Puma Music Liverpool
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January 26th 2009 saw the launch of Puma Music. Their mission statement was clear enough “We’re looking for the freshest alternative musical talent in Manchester and Liverpool, so if you think you’ve got what it takes to raise the bar of music in the North West, check us out!”
The idea being that local bands could upload their music to the puma website and then a public vote would determine 4 winners. Two winner would get to play in support of Pete and The Pirates in Manchester and the other winners would support Kids In Glass Houses in Liverpool. The acts with the highest votes being main support.
In addition the 2 main support acts would also get the chance to record and tour their music. “PUMA will also whisk the band into a professional studio to record two tracks that’ll be released digitally and supported with a strategic promotional campaign, including a PUMA photo shoot and six-date UK live tour.”
Whilst we here at crowdsurfer cannot comment on the quality of the Manchester winners (because we were not present) we can tell you that 2nd place winners were “Disco Nasties” (myspace) and the winners were “Bye Bye Johnny” (myspace). Why not have a look and make your own minds up!
We were at the Liverpool / Kids in glass houses (KIGH) show though and before the gig started we had a brief chat with Aled Phillips, front man of tonights main attraction, KIGH. Check out what he had to say below:
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To kick things off we had the runners up from the public vote, “The Jives” (Myspace). How in the world they got runners up is a mystery even Columbo wouldn’t solve. They weren’t bad; it makes me think of Simple Plan in their video “Shut Up”. For the lucky people who have not seen that video Simple Plan are playing at a posh dinner when someone interrupts the band to inform them that a mix up has happened and they are playing at the wrong venue. What I’m getting at is that it felt like this band shouldn’t be here. There sound didn’t suit the evenings theme of new music as it felt rather dated. Musically they sounded ok the guitarist had some decent solos and the drummer was very energetic. But basically this band sounded and even some of them looked like The Beatles which is not a bad thing but just didnt seem to fit. There is a time and a place for this kind of music and its called the Matthew Street Festival, where they may find their music embraced.
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Luckily I’ve heard of tonight’s winners My Emergency (Myspace). They seem to keep popping up at the gigs I attend, so I’m already accustomed to a selection of their songs. Already they have played with the likes of Senses Fail, Fighting With Fire and We Are The Ocean and are due to play with Youmeatsix in the forth comings weeks. They arrived on stage to the sounds of Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” it provided a much needed laugh and woke the crowd up from the slumber that the previous band had put them in. It’s easy to see why My Emergency won the Puma music competition, the band have some extremely catchy songs that are hard to ignore. With songs like “Fallback” and “Headlights” My Emergency could easily fill a ep’s worth of songs never mind picking a single to release (one of the prizes is My Emergency will release a single). Bigger and better gigs will occur for My Emergency but tonight for a short period of time they acted and sounded like headliners not under studies.
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Last out are the reason most people where here tonight, Kids In Glass Houses. I’ve twice previously missed KIGH, first at Give It A Name and again when they supported Funeral For A Friend so for me at least I’m rather excited. The band entered with Aled sporting a blue Puma hoodie (well any chance to promote I suppose) and were greeted with great support from the crowd. For this is a rare gig for KIGH with only a couple of festival appearances to occur before a trip to the studio to make that difficult second album. With a debut album that’s packed with hits, tonight is a keen reminder why the band got so much hype even before they signed a record deal. Virtually every song for their debut was played this evening plus a new song which sounded cool without deviating too much from there sound. Pleasing for me was that their heaviest songs “Fisticuffs and “Good Girls Gone Rad” sound every inch as good as on the album and don’t sound diluted. The strength of the set was mammoth and big hits “Easy Tiger” and “Give Me What I Want” could be left till the end of the set, showing how strong the earlier tracks are. The songs energy where matched by Aled who on more than one ocasion got up close and personal with his fans, climbing any rail or speaker to do so. Overall a very strong set by KIGH and a good choice to be the main event for this evening.
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(Full photo set here)