Paige/Pump Action Radio/Dom Remi

iBar, Bournemouth

In all honesty, there was a very dim atmosphere surrounding IBar as I entered with my friends. There were only a few people in the intimate venue and after walking down into the basement, the bands had only just begun their sound check. Paige admitted they had arrived late due to heavy traffic, but despite their obvious fatigue, it was also obvious that they wanted to start their tour in a way that would leave Bournemouth with better memories than a late start. Gradually fans started to gather and a small crowd started to make their way to the basement.

The first band, Dom Remi have a monster of a challenge ahead in order to create an atmosphere and the new outfit who formed from former band ‘Metropolise’ start with a bass heavy intro to attempt to spur on their small following and through a slow start through this into, eventually progressive indie styling emerges. Delay soaked guitar riffs and picking surges a spark to the eventually growing crowd and there is clear talent within the band. The set comprosed of new songs seemed and created some kind of feel to the evening and especially their last track, ‘long way home’ showed a lot of potential to this bands sound.

With a positive atmosphere still in the balance, it’s up to high energy pop punk band, Pump Action Radio to create a surge of energy and instantly their overdrive soaked power chords pump through me. I had seen this band three times before this show, so I was always confident that they would be able to pull through and after ‘With Friends Like These’, a smile is shared amongst the crowd. Tracks like ‘Epic Fail’ from their new EP seem popular with the small crowd and despite a few errors from the band’s drummer, the bands energy remains and there seems to be no discomfort in their performance despite the crowd size being the smallest I have seen at IBar in a while. A very intuitive cover of Jason Derulo’s, ‘In My Head’ was fused with the well known ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ to turn round a fairly stale evening at IBar. From this track, a new confidence was installed and when the crowd was asked to ‘go mental’, new track ‘Hold Your Breath’ saw a mosh pit unfold between several people to end a fairly triumphant set for the Bournemouth outfit.

As Pump Action Radio left the stage, so did a fair number of the crowd and at one point while Paige were setting up, there were seven people waiting for the five piece pop punk band to begin. Luckily, a fair crowd eventually gathered and the band started with a few old tracks, such as ‘Actions’ which received a good response from the crowd. Instantly, they started to show their ability, as progressive pop punk anthems unfolded and tracks from the band’s latest EP, including ‘Love For One’ showcased the band’s strong vocal ability with singers Lewis and Arthur hitting every note with ease and harmonising to perfection. An odd feature to the band was their use of a piano in their songs which added a melodic side to their set.

There were many variations to their songs, as heavier riffs occasionally featured to create a thicker sound and saw most of the members jumping in an attempt to rectify a fairly inanimate crowd. Eventually, the undeniable catchy nature of the band’s songs sparked some energy in the room and the band looked to end with their current single, ‘Young Summer’ which saw a complete change in atmosphere as a few members of the crowd sang along with the band to what can only described as a summer anthem, which stole the show. With an ending to meet any pop punk fans desires, an encore was declared by the fans and the band ended with old track ‘You Got Guts’ which saw an unlikely wall of death end a fantastic set from an uprising gem of the UK pop punk scene.

Set Lists
Paige
For Better For Worse
This Is How We Roll
Actions
Love For One
A Good Fight Is Never Clean
Circles
The Truth
Dear Heartstrings
Young Summer
You Got Guts [ENCORE]

Pump Action Radio
Friends Like These
I’m Right I’m Stubborn
Me and You (Not Me and Her)
Epic Fail
Right Place Right Time
In My Head/Eye Of The Tiger (Cover)
Cool As You
Show You What I’m Made Of
Hold Your Breath

Dom Remi
The Introduction
Where The Worst Of You Are
Untitled (New Song #1)
In Bad Taste
Untitled (New Song #2)
Midnight
Long Way Home

Videos: Paige (Promo Videos)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65HqshBaHs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmuljqOui6g&playnext=1&list=PL3F90B306EBC4917B

www.myspace.com/paigeuk
www.myspace.com/pumpactionradio
http://www.facebook.com/pages/DomRemi/191771124194493?sk=wall

Words and pictures by:
George Fullerton.