The Frequency/Hooligan Choir

Cellar Bar, Chaplin’s, Boscombe

It is with a tinge of sadness and with a few nerves that I make my way to the Cellar Bar tonight. One of Rock Regeneration’s favourite band’s over the last 18 months has been The Frequency, and recently we announced that bass player Dan Hammond Smith was to leave the band. The thoughts are as to whether the band could cut it still while losing such a big part of their appeal.

Tonight they have bought along a stand in bassist by the name of “Jim” who will stand in briefly while they look for a full time replacement. This gig is a warm up show for a very exciting premier headline slot at the world famous 100 Club in London on October 19th.

Tonight’s support act are Bournemouth’s Hooligan Choir who despite a few early technical hiccups hit the stage with a full head of steam. The Cellar Bar is packed tonight and it is great to see than much of the audience have come down early to catch Hooligan Choir. Elijah and Laur are looking dapper in their jackets and deliver a fine set full of highlights. The band’s tight guitar sound contains echoes of a 60’s vibe along with a few more obvious modern influences. The band impress with there every growing catalogue of songs with a couple of new numbers “Bad Candy” and “She’s Calling”. As good as the band are their confidence took a bit of a hit with the early technical problems, but take it from the appreciative crowd lads you are certainly something quite special, who create a noise well worth listening too..

Hooligan Choir 1–2

After a quick change around The Frequency take to the stage with masses of confidence along with their usual charming smiles, powering into “Sticky Little Finger” which merged perfectly with “Run To You” the band show everybody just why they are one of Bournemouth’s premier bands. Bass Player ‘Jim’ who looks a little like a double for DJ Zane Lowe is a little nervous but does a static but solid job. Lead singer Austyn puts everything into the performance, with Dan gone they show that the band can continue without any problem at all. A version of the Oasis classic “Champagne Supernova” gets much of the Cellar Bar singing at the tops of their voices for the now customary cover, with the band’s extensive catalogue of original songs I would have much preffered to hear one of their own numbers.

The Frequency 1–2–3–4

The audience are in a very celebratory mood and they wouldn’t let the band leave the stage until they play one last song. They dutifully oblige with “I Know You Know ” from their debut album “Fall To The Floor”, the skilfully played twin guitars of Austyn and Dan provide a supreme big sound that hopefully take this band forward on to a much bigger stage. The Frequency were more than able to push aside my worries about life without Dan, to be honest at times his great vocal abilities were missed especially on songs like “Same Old Nothing At All”, but the band have shown resilience along with a passion for what they do to just carry on regardless……..Long Live The Frequency!!!

Set Lists

The Frequency
Sticky Little Finger
Run With You
New York Symphony
You Don’t Have To Know
Sympathy For Insanity
Lighthouse
More Than You’ll Ever Know
Same Old Nothing At All
Champagne Supernova (Oasis Cover)
I Know You Know

Hooligan Choir
Leaving You
Born To Be Mild
Bad Candy
Jump The Gun
Bigger The Wetter
She’s Calling
Hooligan Blues
Quion Canta

Videos
The Frequency