Red Dragon Rock Night

Mr. Kyps

Compered by Si Genaro and featuring Xander and The Keys, Sirpico, Monotype and Sansara

I was expecting a lot from tonight as this was the inaugural Red Dragon Records rock night at Mr Kyps. Four great local bands on one line up, on a Friday night, lots of friends, a few beers – except someone forgot to tell people to buy tickets.

Si Genaro 

It started promisingly enough, with local legend Si Genaro warming the crowd up as compere.

The first band on were three-piece indie rock outfit Xander and The Keys. Quite a few people had turned up to see them and they were well received by the crowd. They threw out a couple of covers, including “Sweet Dreams” and “All Along The Watchtower”, as well as some original Xander and The Keys numbers, including “Shivers”. They were giving away free CD’s featuring two of their tracks in exchange for email addresses and there were loads of emails on the sheet when I went over to get one, so they appeared to be popular.

Xander And The Keys 1

Four piece Sirpico were up next and they took to the stage looking like overgrown school boys, all in shirts and ties. Their music wasn’t really to my taste, however they were popular and heavy on the keyboards. They had Si back up on stage with them for “Golden Handshake” which went over well to the crowd. My friend remarked that the drummer really stood out when they finished with a cover of the Foo Fighters’ “Pretender”.

Sirpico 

By the time third act Monotype got up on stage, the crowd had thinned somewhat but that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for their set. Their absurdly happy bass player seemed to be really pleased to be on stage. I really enjoyed their set, although by this point I had trouble hearing the music properly; whether it sounded a bit off because of the lack of bodies, I don’t know but Monotype went over well to those of us left in the crowd, I would certainly see them again and I especially enjoyed their cover of System of a Down’s “Toxicity”.

Monotype 1

So, to round things off we had Sansara, complete with new bassist Carl Heath. They started well with “Lost and Found”, sounding good and heavy and Tom’s vocals were strong, as they always are. Carl looked comfortable and the whole band played well, churning out familiar tracks such as “Remedy”, “Broken” and “Let It Burn”. By this time there really was hardly anybody there to hear them do a fantastic job, which was very disappointing, but Sansara took it in their stride, getting Si Genaro out on stage to perform “Chicken Train”, heavy metal style, with Tom sitting it out by the drum kit. Their set ended with “Deride” and suddenly the whole place was empty.

Sansara 1–2–3

I understand from Red Dragon that there may have been some kind of mix up with the online listing for the gig, however I found it disappointing that so few people bothered to turn up for a great night of music; certainly I saw the details being shared around quite a bit on Facebook so I’m still surprised at the low turnout. All of the bands did an excellent job, however, for me the night lacked a little something in atmosphere, purely because of the small audience. It’s a real shame, but at least all four acts can hold their heads up for their performances.

Weblinks
http://www.reddragonrecords.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SansaraOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/monotypeuk
http://www.sirpico.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/XanderAndTheKeys

Words – Vikkie Richmond
Photos – Chris Venzi-James