Sacred Sounds Night
Chances are this will be my last trip to the Owl, at least in this incarnation. Tonight is hosted by Sacred Sounds, started a while back to honour the memory and spirit of local music legend and all round good guy Andy Sacre, who we lost to suicide back in 2016.
Vaudevue open proceedings with a scratchy, lo-fi, grungey emo that has a bit of riot grrrl about it. Kate Maguire Buck has a low, powerful and gravelly voice that displays far more maturity than her age suggests. Her guitar and Ben James’ drumming are straight ahead and the duo are young but there is some decent songwriting going on here and buckets of promise. Vadevue may not be the finished article but they are well worth keeping an eye and ear out for.
With a set of laid-back, psyche-inflected, old school rock Blank Lines bring to mind Floyd, The Eagles (before they became a byword for excess and indulgence) and The Doors. I am also picking up a bit of Reef, a dash of Crippled Black Phoenix and, maybe, just maybe, a touch of dub. As things get underway it is pleasant enough but things get better as the band loosens up and jam out in a way that is fluid but not self-indulgent. By the end of the set I am wholly won over.
Best act of the night for me are I Said Goodbye and their bouncy, energetic pop-punk. Featuring Pete Wright (of Ducking Punches) on hard-hitting drums, theirs is a sound that recalls the mighty Sniff, Blink-182, Kerplunk-era Green Day and latter-day Stiff Little Fingers.
I have to apologise to Nebula Sun. It has been a long day, things are over-running, i’ve got an early start and I have to bail out. Catch ya next time.
This hasn’t been the best night I have been to here but, until the Owl rises again, like a phoenix from the ashes (can an owl be like a phoenix?) this has been a decent enough way to sign off.
To all that have been associated with the Owl over the last few years, thanks for all the good times and the memories.
