Ocean Rooms, Weymouth Pavillion
Hourglass Promotions haven’t been around too long, yet they have already worked with bands such as Funeral For a Friend, Hadouken, Malefice, and Napalm Death (to name a few) in a valiant attempt to relight the flame of the Weymouth music scene, and tonight spawned yet another prized booking in the shape of Brentwood rock icons, InMe. This band have graced Reading Festival’s main stage and more recently reached over three hundred percent of their required funding for their new album (via the Pledge Music website), “The Pride” which was released on Monday.
The tiny Ocean Rooms upstairs venue fills gradually as local post hardcore outfit, “This Fall” take to the stage. If you happened to read my review of their new EP, which was released as a free download on 29th February, then you may have noticed that I liked it. A lot. Opener “The Escape”, which also opens their EP, sounds as if they’ve pressed play on an iPod, simply due to the tightness of their performance, with an effortlessly flawless vocal display from Jamiee Thompson. A strong set consists of a mixture of old and new songs, and frankly puts down their debut EP “Spitting Feathers”, as songs such as “Ellen Austin” and “Spitting Feathers” seem inferior in professionalism and presence. There’s no doubt that their old tracks remain impressive, it’s just that the step up made between their latest EP and their debut EP is truly remarkable. The band end their set on a high with new song “Gratitude” marking a milestone for This Fall, as they do genuinely sound as tight as any touring outfit should be. Give it time and this band will be spreading their name across the nation.
Next up are Mojo Fury, who offer a completely different vibe through an array of out of the ordinary songs which I can’t pin a genre upon. Their Belfast origin also shone through as the strong accent of front man Michael Mormecha latched on well to what I can only describe as a rock infused alternative outfit. The momentum of This Fall’s set may have stuttered their performance as it was always going to be difficult for them to impress after such a hard hitting, up tempo performance from the locals.
The main support for tonight comes in the form of three piece rock outfit Lost Alone, who I once saw opening for the almighty 30 Seconds To Mars in Bournemouth a few years ago. After seeing them triumph in a venue of the velocity of the BIC, I was intrigued to hear the transition of their set played in a tiny venue such as this. They instantly impress through heavy guitar riffs and create a massive sound for a three piece. Upcoming single “Love Will Eat You Alive” shone out as a personal favourite as well worked instrumentals and an infectious hook helped to fuel a memorable fragment of their set. After receiving impressive reviews from the likes of Rock Sound and Kerrang, the band will be eagerly awaiting its release on 5th March.
As the room fills to the brim, InMe make their way onto the tiny stage to expectant screams and broke out into new album opener “Reverie Shores” to send shivers down my spine through the fusion of hard hitting riffs and spacey verses, fuelled by the stunning vocals of Dave McPherson and intricate riffs of guitarist, Gazz Barlow. Their new record packs the punch of debut album “Overgrown Eden”, but swoops deeper into the melodic realms of their sound. Although there was an impressive reaction to their new songs throughout the set, it was tracks from previous albums which set the crowd off like an atomic bomb. Dave McPherson’s vocal capacity was stunning as he managed to fluctuate between pitch perfect chorus workings and brutal screams with ease. Absolute chaos blossomed as tracks such as “Soldier” and “Belief Revival” raised the heat of the venue into a rock driven inferno, with Greg McPherson’s bass lines sounding chunkier by the minute. Admittedly, after an hour of constant mayhem and spectacular showmanship from InMe, things started to die down a bit as fatigue hit most of the crowd and the pit thinned out. Nonetheless, a collection of softer ballads nursed the crowd back to health for a four track encore to end on classic track “Underdose” to catalyse yet another chaotic sing along. This band defines hard working independent artists and it’s incredible to see them still packing venues and playing arena worthy performances after all these years as a band.
InMe’s brand new album “The Pride” is out now (Rock Regeneration review to follow shortly).
Physical Copies: http://www.bandstores.co.uk/shop/inme/
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-pride-bonus-track-version/id497351226
Set List
InMe
Reverie Shores
Soldier
Faster The Chase
Belief Revival
Saccharine Arcadia
A Great Man
Cracking The Whip
Natural
Pantheon
7 Weeks
Moonlit Sea Bed
Her Mask (P.A.)
Raindrops on Stones
Legacy
Ferocity In Desire
Underdose
Videos
Inme
Lost Alone
Mojo Fury
This Fall
More Videos from the event can be found http://www.hourglasspromo.co.uk
http://inmeofficial.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/lostaloneofficial
http://www.facebook.com/mojofuryband
http://www.facebook.com/thisfall
Words by George Fullerton.
Pictures and Video By Dave Chinery.