This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
Presented by the possibly fictional record label L’islet Records, Guitar Music Is Dead! was something of an ironic name for this event at The Fermain Tavern, as it featured four bands spanning a wide range of unarguably guitar based sounds.
The first of these was a rare outing from Le Quesne.
For this show the band appeared as a duo with leader Tyler Edmonds on acoustic guitar and vocals along with Mikey Ferbrache on piano and electric guitar.
The addition of the eclectic guitar and the keys took what could have been a fairly standard acoustic performance and elevated it, allowing Edmonds’ songs to really shine through.
Since his time leading Last Of The Light Brigade Tyler has often shown a knack for great songwriting and this was strongly exhibited here and I’d love to see it more again.
Slowly building a name for themselves over the last year, Coastal Fire Dept. upped the sonic ante next with a set of their ‘grunge from the Vale’.
Loud and heavy even by their standards they took the best bits of the distinctive Seattle sound of the early 90s and added their own spin, particularly in terms of lyrical content – especially pertinent given that the show happened on the 25th anniversary of Nirvana’s In Utero.
They may not be the most charismatic band onstage but have their own kind of presence and their tightness and songs really do speak for themselves with Lady Killer in particular (as I have noted in the past) being a highlight and a cover of Molly’s Lips making for a great set closer.
Pop punk, with a heavy twist, was next in the menu from Burning At Both Ends.
Having gained a strong following amongst younger fans their set at this year’s Vale Earth Fair seemed to properly introduce them to a wider, more adult, audience and their set of, mostly, brand new songs should have continued that trend here.
About as tight as it’s possible for a band to get with songs that merge the bounciness of the best pop punk with an edge that should invoke a mosh, for me the one downside of Burning At Both Ends was a little too much in evidence here.
When they have a busy and energetic audience they rise to the occasion with a strong performance, tonight however, faced with a smaller and somewhat distant crowd, while they remained tight and focussed it lacked the sense of fun pop punk needs, feeling rather like a band going through the motions.
Given the size and energy of the audience at the Tav at this point in the night I was rather thinking that, while guitar music may not be dead, maybe it’s audience is less than healthy, but then The Risk fired up.
As The Risk launched into what could only be described as a greatest hits set the audience began to move, getting more and more energetic, along with the band, as things went on.
On a few occasions the band may have had some technical issues but once they were rolling they didn’t stop with the likes of Jobs For The Boys, Twilight Zone, Good Times, Norma Jean and more all sounding fresh and vital with the band and audience rolling back the years.
An encore was of course called for and came in the form of Born To Be Wild (‘Get your scooters running’ for the mods) before another encore was called for and delivered to close the night.
Given the switch in energy when The Risk took to the stage the night had a somewhat two-sided feel but, however you look at it, it more than proved that there is some great ‘guitar music’ being made in Guernsey today whatever style may happen to strike a chord for you.
