Erica Drive/Towers/A New Hope/Seconds Late

The Anvil, Bournemouth

It’s Easter Sunday and it a perfect evening for a gig as most people have the benefit of a bank holiday Monday off work/school to look forward tomorrow. It’s an eagerly anticipated evening for the launch of the new EP “The Hate, The Hurt, The Healing” by Bournemouth rock band Erica Drive. I was lucky enough to get myself a sneak preview of it a little while ago and was really impressed with what I heard and wrote a review about it here. I’m quite ashamed to say I have not yet seen these guys live yet, as since forming at the start of 2017 every time they have played other commitments have got in the way and despite having a three gig weekend I have made sure to keep tonight free to get here.

Opening tonight show is Seconds Late a local pop-punk outfit who are formed from members of previous band Skyway Avenue. The band feature Mike White and Joe White on electric guitars with Luke Bhagwanani on drums. They strangely have no bassist and this seems to be covered by an electronic backing track. Tonight is the first gig with their new drummer and to start with you can forgive them for being slightly distracted with a few technical issues. They do their best to engage with the initially lazy audience who warm to the band and they start to take stride part way through their set. The three-piece entertain us was some decent tunes including “Check Yes” and “Forget Me” with a clean guitar sound with no obvious enhancements. The band leaves the stage after their thirty minute set too much positive applause.

Seconds Late 1–2–3

Next up are out of towners A New Hope who are down here all the way from Newbury, I’m not quite sure what they put in the water in Berkshire, but they are quite a different band from what I was expecting. They are a six piece who combine electronics with melodic guitars and heavy rhythms to create an original sound which is drawn from a host of different influences. Though they have some great tunes, I’m sure the audience will mostly remember the band for their edgy and slightly awkward in-between song banter. The Frontman who instigates all the banter is trying hard at getting the audience on their side, but fails and sends a few people back upstairs to the bar. Their songs like the opening number “Thursday but it feels like a Friday night” are played with great energy featuring some killer guitar parts, but the band loose wasted momentum with the in-between song intermissions. The highlight of their set is the single “6 degrees of Kevin Bacon” an infectious shot in the arm of highly danceable crossover rock which shows the band at their best.

A New Hope 1–2

The penultimate band of the evening is Bournemouth’s 4 piece Towers, these guys arrive on stage with little fuss and launch into their first number “Titan” and like the title, it’s a big tune. The two guitarists create some amazing sound textures using their effect loaded six strings which easily fill this small room. Frontman Mark has a fine vocal ability and brings the band’s tunes to life with a passion. The band are tonight showcasing some new currently untitled tunes for their next release. They show they band really working well together creating some great new original sounding tune. They save the best till last with a new tune that epically atmospheric that in clearly the one of the best tunes the band have created to date which really makes an impact with the audience. On one of their next outings they are to perform at the Teddy Rocks Festival and their tunes are sure to sound fantastic in an even bigger location.

Towers 1–2–3–4

As so to the reason that we are all here tonight; Erica Drive, the crowd have certainly swelled to near capacity and as the five all bearded musicians take to the stage they are given a homecoming welcome. Kicking off with “All We Are” the band is certainly not holding back as inject plenty of energy as the Anvil stage positively bounces with the weight of the five stocky gents moving vigorously around. Their sound is big, huge in fact, very few bands are brave enough to feature three electric guitars in their line-up. Erica drive have worked hard at creating their own tailor-made sound which works on all levels, backed up with the delightful passionate vocals from frontman Matt Underdown.

Erica Drive 1–2–3–4–5

The band take a short diversion from their own material part way through the set, where they give a great account of “Pain” by Jimmy Eat World and the audience enjoy a unified sing-a-long with them. They leave possibly their best two tunes to last: the emotive ‘Better Man’ and one of the greatest creations “The Fall” where the band are fully firing on all levels. The tune starts gently; before the rhythms slowly bring the tune to a faster and faster tempo, before the three guitars light up and once again Matt’s vocals are the proverbial cherry on the top. The band leave the stage having triumphantly delivered a fantastic set full of great musical moments, which I’m sure will be remembered for some time.

Set List
Erica Drive
Intro
All We Are
Vacant stranger
The Woods
Anchor
Just Another
Pain (Jimmy Eat World)
Six Feet Away
Open Road
Better Man
The Fall

Towers
Titan
Milton
Otherside
New Titled song
Everlasting
New Titled song

A New Hope
Thursday but it feels like a Friday night
Big bag of cans with the lads
Purple Drank (released soon)
Quadzilla vs Orangutank
Luigi Board
6 degrees of Kevin bacon

Seconds Late
Freak
Shameless
February
Never Will
Check Yes
Forget Me

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