Held By Horses Live Review: Icebreaker Promotions, Pat Molloy’s Colchester, 17/8/11.

Chelmsford based five-piece Held By Horses are sure to gain themselves a lot of new friends with live performances like the one they put in at Pat Molloy’s last Wednesday. Although they weren’t headlining the Icebreaker Promotions night (the band’s first show outside of their hometown), they were still able to put in a committed display, mixing up the four original tracks from their self titled debut EP with a couple of well chosen covers.

The first thing that hits you about a Held By Horses performance is the volume. Most bands can get ‘loud’ by ramping up the effects and cranking the amps, but this band’s power comes from the drum kit and more specifically, Scott Dillon, the guy sitting behind it. The fact that HBH could be heard from halfway down Colchester high street was, for the most part, down to Scott’s energy and enthusiasm as he helped drive the songs (and his band mates) from the back/side of the stage, giving the kind of performance that most rock fans crave but rarely see from drummers in younger unsigned bands .

First track ‘Fallen’ set the tone for the set with crunchy guitars and a huge, hulking chorus. Lead singer Harriet’s voice really fits with the darker nature of the song, showing just the right amount of angst and intensity to convince us of the eerie/sombre line ‘Tonight, living takes its toll on me.’ Second track ‘Give You The World’ features some intricate lead guitar work from Kyle Ginn in amongst the quiet, sultry sections of the song, which drip with anticipation as each ringing chord builds before diving into another huge chorus. There are some lyrically mature themes on show too, with talk of ‘taking to the skies’ and an intense love that demands the promise of ‘a lifetime by your side’. Harriet’s delivery again adds authenticity to these lines, avoiding the emo tendency to slip into an indulgent form of lyrical self-pity.

Next came a well executed cover of We Are The Ocean’s ‘Lucky Ones’. This song is without doubt a great cover choice for a Held By Horses audience, but may well have been lost on the Pat Molloy’s crowd. HBH wear their influences on their collective sleeve with pride, though this has no impact on the originality of their own material. It would be easy for them to write in the footsteps of the big pop-punk bands of the moment (particularly with a female front person), if for no other reason than to promote their own sound as being ‘similar to…’ But as the intense, heavy nature of their live performance shows, HBH are not a band that are going to conform to an image or stereotype that doesn’t fit. 

In between ‘Lucky Ones’ and a ballsy version of Jessie J’s ‘Do It Like A Dude’ (which will always go down well with a general pub audience) came ‘Boy Within The Men’, a song that again showcases Scott’s quick fire punk playing around the kit as well as Kyle’s clever lead licks. Will (rhythm guitar) and Charlie (bass) keep things steady as the breakdown section slides into a frantic, edgy solo that gives the song a huge ending that is as lasting on the ear as it is on the memory.

‘Who We Are’ is a fitting closer for both the EP and the live set.  The band’s ‘sound’ really seems to come together on this track, with the huge guitars and thunderous drums still allowing Harriet’s voice to come to the fore with the haunting line ‘What have we become? Just strangers in the night…’ The verse’s lurching feel picks up into an intense, crash-heavy outro in which Harriet really pushes herself to give genuine feel to the words in the track’s title. ‘Who We Are’ is perhaps the band’s most ‘complete’ song, leaving the right lasting impression, although on this occasion I could have easily sat through another thirty minutes of the same set.

For some reason female rock vocalists seem to divide opinion. They are either loved and admired for their gutsy approach to surviving such a testosterone-fuelled environment, or are routinely hated for being nothing but a face to broaden a band’s mass appeal. But even those who can’t bring themselves to identify with the melodies of a young female singer can’t question ability and enthusiasm when they see it for real. Harriet more than holds her own with the other talented members of Held By Horses, and after seeing them live there can be little doubt that she is the perfect front person for this band. There are plenty of younger bands that fail to reproduce the precision of their recorded material in a live setting. HBH are not one of them. And with many more live performances like the one at Pat Molloy’s, it won’t be long before Held By Horses are knocking on the door of larger venues and playing to much bigger crowds.

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Apple Cannon 'Enjoy It While It Lasts' EP Review

In a post-emo age of pretty boy screamo bands, it makes a refreshing change to hear a band omitting the cringe-worthy lyrics and relying upon sheer instrumental power to get their message across. Apple Cannon can make you laugh, cry, dance and fight without saying a single word. The Scouse-rock duo of Richard Birkenhead and Paul Barrow (also known as Rev Apple and Doctor Cannon) are able to blend the subtleties of a minimalist cymbal pattern or simple chord progression, with the destructive chaos of a raucous punk rock chorus, complete with distortion-driven guitars and blustering lo-fi drums. The result? A pick n’ mix hybrid of styles that leaves you with an insatiable need to hear more.

The band’s debut EP ‘Enjoy It While It Lasts’ opens with the no holds barred ‘Death of the News’, laying down the gauntlet with it’s balls to the wall drumming and relentless guitar riff. The track nods to metal influences through the growling vocals and menacing drum breaks, quickly distancing Apple Cannon from lazy comparisons with a ‘heavy White Stripes’. In terms of lyrics ‘Death of the News’ could just as easily be a witty piece of social commentary about the state of the media in modern society, as it could be a typically punk ‘anti-song’, in which the lyrics are absurd, meaningless, and quite often, completely contradictory. The memorable line ‘This is the death of the news’ and the contrast between Richard and Paul’s vocals complements the general breakneck feel of the song, again bringing the driving instrumental sections to the fore.

Second track ‘Wargasm’ could have the crowd on tiptoes from the first few seconds of its moody intro. The mumbling, melancholic spoken words that lead into the gigantic first verse sound like lines from a Scouse-western standoff, as they build into the onslaught of a verse punctuated with gunshot snare/tom fills. The shifting guitar parts bob in and around the humungous drums as the song flows into a quiet, gentle breakdown section, before winding right down into an epic outro that could grace the soundtrack of any Spaghetti Western. The lack of vocals are what really sets this track apart, allowing plenty of room for Paul’s ringing guitar chords and Richard’s fill/beat variations, proving that the clever dynamics between the two are what really set these guys apart.

‘Lightning Mask’ is proof that Apple Cannon don’t need a bass player. Once again the guitar and drums provide plenty of bombast on this track, filling the gaps left by the absent bass with simple but groovy riffs, and a soulful beat that the song could sit on for an eternity. The contrast between Richard’s gravelly verse vocal and Paul’s frantic chorus screaming is again put to good use, changing the mood from groovy to grungey in an instant. Of the three non-instrumental tracks the vocal element is perhaps most important in ‘Lightning Mask’, adding to the dark mood and brooding tone with the line ‘When you look my way, creepy…I wonder what’s behind the mask that I see…’, conjuring up all sorts of questions and possibilities as to why someone might choose/be forced to wear a mask with such face-melting qualities. So although these guys don’t need lyrics and vocals to get by, when they do incorporate them, they are used with as much power and purpose as their music.

As mentioned earlier, Apple Cannon possess that unique ability to fuse two entirely different styles and make it work. Nowhere is this more evident than in the song ‘Dancehall’, which partners a reggae dancehall beat with a hardcore chorus that crashes and thrashes against the laidback nature of the verse groove. This Melvins-esque blend of dancibility and gothic doom nods to the light-hearted accessibility of a band who takes their music seriously without obsessing over their own image. And while this accessibility may make the recordings a little easier on the mainstream listener’s ear, it does nothing to dampen the band’s live performance, during which all of these tracks translate brilliantly into an unhinged and unpredictable demonstration of raw energy and enthusiasm.

 Title track ‘Enjoy It While It lasts’ feels like a stoner rock anthem waiting to happen, blending a heavy chunk of Californian desert music with the duo’s own roguish charm. The uncompromising five minute instrumental generates pure emotion and atmosphere, only relenting with thirty seconds of the track remaining as Paul and Richard echo the line ‘Enjoy it while it lasts…’ Again, there is no room for unwanted sentiment, with all the lyrical fat being trimmed to leave the solid drums and guitar that are the muscle and bones of this band.

Take Apple Cannon’s advice and enjoy it while it lasts. Enjoy it fast, enjoy it heavy, and enjoy it loud. But if their debut EP is anything to go by, don’t expect them to be giving it up anytime soon.

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