MKS Studios – Night Of The Living Bands

October 30, 2012 Off By Jon

Mr Kyps, Poole

featuring Peace, Love and Gloves, Sansara, Xander Allen & The Keys and Lacey

It’s Halloween Eve and MKS Studios have put together a fancy dress theme night at Mr Kyps in Poole entitled “Night Of The Living Bands” to showcase a selection of local acts who they have recently worked with. MKS is a professional studio situated in the heart of Bournemouth with state of the art equipment run by Luke Adams who has 6 years of professional experience as an Artist and Label Manager.

He has been lucky a enough to have worked with some major names around the world. Tonight’s four act are a very diverse selection, ones that might not usually be seen on the same bill together. The first of these acts is 16 year old rapper “Lacey” who arrives onstage with plenty of confidence along with lots of early support from the crowd. He performs a few of his own songs such as “Raise It” and the new single “Running It Now” which has achieved a very respectable 12,000 hits on his You Tube page (http://www.youtube.com/LaceyVEVO). As Lacey leaves the stage after his very respectable 20 minute set, the audience gives him their approval in the form of lots applause and plenty of supportive cheers.

Lacey 1

Next up are Zander Allen & The Keys a local Bournemouth based three piece rock band who go about livening up the crowd with a selection of their own original songs and a sprinkling of covers. Opening with the rather good “Shoebox Alleyway” a great well crafted song which really hit the spot, the covers came in the form of MGMT’s “Kids” and nice version of Echo & The Bunnyman’s “Killing Moon”. Despite the band’s best efforts they did not really get the attention from the crowd that they deserved, but as they leave the stage a few fans shouted for more so with a little time to spare “Shoebox Alley” was performed again as they had run out of rehearsed songs.

Zander Allen and The Keys 1–2

Sansara seem to be everywhere at the moment playing gigs in all manner of places working really hard getting their songs and their name out there. Tonight the band have really made an effort with all members have taken on board the Halloween theme, especially the drummer Mike Rigler who appears behind his kit in a huge inflatable Cartman (South Park) suit. The band’s sound is heavily influenced from the 90’s grunge era with plenty of more modern rock influences in there too. As well as more established songs such as “How Do You Get By” and “Let It Burn” the band are now performing some new songs in their set that shows some great progression with their sound. The amazingly talented guitarist Sam Hughes seems to be on fire tonight and is pulling some serious shapes while belting out some thrilling guitar work much to the delight of the excited onlookers. The band maintain high amounts of energy throughout their set keeping everybody’s full attention while they perform with lead singer Tom Sawyer giving the audience plenty of encouragement to get involved. The band end on a high with the stand out song from their debut EP “Torn Between Lies” which really shows what a great talent these guys have.

Sansara 1–2–3–4

Peace, Love and Gloves 1–2–3–4–5

The last band need no introduction, Dorset Music Award winners 2012 Peace, Love & Gloves arrive on stage to an amazing welcome along with the usual shouts of “Goujon Goujon” from their adoring fans the Gloves and Glovettes. They have also all dressed for the occasion with front man Mark in a priest outfit, guitarist Rikki as Chucky, Bassist B-rad as a Zombie Mexican, Drummer Jason in a Borat style mankini and Rapper Jordan wearing a out dated shell suit looking like a young Jimmy Saville. The band kick off in their usual way with ‘Bang Bang Bang’ and the audience are with them every step of the way singing along to every lyric as their lives depended on it. When this band are in full flow and they have their crowd of fans with they there is no local band out there than can beat the atmosphere that they create. These guys are not all great musicians, they are all self taught keeping things really simple singing about every day things to which everybody can relate to and that is what is so appealing about them. As usual Jordan joins part way through the set for some rap accompaniment to “Young Lives” and “Wait” complimenting Mark’s vocals perfectly. The band don’t really have a planned set list they just seem to take requests shouted out from the crowd with virtually every sensible request rewarded. The band leave the stage with everybody wanting more but as they want to get to the bar and carry on the party it sadly ends there. Four very different acts on one bill worked really well and attracted a really good enthusiastic crowd on a Tuesday night in October, I look forward to the next MKS night.

Set Lists
Peace, Love & Gloves
Bang Bang Bang
Hold On
Toy Story
Ashamed Of Me
Young Lives
Wait
Caught Me out
Low Whoa Whoa
Monster

Sansara
Save Me
Pacify
Let It Burn
How Do You Get By
Lost And Found
Down
The Remedy
More Than This
Deride
Torn Between Lives

Videos
Peace, Love & Gloves

Sansara

Xander Allen & The Keys