Juice Events Productions Battle of the Bands at The Late Lounge, Kill: review
By Ross Maguire
Photos by Mark K Doyle
Juice Events Productions are a new promoter outfit based in Kill, Co Kildare and run gigs in the town’s local venue The Late Lounge. These aren’t just any old gigs though, Juice Events strive in making you get the most fun out of a gig you can possibly have. How, you ask? Well In the past Juice Events has run abstract gigs such as “UV Paint Party Halloween fancy dress” and “Christmas Craicer” to name a few, and last Saturday night I went down to the Late Lounge to check out the grand finale of Juice events first Battle of the Bands gig which was labelled “Pirates of the Caribbean fully themed beach party”.
The place was fully kitted out like a pirate’s cove. As I walked in to the venue to the box office I felt like I was hopping on board “The Black Pearl”. A cinema prop of Captain Barbosa greeted me at the door and as I walked in to the main area of the venue there were lanterns, cobwebs ,nets hanging from the roof and a massive ship mast coming out from the back of the stage, oh and perhaps more importantly a free rum on entry. Sound Juice!
The battle of the bands itself contained 5 bands who were all in with the chance of winning the top prize of 1000 euro and to get this far they already had to go through two semi-finals, so tonight the winner was judged half by Judging and Half by Clapometer.
First up on the night were Indie rockers The P Affection from Naas. This probably wasn’t as tough a task ask usual though, the crowd already buzzing from the free rum and €3.00 pints that Juice had on promotion. They started out with their popular tune “worries of the world” which immediately drew some of the crowd up towards the stage and singing along to singer Padraig McCauley’s lyrics “the summer always ends too quickly”. The band also played a new song titled “oh Celina” which fused ska and indie together with a catchy lead guitar hook, and certainly aided the P Affection in their case towards winning the contest. As always with the P Affection, a tight performance which set the other bands a tough standard to follow.
Pop/Punk outfit Dave’s Last Rave were second on stage. Their Fans had brought signs to honour the band, and front-man Sean Curly was able to whip them into frenzy before he got them singing along to “wild rose”. The band suitably finished with a cover of the Dropkick Murphy’s song “Shipping out to Boston”. They did the song great justice with a massive sound from all instruments combined and the lead guitarist proving faultless with the oh- so important lead part. Good performance from the Kill band and their crowd putting them in with a great chance.
Next up were indie/alternative quartet Superhanz, and were a band I had been told were one to watch by many. The band have that very raw energetic feel about their songs similar to what I discovered when I heard Arctic Monkeys first album and their performance did not let me down. They also had an in form crowd, dressed as Pirates and singing along to singer Stephen Fagan’s every word on their original “A message to yourself”. The band ended with “run me out of town”, a song I had known the words to in preparation for the gig and by now the floor was filled with not only Superhanz fans, but also neutrals and members of the other bands that seemed to be in the same boat (excuse the pun) as they were thoroughly enjoying these lads at work.
After Superhanz the mood shifted as Math-rock/Alternative outfit Meles Meles took to the stage. This was also a band that I had anticipated before the gig. They opened with their original “Two Minds” and proved that musically, these guys were putting up a great fight with complex guitar riffs backed by heavy bass lines and energetic drumming. Everything you’d expect from a good math rock display. They also had a crowd full of support notably one fan who had a badger puppet at the front of the stage bouncing to every beat (Meles Meles being the term used for the genus of the European Badger). The bands last song “Beyond Sky” was one of those tunes were the interweaving of guitar licks combined with each note on the bass strikes somewhere in your head that you want to dance and puts forward the varying musical capabilities of the band. The crowd certainly felt this, latching on to singer Tony Gunning’s vocals with the lyric “Can you see/what I see”.
The last band to take to the stage was soul/pop band She Speaks. The band were fully in the spirit of the night as the drummer and lead singer were both dressed in pirate hats and eye patches. They opened with the soulful “Night on the town” which boasted some lovely guitar chords and singer Rebecca Keogh really giving it her all with a voice similar to that of the Dead Weathers Alison Mosshart. The band put on a great performance finishing with “Park song”, a song that proved why these guys got through the semi-final and cemented their place as strong contenders to be winners of the final.
When the bands were finished there was time allocated for everyone to grab another Captain Morgan and chill out by the sandy decks of the black pearl (which is what the smoking area became known as). There was also a set by Clane Duo, Up She Flew before the crowd headed to the front of the stage to cheer their band on. Head of Juice events Productions Cormac Berkeley came out with the clapometer and fired up the 150 or so people in the crowd for their task ahead. Each band got a roaring cheers and “aaarghh” and received around the 80 mark on the clapometer which left it very close for the judges to decide. In the end it was Superhanz who came out as well deserved winners and not one person could have complained with the intensity of their performance. Meles Meles and Dave’s Last Rave made up the second and third place. Just for good measure a DJ started up and took it through until about 3am capping off a thoroughly enjoyable night, even by Juice Events standards. I’ve been to a few gigs before run by Juice but this one took the cake. The effort that went in to theming this event and the spirit of people coming out dressed up would have put any Halloween party to shame. I suppose it’s just what people expected coming out to a Juice Events Productions gig. With great music, great atmosphere and one hell of a bargain on drinks and entry fee you can’t really go wrong, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Juice can whip up in the future. Keep an eye out for anything by Juice, it’s a night well spent.
Juice Events Facebook / The P Affection / Dave’s Last Rave / Superhanz / Meles Meles / She Speaks / Up She Flew
