Gig review: AUDREY HORNE – Underworld, London, 2 December 2014

Audrey Horne pulled in a slightly bigger audience than when I saw them last year, although a Tuesday night and Slash playing at Wembley won’t have helped. Luckily though no major sound issues as the bass rig failed last time.

First up Pet the Preacher who mixed a stoner sound with the more grungier leanings of Soundgarden. For a three piece they made a decent sound but lacked any hooks for this listener and the set soon became very ‘samey’. 77 hailed from Barcelona and were much more livelier.

Taking a big dollop of AC/DC in their sound, with the vocalist/guitarist even aping Angus Young’s onstage antics at times, they were a better match for the headliners. Not quite as much fun as say fellow AC/DC disciples Bonafide but good fun live nonetheless and worth seeing if you get the chance.

Audrey Horne were back in London promoting their new album ‘Pure Heavy’, another fine slab of hard rock meets heavy metal. Unlike some bands who only play a couple of songs of their latest album, Audrey Horne played a decent portion of their new album.

Two new songs started the set (after the Muppets theme tune as an intro tape!) ‘Wolf In My Heat’ and ‘Holly Roller’ and they played their lead song of the album, ‘Out Of The City’. Vocalist Toschie sings each song as if his live depends on it! Ably backed by two impressive guitarists who solo away in the grand metal traditions of Iron Maiden and Saxon, great stuff.

The crowd were very receptive and I will even let them off for a drum solo, as the band needed a breather in such a high energy set. Three top draw encores with ‘Redemption Blues’, again featuring some classy guitar duelling solos and ‘Waiting For The Night’.

The real crowd stopper though was ‘This Ends Here’, where Toschie sang in the crowd (something he did through most of the set) and around twenty of the crowd crammed onto the small stage. The stage audience air guitaring and headbanging away like good ‘uns.

Audrey Horne deserve to be playing in front of bigger audiences and a tour supporting Volbeat or Saxon would help them reach a receptive audience. Until then go see them live as the energy of frontman Toschie alone is worth witnessing first hand.

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 28 October 2024

THE RASMUS Rest In Pieces (Better Noise Music)
THE PLAGUE What Else Can I Do (FiXT)
STAR CIRCUS Turn The Tide (indie)
DEFENCES Breathe It In (Long Branch Records)

Featured Albums w/c 28 October 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)