After first seeing Falling Red supporting Steel Panther back in 2012, they’ve become one of my favourite bands as they always put on a good live show.
The band is a mishmash of northern personalities with Cumbrians Rozey on vocals and lead guitar and Dave Sanders on drums, Mikey Lawless from Edinburgh on bass and ‘new guy’ Danny Joseph on guitar. With three releases under their belts (‘Shake The Faith’, 2010; ‘Hasta La Victoria Siempre’, 2011; ‘Empire of the Damned’, 2014), they have plenty of material to draw on for their hour long set but they still find time to throw in a couple of cover songs – the staple Billy Idol ‘Rebel Yell’ which always goes down well and a new cover they’re trying out of Imagine Dragons’ ‘Radioactive’ which was good fun.
The whole band always look like they’re having a good time up on the stage and try to get the crowd to have as good as a time they’re having. The highlight of their shows has to be Dave’s faces. A drummer pulling faces you say? Don’t they always do that? Well, Dave’s are on a whole new level. Ranging from deliberately wacky to ecstatic he could do a one man show where all he does is play drums and pull faces (I’m not the only one hoping for this, right?).
The venue itself is a three floor venue with different capacities – the ground bar floor which the band played can fit 150. A small venue to see the band in for a Saturday night, but the space works well with the interactivity going on and, personally, I prefer smaller venues any day over arenas. The reasonably priced bar is situated alongside one of the walls with a seated area opposite for those wishing to sit down during the band intervals. The only downside to the venue I noticed was a large column on the audience’s right hand side of the stage, which I assume is there for structural reasons, but does mostly obscure the musician who is on that side of the stage if you are standing near the seated area. Luckily, for Falling Red, bassist Mikey Lawless has no qualms with using the stage space and makes sure everyone gets a glimpse of his studded ‘Lawless’ bass strap.
From interacting with the crowd (including shouts from the band that played before them) and plenty of banter between the band members themselves you feel like you’re having a laugh with them. Rozey’s vocals were on point and Danny looked right at home with the band. They’re a gang who seem to be constantly touring and playing shows even if it’s only a local one and put their all into having a good rock ‘n’ roll time.
If you’re new to them I’d recommend the songs ‘If You Ain’t Down With the Rock’, ‘How You Feel (On Me)’ and ‘We Escaped a Cult’. Give them a listen and knowing them they’ll be playing in a city near you soon!
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