Young Guns @ Drop Dead

Today at the London Drop Dead store, Young Guns came down to do a signing, but if that wasn't enough, they even decided to chuck in a short acoustic set for 40 lucky fans. I was fortunate to be the 10th one.

Travelling all the way from Derby where they just had played a festival to a small shop in London, the guys proved how much they care for their fans.

The band arrived right on time at 3pm, to the long, noisy queues of screaming fans who awaited just outside the doors to the store, many had been there since 6am, to make sure they got one of the 40 wrist bands.

The singing then took place, allowing small groups of people in to the store and out again, the atmosphere now was very intense and full of excited fans who had just met their favourite band.

I wasn't a massive fan of them, but I did like them as musicians and personally as they do produce good music as well as having lovely personality's. Young Guns are certainly one of them special bands who actually do bother and care about their fans, as this showed straight away, when we entered the drop dead store. Gustav Woods (Lead vocalist) stood to the side with a massive grin on his face, greeting fans, waving to everyone, welcoming them in, which also boosted the mood of already ecstatic people. Despite the store being very small, there was a manageable queue formed inside where the excitement of meeting them, took a shortened delay.

Everyone there seemed to be young teenage girls with the odd guy, who appeared to be massive fans, holding posters, albums, even wearing their merch, giving of a positive vibe throughout the store. At this point the excitement was building up, as more and more people left the store, I got a step closer to the table where the band sat behind. They all greeted me with a big warm smile on their face already brightening up the mood.
For a signing, it happened pretty slowly, which was better than I expected as most just sign your poster and move on to the next, but not Young Guns, they each took some time to speak to me, even if it was just a "Hey" or "How are you doing", each member looked just as happy as I was to be there. My favourite of course had to be Gustav. He was standing right on the end, full of excitement, juggling pens and paper with posing for photographs to be taken. (Below you can see me with the band)

 

After the signing was all over, we were asked to leave the store for a short few minutes while the band got ready for the acoustic set for just us lucky 40 people.

Outside there were still screaming fans, still not over the fact that they just met Young Guns.

NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE ACOUSTIC!

 The hardest part was probably trying to fit 40 people into the tiny shop, which actually was manageable, and they even got to squeeze a few more others who were waiting outside. The band were all lined up on the window display, ready with their guitars and voices, while the crowd sat, heads tilted up with joy written all over their faces. Before playing the first song, Guss spoke to thank us for all coming down to see them, and how much it meant for them that we were here, and he even made a few cheesy jokes which made us laugh too, then introduced the song.

As the first note vibrated, the crowd was dead silent, in anticipation making the whole focus onto them. Guss then let out his angelic voice and instantly connected with the crowd, as every single eye was glued to him. I would have to say that this, was one of the most enjoyable acoustic sets that I have been to as most just consisted of the band paying songs, however Young Guns made sure everyone was having a good time, singing along and always laughing, as they even tried more of their cheesy jokes. (But it did work) They played 4 songs, which were all beautifully done, and impeccable to perfection. Even after they were all finished, the band was happy to still meet more fans for pictures and autographs to celebrate the success of a great evening. I personally enjoyed this set a lot, as it was more than just listening to the band, but also connecting with the music, and actually taking a few short minutes to hang with them as normal people rather than "OMG IT'S YOUNG GUNS!" At the end of the day, everyone was happy and put in a good mood thanks to Young Guns.

The Lion And The Wolf + Our Time Down Here+ Fireworks acoustic @ Banquet records

Banquet records were doing another acoustic set and I just had to go down and see it time as it would have been my second set. As far as I was aware I only thought that Fireworks were going to be doing one at 6pm, however when I turned up to the small record shop, I heard that two other bands would be giving a short performance as well, which was more than  I had expected.

The first act was a solo artist who called himself "The Lion And The Wolf". I had never heard of him before, however I was more than happy to listen. He started off the acoustic trio with a warming voice, greeting us all into the small record shop, announcing who he was, making jokes and friendly smiles were all exchanged. After each song had played he would introduce it, but also telling us a little story about each one, which showed that each song meant just as much to him as he expressed. Musically, he was very talented. I thought his voice was dreamy, it was so beautiful in pitch and the soft past rhyme suited it perfectly. The softness of the repetitive strums of the guitar suited this still performance as everyone stood in silence absorbing his story. One story which really got the crowd in a grey mood was one about death, he told it in such a clam yet sorrow way which got us all glued to him, waiting for the next line to sing, held up in anticipation as to what would come next. Tom certainly knew what he was singing about as it came directly from the heart and the whole crowd at banquet could tell this. He played a couple more songs before leaving the store and welcoming the next band "Our Time Down Here" on.

Again I had never heard of this band as well, despite the fact that they had been around for some time, nevertheless I was always up for listening to new music. Out of the five pieces original punk-rock band only three of them performed at banquet that evening. Looking at the band I did not expect what came out of their mouths as I had thought. Will, (lead vocalist) introduced the band and who they were and all that phatic business, right before they got straight into the music, surprisingly this was their 5th acoustic performance and the other 3 had not gone down so well. To my shock he band to sing and at the moment I was stunned. Completely paralyzed in motion as to what I was hearing. The energetic fastness of hands moving over the strings set up an upbeat lively performance, however when Will started to sing it became a whole new story. His voice was magically, nothing like I would have expected, as it was my first time ever seeing them I was glad it was at an acoustic. He had this old fashioned, high, stern twist to his voice which amplified out so powerful it was mesmerising to me. I was completely taken back, and instantly fell in love with their voice combined with the acoustic rhythm.
The song was not just a one level pitch, however at the bridge it got to it's alternate high and Will's voice matched that perfectly, it was so in sync. "Under dim light" had to be the bets opening song for them as it exposed such an eye opener to the band, if you have never heard of them like it, it caught my attention imminently and I was looking forward for the newt songs they had to play. For them to even say their acoustics had gone terrible, was a shock hearing it play so smoothly.

The next couple of songs they played were more upbeat and lively which made everyone break from the still movement to a much bouncier movement as they all repeated the lyrics back and swayed a little to Cloud Of Dust, which seemed like a popular song. I of course enjoyed every single one of their songs, it's always great find out about new bands and instantly loving them, this was the same feeling I got when hearing OTDH.
After it was all over they said they were selling their CD for just £1, so I couldn't help but buy it because I really did like their sound.

After they had cleared the way, they allowed fans to get an autograph and picture with them which was very nice, and also stay for  a little chat, which we did, as we wanted to find out more about the band and where they came from.

Now it was time for the band I wanted to see the most, Fireworks. Only David (vocalist) took to the floor  to play as all you really needed was a voice and a guitar. As soon as I heard  his voice I knew what song was playing, starting off with Charm. Acoustics always seem very quite and intimate as everyone is focused on the artist and nothing else. This was the case as David did try and make a few jokes and interact with the shy crowd, his sweet american accent shone through as he spoke, introducing songs before they had played. The fireworks acoustic was more of a low, slow one rather than a fast past session, as this created a calm atmosphere for everyone, nothing was heard until the crowd cheered at the end with clasps that echoed the record shop.

The second song to play was my all time favourite, "Arrows" The cute little intro started playing and the crowd was in sync with David singing along with him, as the chorus came into play, his husky, voice repeated every word which had been spoken sending the vibes to a much brighter mood.
I guess I liked this song the most because of the pitch change, its so diverse in how it's structured and how it just makes you feel happy inside, such a perfect song to perform at an acoustic.

Playing seven songs which all were distinctive in their own acoustic way the evening was going y perfectly, not only did I get to see one band but three and all for free.
Another song which I really enjoyed was I locked my time capsule" which was upbeat and lifted the mood from the other sadder songs. It was sad to see the performance come to and end, however it was great that we could chill out with David after and also buy some cheap fireworks merch also!

You can find the performances here: Fireworks ARROWS