stage is brightening up it all.

Annie & Thee Midniters were starting this evening. Nice and mellow, pretty calm to get into it. Singer/songwriter with some country touch. Some pleasant vocals are bringing you some easy to listen songs not too wild. A relaxed start of the evening.

Up next was a bit more wilder band, NHL 95, that describes themselves as “Finnish pop punk that brings nothing to the table.” With that being said you may have no expectations at all but without those you could only be surprised. This insecure statement may not be needed after all as even though the music is not bringing something really new the guys like to mess you up with a load of tempo changes in their sound. It could go from full rage into some more calmer mood and back so this variation is keeping you listening. A little downside of it is that further into the set the vocals became a bit too overdone. Screaming too much while with some moderation it probably would have worked better. Nevertheless the guys should probably rethink their description as they crossed that point of statement already.

Formation Daggerplay makes a mix of punk and rock. Some catchiness included so those tracks are easy to remember. Yet guitarist/vocalist Pekko Mantzin speeds it up quite a lot. No time to build it up, you thrown right into the deep. But make no illusions, the band is playing for the playing and no nonsense showtime is included. It comes as raw as it is and that’s how you should take it. The band seem to work as a good team and presented an interesting and varied set her tonight. The lost two songs are by far the most memorable and therefore the band ends their performance really strong. One that sticks in mind.

Whatever She Wants they are called but with both the sound and the looks of Martha Jane Settler a.k.a Crazy Jane we are up for a show that brings a strong reference to the Dutch band Clayborn and their front woman. Yet to find a difference you could listen to those song structures which are more made with a punk background rather than the commercial side, which would probably suit them just as much. In the higher vocal range you could hear them losing it a bit also. In the show they are giving, loads of energy is into it which makes the songs come alive even more and with these four characteristic personalities in one band it won’t be long they get noticed on a larger scale.

That commercial sound is something that comes forward at Freaks of the Revolution which gathered quite a bunch of fans there already. The band is frisky, playful and likes to have a little fun here and there. To demand attention of their fans their frontman may come close to you, or climb onto the furniture to make sure those watching from a little distance get reached also. Besides the remarkable vocals the band is also blessed with some good guitarists who fill up the sound perfectly. With a little cheeky performance the band gets their audience easily and a well-deserved applause followed.

Closing the night was the band Incorrect Ideas. A band that speaks out their political views quite openly. Whether an idea might be incorrect could be up for discussion of course. It seems from their show though that such a discussion is not open for them, the right and the wrong is already determined by them. Good the audience makes their own choice; standing up in front of the stage and listen or sit down with a drink/leave. More than at the previous act chose the latter one. Somehow interesting that this is the idea you get from their show as it is such an opposite of what the band talks on their Facebook profile. (Maybe incorrect ideas do exist after all) Something does not radiate well enough as it seems. Missed point, such a shame.