The Anvil, Bournemouth
Sansara EP launch
Bournemouth band Sansara’s 1st gig was at Champion’s just over a year ago in February 2012, in that short time they have released two quality EPs, played a countless amount of great gigs around the local area and won a place to play at the prestigious “Hammerfest”.
Tonight the band are at the Anvil Rock Bar in Bournemouth to launch their second EP “Let It Burn”, they have bought three great support bands to make sure the run up to their performance that their fans are kept fully entertained. The 1st of these are “Dead By Dawn” who have the difficult task of opening the show, the five piece band open with the number “Blown Away” from their EP “The Sound Of Your Demise|, and despite there only being a handful of people in the room they really put massive effort into their performance. The band’s powerful melodic style with it’s twin guitars at times sounds a little like “Rage Against The Machine| with echoes of likes Pantera and Machine Head. Vocalist Dave Cook gives an inspiringly passionate performance with some brutally delivered hardcore vocals, while drummer Marc Canning possibly gives the most casual and laid back drumming performance ever seen within a metal band. The band end with “Hierarchy” yet another brutal piece of metal that packs a massive punch showing exactly what these guys are capable of .
Next up are 3 piece The Sabre’s who have been around since 2010 performing quality rock’n’ roll to the local masses, opening with the great track “CCTV” the band seem to be really on it tonight making a delightful but elegant noise. Front man and lead guitarist Ritchie Adams certainly knows his way around his Gibson guitar pulling off some great riffs on songs from the band’s debut album “Escaping Extinction” backed by the rock solid rhythm section of brothers Martin Ramsey(Drums) and Paul Ramsey(Bass). A couple of brand new songs appear in the form of “Human” and “Broken Radio” both continue in the same vein with the more than impressive guitar work. The trio leave the stage with plenty of positive support from the audience who all seemed to enjoy their great 35 minute set.
Western Sand are etching their claim as one of Bournemouth’s premier live rock acts, after performing at some recent high profile gigs (inlcuding our own Birthday party!), the band’s performance has really improved so much, tonight is no different. Tyler and Jimmy are the band two lead guitarists who are firing on all cylinders producing some extremely impressive guitar work influenced by the likes of Lynard Skynard and Led Zeppelin. The band have a new self titled EP on the way which include new tracks “A Place I Call Home” and the excellent “Broken Bones” which seem to have already become live favourites. Front man Tyler gives the now much larger audience just the right amount of encouragement to get involved as the band power through a cover of Nazareth’s “Hair Of The Dog” with the audience chanting the bass players name “FINLAY HOTCHKISS” over and over. The band leave the stage to very generous applause after a triumphant return to the Anvil, which saw them very close to upstaging the headliners.
Despite all the top quality support bands, tonight is all about Sansara and by the time the band arrive onstage the place is completely packed with friends, family and loads of local rock fans. The five piece kick off with one of the new tracks from the EP “Save Me” and within seconds of the 1st guitar note being played the place is a mass of bodies moving in a rather hectic mosh pit. The band seem to feed off the energy in the place and provide a really great memorable performance full of exciting highlights with the new songs especially showing some great progress musically and in creative song writing . At the very centre of the band is lead vocalist the very calm Tom Sawyer who despite all the chaos happening around him delivers some faultless vocals backed ably by Chris and Sam producing some great twin guitar work.
This evening was a complete celebration of these five guys 1st year together, laying down the path for the future, with the bands hard work ethic and commitment to their music, their slot at Hammerfest might just get them noticed by the right people. It regularly heard around the bars and venues in Bournemouth that the local music scene is not what it should be, that is rubbish there is a flourishing rock scene in Bournemouth, with a few of the better bands due to bust out soon and make it big. One or two of them may just have performed here tonight!!
Sansara 1–2–3
