This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
After a run of bigger gigs both in Guernsey and further afield there was something refreshing about heading back into a smaller venue on a cold November night to catch what was billed the next chapter in the supposed ongoing conflict between the mods and the rockers (albeit tonight in the form of grungers) as Guernsey’s mod-fathers The Risk took to the stage at The Vault along with those fine exponents of Grunge From The Vale, Coastal Fire Dept.
Over the last year or so Coastal Fire Dept have, fairly organically, developed and experimented with additional guitarists first with former Lord Vapour axeman Henry Fears and then even further with To The Woods’ (and others) Bobby Battle giving them, at times a three guitar assault.
Here, for the first time, the band played as a dedicated four piece featuring Battle as second guitarist throughout and from the start this seemed to have done something to their sound and presence, not only solidifying their version of that early 90s alternative rock sound they’ve always been looking for, but also bringing a new confidence to their performance and giving frontman Ollie Goddard more space to relax into things more.
Across the set they mixed well established favourites like the controversial Ladykiller, You Make Me Feel and (the apparently ‘snowflake’ baiting) Needy with three brand new songs.
Coco stood out as being, comparatively, slow for them and expanding their sound into that darker and more stoner side of grunge while You Are Stuck looks like one that could become a firm favourite as it descended into a kind of noise assault inspired, according to Battle at least, by My Bloody Valentine.
As they closed on a couple of covers from the heyday of grunge with The Vaseline’s Molly’s Lips and an encore of Nirvana’s School that saw Bobby take over lead vocals and Henry return on second guitar, they closed a set that was one of the most complete sounding and feeling I’ve heard from Coastal Fire Dept on a real high.
Appearances by The Risk are, generally, a rare thing these days so it was great to hear this show announced for only a month after their appearance at St James and they launched into their set with a purpose in their original three-piece version.
It was clear from the off they still have a dedicated following who filled what passes for a dancefloor at The Vault throughout but it was hard to avoid the fact that for most in the crowd this was, really, a pure nostalgia thing.
A few minor on stage technical issues saw the band’s energy drop slightly but it was boosted as they brought on their long time brass section and old favourites continued to pour from the PA.
Unfortunately while the songs remain great and the atmosphere and mood was certainly positive, compared to both last month’s show, and Coastal Fire Dept’s rousing opening set, it never quite seemed like The Risk got up to full speed.
While the likes of Norma Jean, Work and closer Good Times went down very well they didn’t quite have the punch they sometimes can but that didn’t stop the band earning an encore from the faithful.
That came with the traditional modded version of Born To Be Wild ending on a great, chaotic sonic collapse that showed the band’s raw energy is definitely still there, it just didn’t come out quite as well as it might have tonight.
In the end then it was the rockers who won this round, to stick to the rather strained premise of the event, but overall it was, of course, great to hear two rather varied bands sharing a bill and showing that, despite some thoughts to the contrary elsewhere, ‘guitar music’ in its various forms is far from dead.
