Live Review - o2 Academy - Rock-regeneration.co.uk

It’s on nights like this that one band goes the extra mile to make a statement of intent. Empire Affair go for the jugular in more ways than one. As they stride onstage one by one we see a band decked out in all white attire. Think early Manics,you get the picture. Neil (vox) is last onstage & cant keep still for a second, Jack (lead) however is having sound issues so there’s a delay. The band decide to ad-lib, just a small-town boy…..(‘Don’t Stop Believing’ Glee sylee),the crowd join in one & all. Lead guitar sorted Empire Affair launch into a set of original material. To coin a phrase this band are ‘on it’ tonight. The vocals are strong,the sound is clean & crisp. On the whole the delivery oozes confidence. With every song Neil is jumping,strutting & patrolling the stage while cajoling the crowd, who are loving it. They leave to rapturous applause. This wont be the last we’ll be seeing of Empire Affair.

To read the review of the whole night visit www.rock-regeneration.co.uk

Visit the Empire Affair home page at www.empireaffair.co.uk  

o2, your welcome

Now the dust has settled and I've had a few nights sleep, I can now start to see the funny side of things, If you are wondering what I'm talking about, it is of course the technical issues I had at our debut gig at Bournemouth o2 Academy. All week we were building up to what for most bands is their pinnacle gig, some go on to bigger and better things and some just crash and burn. We were trying our hardest to shift as many tickets as possible in order to show people, new people, what we're all about and out of the eight bands that played that night we sold the most tickets, which is nice to know that there are people willing to pay money, good money to see you.

We arrived around 1 o'clock to soundcheck and as we got there, we got to see The Frequency and Constellation soundchecking and the sound coming out front was amazing and after hearing Constellation play, I knew there were some good bands here tonight. Whether it was using someone else's backline or the sheer size of the room I wasn't completely happy with soundcheck but the guys thought it sounded good plus other bands had to soundcheck as well so time was limited. We got given a pretty decent dressing room complete with sofa, TV, a fridge which soon got filled up with beers and even a mirror with the lightbulbs around it, but now its the waiting game.

As people started to arrive all the bands were mingling together and there seemed to be a real sense of comradery, which in some gigs doesn't happen and we were all about to do, to date, our biggest gig so far. As we was hanging out in the dressing room Bassface was pacing to and fro and seemed to be nervous and at that point it sunk in, that we were about to walk on stage all dressed in white jeans, jackets, shoes and shirts and play to about 1000 people.

Constellation are playing before us and are in mid flow, from the back of the stage we can see the lights and the crowd really enjoying the show, now at this point my nervous had gone and I just wanted to get up there and smash it. When the change over happened apparently we were waiting in the wrong place and sound guys said we had lost a bit of time due to this, so we all rushed on stage plugged in our pedals and plugged our guitars in and were ready to go, then....

I was stood in front of roughly 1000 people and we were all ready to go and as I looked down, no sound was coming out of my guitar. The pedals are on, the guitar is turned up and the amp is on, the rest of the guys are looking over in fear and disbelief, what the hell is wrong!? After a little heckling good old Bassface and Neil rip in an impromptu version of Journey's Don't Stop Believing while I sort out what's wrong. As the crowd are in full swing the sound tech comes over to give me a hand and after little investigation we work out its my effects pedal that's not working, so quick thinking, I unplug my effects pedal and just use a clean and distortion channel and bang we're away.

I have to stress to anyone who was at the gig that, myself personally and the band were at half strength, but just by me using the most basic of guitar tones we actually managed to pull it off. The first four songs for me were a blur, we whipped through Can't Get Through, Take Me Down, One Of Me and December in which seemed like seconds, but the techno was about to kick in....

The Bass and Drums kick off our final song in a driving and pounding manner and its all low lighting then I come in with two hits of my riff then, two smashes of the snare and bang we're away and smashing it and tearing the roof off! The lights have come up and the crowd are jumping and dancing and were all in the groove and finally this is what its meant to feel like. As the song came to an end the lighting show was something else and this for me, was us at our best.

When we got back to the dressing room I was pretty annoyed at myself for letting the guys down, it was my equipment and my fault, but the guys all rallied round and me made feel that all was not lost. All in all, we did smash it after a slow start and everyone I spoke to really enjoyed it and we have had some good feedback, so good that we have been invited back to the next Bandalism once they've decided a date, which we'll make an even better show... technical hitches are a part of life....

A wise man once told me - 'A man is not measured by the fall he has, but how we get up form it'

We're just getting started

Jack