Zerell – Lonely Street

This is a 3 track CD from London band Zerell featuring the tracks ‘Lonely Street,’ ‘My blood is for real,’ and ‘Mexican airforce thumb.’ It’s certainly not a bad little CD and had I not seen them live a few months ago I’d probably appreciate it more. Live, they are one of the tightest bands I’ve ever seen – a really quality group of performers, but on this CD they just seem to be lacking something. The buzz that was there at the live show is missing meaning I just can’t get a lot out of this CD.

‘My blood is for real’ probably comes out the best on this CD and some of the live energy can be felt in the driving guitars, neat bass lines, and cool drum beats. This is a fine track with a fair bit of power, some cool lyrics in an awesome vocal style, and a good bit of the punch that was felt in the live performance.

I think what the problem here is that at the Maidstone Basement gig you could tell that the band were really enjoying themselves and putting there all into it but this just can’t be felt on this recorded effort. Although it’s not a bad CD, it’s just not as good as I was expecting following the success of the live gig. Be sure to check this band out some time as they really are a quality live band and have a lot to offer. I believe that at the moment the Antiproduct drummer is standing in for the band as the old drummer has now left for pastures new. Zerell will be playing a few gigs with them from the 20th to the 22nd of January so that should be pretty cool. If you can get along to any of the dates then make sure you do because I promise you, you will not be disappointed as both Zerell and Antiproduct are amazing bands.

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Sudden Drop + Zerell @ The Basement, Maidstone

Ok well there was a pretty poor turnout for this gig – which was to be expected really since the gig was at Maidstone’s very own dump of a venue ‘The Basement.’ These two bands should be playing to crowds far greater than this as there is nothing that separates them from the big names on the circuit. Tonight the sound wasn’t too great but never the less the bands ploughed on and got through their sets as usual (well if you don’t count Mark of Zerell’s guitar string snapping anyway!)

First on tonight were Zerell – an exciting punk band from London. The band played a good set and although it was quite a short one and to a very limited number of people they still managed to put their all into it and play a blinder. The sound quality was quite bad and for a lot of the set you couldn’t really hear the guitars but this is through no fault of their own and I am sure that if the sound had been of a better quality then the gig would have been faultless. You could really tell that the band were having a good time out there and were enjoying the music which they were creating. Zerell are such an energetic band and I think that this is what makes their music so entertaining – a lot of bands have the problem with their sets of staying still throughout their sets making them a bit boring to watch but Zerell did not do this. I will definitely be checking this band out again – they are an extremely talented band with a hell of a lot of energy and everyone that was at the gig had a great time when they were on.

The second band on were Maidstone’s very own heroes Sudden Drop. They also had a lot of talent and put their all into their set, playing a collection of their own songs plus a cover of the Chilli Peppers. Sudden Drop went down well I reckon – especially when they chucked a load of glowsticks into the crowd under the condition that we would all start dancing. Up to then the gig was a bit static with everyone just sort of standing around due to the small number that actually bothered to turn up to the gig. Sudden Drop seem to be a pretty tight band – they had some strong guitar riffs, cool drum beats, sublime bass lines, and some truly amazing vocals. I think everyone in the room was feeling this band – they really are something special and their music is absolutely spot on. I will also be trying to check this band out in the future due to their great talent and style – plus all their gigs are fairly local which has to be a bonus.

Overall this was a pretty quality gig, and despite the fact that the sound at The Basement wasn’t too amazing both bands still managed to play good sets with both showing signs of greatness. I will definitely be checking out these two bands again at some stage and for the two of them to play together again at some point would be great. If any promoters are reading this then try and book these two bands for a gig – they make a deadly duo.

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