Heaven's Basement, The Fighting Cocks, Kingston

My first gig this month, with a lot more to come, and what a way to start February! I noticed on Heaven's Basement's album that Kerrang had given it some praise, so I decided to email them a review to see if I got a response... Fingers crossed. I also emailed it to Grapevine Live, so hopefully they'll put it on their site too.
 
Heaven's Basement Album Launch, The Fighting Cocks, Kingston, Sunday 3rd February 2013

Sunday afternoon in Kingston-on-Thames and in that little venue called The Fighting Cocks a band called Heaven’s Basement were having their album launch.

I have never been to this bar before and upon entering I can tell it is a great little house of rock and roll! The venue itself seemed tiny, with sticky floors and no room on the stage for extra guitars, but it still managed to get a good 200 people or so in there ready for some pure and simple rock music from two excellent bands.

Cage The Gods took to the stage first, I hadn’t heard of them before today but there was no doubt this band was raring to go. Although a new band (only forming in summer 2012) they have a mature sound, not unlike the southern rock styles of Black Stone Cherry or Lynyrd Skynyrd. There were little flourishes of a Guns n’ Roses influence, but only flourishes and the solid rhythm and excellent solo sections made the band feel like they had been playing together for more than 6 months. It seemed they had a few fans already there and I’m sure they left the stage earning a few more (myself included). They did a great job of getting the crowd revved up for the headliners and managed to show some great musical talent with one of their slower, more melodic tracks, 'Promises', before cranking it back up with some good old fashioned hard rock. I can’t wait to hear some more of these guys and they are playing a few gigs around the country in the lead up to releasing their own album, so hopefully they'll play somewhere a bit closer to where I live soon.

The temperature was rising as a few more spectators added to the throng of people and a cheer greeted Heaven’s Basement as they made their way to the stage and promptly opened with their new album’s opener ‘Welcome Home’. I have seen Heaven’s Basement before, the last time was in 2011 with Jettblack and then again at the acoustic stage at Download Festival in the same year, but I have liked them since I first heard one of their tracks on a free cover CD from Classic Rock magazine in 2008, so I guess that makes me a fan. Nowadays only two of the original members remain, but the current lineup have been together since 2011 and they are really pushing themselves out there this year, with the album launch, recent European tours with the likes of Seether and Hailstorm, numerous videos and singles as well as a growing fan base and praise from many music critics, Heaven’s Basement are reaching for new heights and I’m glad they are still delivering their brand of honest straight forward rock music without pretension even after all the changes.

It could be argued that Heaven’s Basement have toned themselves down slightly, opting to play safer, more generic rock (with less crowd 'walking', where the singer used to walk along the raised hands of the crowd) in an effort to gain more interest form a wider audience. I would argue that they already have enough interest and, if today’s gig was anything to go by, they haven’t really toned down anything. The vocals are still belted out at full volume and the guitar work is still superb with the new songs sounding just as good as the older ones, the band have just matured a bit more but haven't lost the edge that made them such a good live band a couple of years ago.

The quality of the crowd was great too, singing along on cue and loving it almost as much as the band. It always feels good to be in a crowd that the band appreciates, and Heaven’s Basement really looked like they were enjoying it as they played a couple of their older songs like ‘Reign on my Parade’ and ‘Executioner’s Day’, which I think everybody knew the words to. Even the newer songs had a great response with a great moment to start the thumping ‘I Am Electric’ with the crowd helping to sing the opening lines. The latest tracks sounded great live and the band are set to play Download Festival this year, which I am very much looking forward to.

I haven’t listened to the new album yet (although I did get a copy with yesterday's gig ticket), but based on what was played today and the tracks that are already on Youtube, my first impressions are good and I am glad I have invested my faith in such a brilliant band over the years.

Cage the Gods can be found at www.cagethegods.com/ 
Heaven's Basement can be found on their own site, heavensbasement.com/