I stumbled into the A Billion Lions gig at The Fishbowl, curated by End of the Trail Records, as I was wandering from venue to venue at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. Some of the venues had queues round the block and I had just failed miserably in my attempt to gain entrance to one of them and was making my way to the next, takeaway in hand, when the power of the music drew me in. The exotic combination of cheese and chips (what was I thinking?) lashed into its rightful place in the bin, and I was in the warmth of the tiny venue.
I arrived towards the end of the second song, ‘Torquay’, to see that the guitarist was having problems. The fast chord changes had taken their toll on both guitars he had brought and an appeal was being made to find a replacement. A brave soul volunteered his equipment and the set was off again, the frantic pace never letting up for a minute. I’ve seen some great bands as part of The Alternative Escape this year and these were definitely one of them. The power chord punk was of the highest quality and, equipment issues aside, the band never put a foot wrong. Dual vocals from Joe Parr and Philly Cheese (best name ever) brought a little more excitement to the mix and the place was bouncing. Hailing from the Leeds/Bradford area, the band play short, sharp power chords and guitar licks to perfection. There were no weak tracks in the short set, ‘Chewn’, ‘Pause’, ‘Coringo’ and the excellent finishing track ‘Doomsday Babies’ raced along at a blistering pace, whetting my appetite for more, far more appetising than the cheesy chips I threw away to come in and watch them. White hot and precise, the delivery was faultless. The provision of a free CD of two of the tracks added even more value to the experience.
I’ve never been to TGE before. I have to say, it has been the bands in the Alternative Escape who have made it for me. The whole experience has delivered exactly what I hoped for, new bands I was never going to hear in the North West, delivering some amazing music. Even if you haven’t got a TGE ticket, there are free gigs going on in the pubs all over Brighton. This really is a Mecca for new music, and I’m loving every minute of it.
RIFFED's Rating: 8/10
Listen to A Billion Lions with 'Torquay' via YouTube: