Young Guns review.

YOUNG GUNS
PLUS: DISCLOSURE, NONE THE LESS
12 BAR, SWINDON
23.07.09

You know what they say: never judge a book by its cover. When Disclosure clambers onto the stage, it would appear they are not your everyday rock band. Dressed in collared t-shirts and with short spiky hair, they look as if they should be behind decks, not drums. Despite this, they try their best to get the crowd moving, which is largely a wasted effort. Having the energy is one thing, but you have to couple it with variety; there was a distinct lack of the latter.
Hailing from Watford and describing their style as ‘metal n roll’, None The Less put on a good show, hammering out tunes that start to warm up the crowd. Mid-way through the second song of the set, the lead vocalist, Ant Giannaccini, leaves the stage and spends the rest of None The Less’ presence in the large space that’s directly in front of the stage. If that’s not trying to get involved with the crowd, I don’t know what is.
By the time High Wycombe quintet Young Guns have donned their instruments and noticeable absence of sleeves, the chasm of space between audience and performer has shrunk. From the off, Young Guns give it their all and smash out brilliant sounds, despite not many people not knowing many, if any, of the words.

As lead singer Gustav Wood is keen to point out, they were expecting no-one to turn up, so to be playing to the sizeable crowd that have attended is excellent. And they love every minute of it. When Gustav announces the next song is ‘Daughter of the Sea’, the band is met with roars and whoops of delight, to which he replies “Sounds like you might know this one. I wanna see you prove it to me.” The crowd responds in abundance, and sing along with every stomping chorus and epic verse.
At the end of the night, I’m surprised no-one is shouting for an encore but even so, this is one night neither the fans nor the band will forget for a long time.