Shotgun Faeries & 7 Seals - The 12 Bar - 12th Oct 2004

The Shotgun Faeries are finding it impossible to disappoint at the moment with recent performances turning them into real contenders on the local music scene. Last Tuesday (October 12) was no exception as they ripped through their most notable performance yet in front of a sparse audience at the 12 Bar.

The band did not let the poor turnout alter their spirits and ploughed on with a 40 minute set of varied and raw rock and roll as the crowd of 25 people gradually began to grow.

Kicking off with Glamour the overall sound was not as cohesive, clear or loud as necessary, but fell into place a few songs in with the turning up of Lomax’ guitar amp.
Undoubtedly on form, the Shotgun Faeries seem refreshed after recently gigging with the proficient and established Seven Seals.

Dragon-eyed extrovert

Similar to their Mill set last month, The Shotguns covered The Beatles’ Come Together, Lomax eerily whispering ‘shoot me’ in-between each low, grinding bassline. Despite proving that the new leaf may have been forever turned, and performing sober, Lomax still manages to morph from calm, personable individual offstage to a wily, dragon-eyed extrovert whenever onstage

Other than proving they can now consistently churn out their recognised harsh, unpolished melodies, the Shotguns showed a much bigger capacity by varying their set to include an unnamed keyboard- based number, an acoustically led version of The Violence and a cover of The Pixies‘ Here Comes Your Man.

Indications that we were to see another rock and roll Shotgun tantrum did not materialise, despite Lomax breaking a string during their second cover of the night, and disengaging his guitar strap, allowing his instrument to swing mischievously about his feet, before calmly placing it down and making do without for the last song.

Jiggery-pokery

The Seven Seals keep returning to Preston and continue to rack up more and more fans as they dance their merry dance for an hour of ridiculous, donkeyfied, musical jiggery-pokery. The Seals blend, rap, metal, blues and most importantly, good old-fashioned fun to produce one of the most striking sounds currently coming from the North West. This said, these boys are by no means a gimmick, in fact they take their humour very seriously.

The front man keeps everyone visually entertained, dancing continually, drifting from slick, creepy mover, to jerking robot-like routines, wearing a khaki hunters' hat obtained from an innocent bystander, and treating us to Kazoo solos.

If anything, the Seven Seals can be accused of being too 'in your face' and hectic, to attract anything more than a cult audience. If you like the mayhem and diversity then this should not disappoint, but the band are lacking the sing along choruses and accessible sound needed to attract the masses.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy