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Reverend and the Makers, Heads We Dance

The Faversham on 11 October 2006
Reviewed by Dave on 13th October 2006

It’s ‘Club NME’ at the Faversham tonight and its so scene that it hurts. By the time that Heads We Dance get onto the stage the DJ has played one song that I recognised, all the rest were the kind of things that the NME touts as “the new Libertines” or whatever it is the NME call new bands nowadays. This leads me to believe that I am out of touch with the music scene, however I realise this is a symptom of becoming “old”.

Heads We Dance

As Heads We Dance take to the stage the crowd is completely silent, or at least very quiet, this is probably because very few people will have heard of the band; they have been together a little over two months and this is only their second gig. Judging from the show they put on tonight this is the start of a successful career for the Leeds based foursome.

Stand out songs from the set include ‘Work It Out’ with deep, dark vocals that impart a feeling of doom upon, backed up with keyboards and bass that help to add to this gloomy atmosphere. Another song that stood out was ‘Love in a Digital Age’ an upbeat and very different song from ‘Work it Out’ with vocals that are higher pitched and a faster paced backing from the keyboards. My personal favourite song from the set was ‘So You Want to Stay at the Ritz’ a song that the band say was influenced by the Channel 4 mistake that was ‘Chantel: Living the Dream’ it’s a song about the separate lives that those with fame live, it is fast paced and poppy and hearing it brought a smile to my face.

Heads We Dance had the stage presence of a band that has been performing for years, for a band that has only played two shows they are remarkably confident on stage and they seem to love every minute of being in the spotlight. This was a great set from an up and coming band, keep your eye out for them in the future.

Rating: 9/10
Website: www.myspace.com/headswedance

Reverend and the Makers

The headline act was Reverend and the Makers, apparently a popular band as there were several people in band t-shirts and when they came onto the stage it was to loud cheers and whooping. Given that they had a lot of support from the crowd I was expecting something bordering on ace, however the band failed to impress me all that much.

The songs were well played and the band mesh the soul bass lines and keyboards with the singer’s distinctive vocals well. There are a few entertaining songs but every song that I start getting into is followed by one that seems bland, having said that though the band did put on a good show and the singer performed a couple of poems between songs, which were quite humorous.

Reverend and the Makers clearly have a lot of talent, the songs available on their Myspace make that clear; however I found their live show a bit forgettable.

Rating: 7/10
Website: www.myspace.com/reverendmusic

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