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Clay with Emotive Exposed + Ripper
Clay with Emotive Exposed + Ripper
Wolverhampton Little Civic
August 5th 2002
By Philip Whitehouse
I didn't expect to be as energetic as I was at this gig - after all, I'd just started a new job, had only finished work about five hours previously, and had to be up at 4:45 the next morning to do it all again. So I was expecting to stay reserved and to enjoy the gig calmly. But I underestimated the sheer infectious energy of two of the bands involved.
The night started as placidly as I had expected. Ripper started off the night sounding, to all intents and purposes, like a reheated Nirvana. The musicianship was tight enough for the style being played, and the group certainly played with conviction, but the total lack of individuality let them down. There was a moment of promise with an odd cover of a Britney Spears song featuring bravely-attempted if poorly-executed death metal vox, but when a totally predictable Nirvana cover was then aired, even a sonic mauling of the pop princess's work couldn't raise my reaction to Ripper to more than an apathetic shrug.
Matters soon improved, however. Emotive Exposed took the stage next, local hardcore heroes and renowned for energetic performances. Having witnessed their destructive powers before, I wasn't as surprised as a couple of my compatriots to hear the contrast between the vocalist's near-inaudible addresses to the crowd and the frightening bellow he emits during the songs. Nor was I shocked to see him launch himself at the barrier, wheel around the tiny stage, and droop to the ground while around him, the band create their Dillinger-Escape-Plan-meets-Taken chaos. The musicianship was absolutely faultless, the drumming especially causing my jaw to drop, and when the vocalist called for an audience stage invasion before the last song, who were I and the rest of the front row to refuse?
One set of peeved security guards, an on-stage moshpit and a round of band/audience backslapping later, Emotive left the stage for headliners, Clay. And despite having seen this particular teenage wrecking crew decimate venues like this countless times previously since their inception, I had to wonder - how were they going to follow that?
'Admirably' turned out to be the answer. Even the reduction to a four-piece since the depature of guitarist Rich Millet hasn't mellowed Clay out - in fact, with the airing of their new material, it seems that a sense of experimentation has blossomed - turning the quartet's previous 'Pantera and Raging Speedhorn roughing up the Deftones' vibe into a more aggressive, speedy, hardcore-infused version of itself. Live favourites 'The Things That Are' and 'Feeling Good' are received with the kind of crowd response Iron Maiden normally see when they play 'Run To The Hills', while the new songs inspire mosh-pits that threaten to destroy the venue. Vocalist Andy has continued to improve with each gig, so now the bellowed line 'I'm small in stature but twice your size!' carries more convinving punch than ever before. Special mention must go to drummer, Pezz - the scattergun rhythms and rolling-thunder fills of the newer material coupled with the driving, mosh-groove beats of earlier songs were deliver with furious intensity throughout.
That's not to say that the set was entirely perfect - there were occasional hiccups in timing where guitar and drums seemed slightly out of sync, and during the cover of Deftones' classic '7 Words', Andy seemed to lose stamina somewhat and falter behind during the 'suck - suck - suck - suck' choruses... but those minor quibbles pale into insignifance when greeted with the sight of a venue full of Clay's faithful followers, firing back every word of the lyrics of 'Struggle' and losing themselves to the primal intensity of the music.
On the evidence of the musical development showed by the newer material, Clay are destined for big things. With a bit of tightening in the ranks and more work on synchronising their timings, maybe on their upcoming support slot with Fallen To and Number One Son, some record label's A&R person will be taking notice...
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