Fibbers - Sound of Guns 25/05

As whirlwinds go, Sound of Guns seem to be riding a pretty large one right now. It’s less than six months since they were last in York, filling a support slot and doing their best to promote their debut album. Since then they’ve gigged tirelessly, trooping round the UK no less than twice supporting The View, and are now departing on a full-board headlining tour of their own to giving tracks from album number two a spin. They’re not playing to half-full broom cupboards either; concert halls are on the agenda, they sold out in Glasgow on Tuesday and who knows where else as they wend their way south. It’s not Bon Jovi’s fortnight at the O2, but it’s certainly a bright start, to what should be a long and prosperous career.

Before we come to their performance, however, a serious shout needs to go out to the two support acts to strut their stuff on Fibbers’ stage, both home-grown groups dragged up in York. First was Ramona, an energetic five piece who were clearly enjoying their night, chuffed as guitarist Toby put it to not only be opening for a brilliant band, but also “for once getting paid something much more than a tenner” for the privilege. While melodic guitars and crystal clear vocals give them a pretty pleasant sound, their metal influences also show, especially in the machine-gun drumming of Dan Burn, binding together a very tight outfit indeed.

Second up were Likely Lads, their sound a lot more original than their name, and in their frankly splendid half hour set, they delivered song after song of insightful, irreverent, and undeniably northern indie. Full of tempo changes and unexpected breaks, their bouncy set just about managed to get the somewhat sleepy audience kicked into gear ready for the headline act.

There are numerous superlatives I could use to describe Sound of Guns, but the first adjective to pop into my head when they took to the stage was indisputably ‘loud’. The sound quality in Fibbers had been spot on all night so far, and it probably was for these guys too, but stood at the front, the PA shaking my eardrums to tatters, I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

On tape, it must be said, frontman Andy Metcalfe sounds pretty impressive, but live he’s simply a joy to behold: sweating like a snowman in a sauna, pouring his heart and soul into every line, it’s not difficult to see why this band got noticed in the first place, or why a few members of the audience had made their way across from Wallasey to see the show. And a show is what they give too; there might not have been any rafters to swing from, unlike The Duchess last time SOG were in town, but that didn’t stop Andy from clambering all over the amps, standing on the railings and high-fiving any randomer given half a chance. They’re close to their fans, and within seconds of departing the stage were strolling about, doing photos and chatting to anyone wanting to pass the time of day. It’s nice to see.

Thankfully, the set was jam-packed with fan favourites like ‘Breakwater’, ‘Collisions’, with the biggest reactions going to ‘Architects’ (a past single of the week on both XFM and Radio 1) and the finale of ‘Alcatraz’. For me, however, the most memorable moments of the night were a passionate charge through ‘Bullets in the Bloodstream’ early on putting Andy’s powerful, arching vocals to good use, alongside an uncharacteristic acoustic-driven new track, which I unfortunately didn’t manage to decipher the name of through his sometimes incomprehensibly strong twang.

If you were there on Wednesday: lucky you. If not, then give these guys a listen and I can’t see you regretting it. When I first saw some promo-spiel for them stating the likes of The Editors and Manic Street Preachers could move swiftly aside for these new, hard-edged indie-rockers, my reaction was understandably dubious. But this afternoon, I can safely say I’m in complete agreement with it.

When people hear the sound of these particular guns, it is going to cause a stir.

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