I was down at Whelans for the evening last Friday checking out some of the new talent on show and popped upstairs in Whelans to catch Des Lee do his thing. His first time in Whelans and clearly nervous but showed he was a very solid performer though it was a shame there wasn’t more there to catch his set. Such is the bane of a support act sometimes.
I then popped downstairs to Storyfold who were playing the album launch for their recently released album ‘Rocket Science’. Having given the album a couple of listens I do feel Storyfold have the catchy pop song vibe down, and that they are made for radio play.
The gig however did not rock my boat, my first gripe shared by many we talked to around us was that the sound really wasn’t great and half that falls on the sound engineer and half on the band for sound checking and accepting that sound. Secondly the light show behind them was absolutely blinding and at time I couldn’t even look at the stage, I had to stare at my feet till the lights stopped. I’m not knocking the idea of a lightshow, just these particular lights we very bright and right on eye line.
However there were positive, mainly the closing of the show which featured 3 catchy tunes which really garnered a massive crowd response and their closing choice of song was a cover of Rhianna’s – S&M which went down a storm.
Overall, I’m not sure what to make of Storyfold quite yet, I think they have the tools to be commercially viable if that’s the aim, the music is written and structured to be radio friendly with pop hooks. I have to wonder what kind of fan base they have currently and if selling out Whelan’s again will be as easy when it’s not a friends and family affair as album launches can at times be. Are they to be another all to often flash in the pan. Time will tell. For the record I think they have potential, but it’s turning that potential into a career is and always has been, extremely hard.
Photos: Kate Turner