REVIEW: Rams' Pocket Radio, A Northern Light, Serotonin

As part of the annual MADE festival, Volume Control has been re-located from the Oh Yeah Centre to the MAC. These VC events are run by and for 14-18 year olds and, sure enough, that’s the demographic that is currently hugging the walls like at a school disco.

First up we’re due to get the pupils of the MAC Rock School performing, the culmination of a week’s tutoring. However only one of them, Patrick, has shown up. His reward is to play solo, some covers and an original song, until his guitar string breaks and he’s forced to abandon the set. A good effort though and a potentially legendary story if he ever hits the big time.

Next on the bill are Serotonin, a band with a collective age well under 80, and that’s the entire newly extended 5 piece. They sound shaky at first and singer Lucy Loane’s eyes nervously dart around at the rest of the band. But a few songs in and they hit their stride with a cover of Britney Spears ‘Hit me baby one more time’, her vocals sound stronger and the band are playing as one. More broken strings and some odd sounds hamper the gig. But as they finish with a cover of ‘16 Saltines’ by Jack White they sound like a different band to when they started. There’s definite potential and the young crowd give them a massive applause.

Three piece electro rock band A Northern Light have been around since 2010. They mix synth sounds with live bass, drums and guitar and the sound is epic. The band laugh and talk between songs, lending a very jolly feel to the whole set. It’s a uncomplimentary phrase to some these days but A Northern Light have a sound that’s Nu-Metal with a touch of Pop Punk.They blaze through “March into the light” and finish on their latest singe “Kill It”.

Rams' Pocket Radio tonight consists of one man - Peter McCauley. Due to take off on a tour of America with Foy Vance soon, he sits behind a strange console of drums, keyboards, samplers and a laptop. With a little coaching he has the young audience singing along to “Shadows” and he plays a remix of “1+2” with a slightly more R’n’B vibe. Even deploying the vocoder at times. his continural reversioning of tracks keeps the set fresh for anyone that has seen these songs played live a few times. We also get the debut of a new song he’s just written with David Clements and while it is new, it sounds familiar and different all at the same time. The most experienced performer of the night, McCauley easily builds a rapport with the otherwise shy crowd. This is an intimate gig and we’d do well to remember that such small shows could very well become a thing of the past if the forthcoming US tour brings some deserved international success.

Chris Caldwell