Gig reviews for October 2011

The Fazed at the Exchange, 7th October

Kevin Gaughan reports.

A warm, cosy atmosphere in the basement at The Exchange, as the first act of the night, Ollie Rudge took to the stage with just his guitar. Providing a fine start to the night with his fairly upbeat, mostly cheery acoustic songs.

Ollie Rudge © Kevin Gaughan

Unfortunately, as is often the case with the opening act, people were mostly chatting between themselves.

I did find, however, if you took the time to sit down and listen to this young chap and his lyrics, you would be well rewarded.

Micheal Vickers © Kevin Gaughan

Following on from Ollie was Micheal Vickers, singer from the now defunct Leicester-based Indie band, Kicking Habbits. Micheal brought his slower range of acoustic songs into the mix. He has a smooth voice that caused the growing crowd to quieten down as they started to pay attention.

Micheal was a pleasure to listen to and provided a great warm-up for the bands that followed.

The Insight © Kevin Gaughan

Next up, after a very long delay was The Insight a five-piece from all over the country who met in Derby. Upping the decibels by quite a bit with their indie sounds often sounding 60s inspired, with a touch of country.

The Insight on Facebook.

Following on from the Insight were The Fazed, a four-piece indie-rock band from Leicester. By this time, there was standing room only in the basement as their reputation preceeds them.

The Fazed have been around for quite a while and have performed everywhere from Leicester's Summer Sundae in 2007 to numerous BBC radio appearances.

The Fazed © Kevin Gaughan

The Fazed performed their expertly assembled indie songs sometimes heavily guitar based, courtesy of Lex Keel, one of my favourites, 'Cut the Wire', unique, sublime and just gorgeous, with gentle undulations from Mr. Keel all the way through until he really lets rip at the end. Fantastic, haven't heard original indie music like this for a while.

It's easy to see why they've been all over BBC Radio. They are currently in the studio recording their latest single Days to Greys.

See them at the Oxjam festival in Leicester on Saturday the 22nd October at 19:00 in the Exchange.

The Fazed on MySpace.

Click here to watch The Fazed perform 'Cut the Wire' or here to watch them perform another song at the gig.