Elgin Festival gig reviews

Elgin Festival gig reviews:

IT’S TIME TO TELL THE WORLD (the brakes are off Twisted Wheel)

Elgin Festival review by Robert Benson

It’s a brilliant bright blue September Saturday and the Twisted Wheel locomotive has driven  395 miles north of Oldham to the sublime heady heights of Elgin, Moray in Scotland. It will be the first of many gigs for the reinvented Wheel, with new bassist, Stephen Evans and not –quite-so-new drummer, Eoghan Clifford. Bands from the width and breadth of Scotland (including Dundee’s ‘Law City Soul’, Fife’s ‘Root System’, Glasgow’s ‘Figure 5’and Edinburgh’s ‘104s’) are scattered across the converted farm buildings, replacing pigs, sheep, cows, hens, horses, butter tubs, milking machines and tomato plants with more refined melodies if no better smells. Up on the hill,  wooden wigwams house bands and festival-goers and a constant autumn barbecue. Twisted Wheel played Elgin last year – but in town – and it was their love of the crazy passion of the audience which brought them all the way back again this year.

10pm.  Figure 5 with their Mexican-inflected fuselage and the 104s have been on and off. Eoghan has discovered his snare snapped in transit so is running around frantically with pieces of string. But by 11.55pm, they are cool, calm and collected. Somewhere. Although no one can find them.

Meanwhile, there’s a mini mayhem out front despite the late hour. The Loft crowd is a riotous knowledgeable, passionate mix of old and young, as many females as males and every one of them eager to see the new line up and hear the old songs. At last, a minute after midnight, the band enter stage.

The sixteen song strong set opens with ‘She’s a Weapon’ which has everyone up and at it but it’s the ravaging rage of new song ‘Do It Again’ which has them pogoing and yelping. This despite the fact that Stephen has discovered his bass is not working – as in wires-guitar relationship breakdown.

‘This is our new bassist, Stephen. It’s his first show and his bass isn’t working,’ announces Jonny. Stephen exits with dud bass while Jonny does an acoustic ‘Bang of The Beat’. The audience are mesmerised, no moans at bass situation. A kind supporting band member offers his bass, making his day and our night as Stephen returns, all plugged in and ready to go.  Now the band have the pedal to the floor and roar through ‘Lucy The Castle’, One Night On The Streets’ (which gets a lot of cheers),  ‘Let Them Have it All’, ‘Bad Candy’, ‘Racket’, ‘Strife’. ‘We Are Us’ and the irrepressible ‘You Stole The Sun’.

‘Tell The World’ is fresh to the giglist but welcomed as a stirring anthem with hands in the air and everyone seemingly knowing the chorus.  Still, it’s new song ‘Poppy Love’ which is my favourite: a rabid romantic riot in the capsule of 50s rockabilly punk and a staccato chorus over which Brown’s vocals rip with unrelenting fierce vulnerability. Eoghan whips up the drums like unbridled monsters and the new dynamic bassist pulls out all the stops. Previously, the Wheel’s songs hinted at a crazy cosmos and imminent punk revolution but there was always a sense that someone was trying to drive at 90mph with the brakes on. Now the brakes are off, the cylinders full of  fire and nothing’s clogging the throttle.  At last, everything is working  on the same energy and all-out  craziness. Pure passion and the power of punk propel this intense threepiece and their uncompromising songs straight into the audience. If it’s pain, then they seem to like it. Girls and guys alike sing back the songs…despite the techno disco that’s opened upstairs.

By 1am, the even organiser is livid as police hover around the doors.

‘Curfew! You’ve got five minutes!’

There’s no time for ‘UK Blues’ tonight – just ‘Oh What Have You Done?’

And the bouncing bodies proclaim the answer: drive Twisted Wheel straight into the hearts of these distant bonny lands.

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Twisted Wheel @ Elgin's Mad Ferret Festival by Joe Martin for www.thebeatsurrender.co.uk



Assembled, recharged and ready to roll; a fresh line up looks to have given Twisted Wheel an adrenaline fueled spin in the right direction. During the Dot to Dot festival in Nottingham, Bristol and of course Manchester, it was evident that the talented, enthusiastic drummer (Eoghan Clifford) was the right man for the job.
With a strong first performance under his belt, new bassist Steve Evans appears comfortable and ready to impress in his new role. Typically, Jonny struts his stuff with more energy than an Olympic swimmer on E.
It's imperative for a hard working, rock and roll band to keep their heads held high in all manner of situations, The Wheel are far from exempt from this. Whether they're taking on sixteen hour round trips to Elgin, working on new tracks or welcoming new members, they're constantly working and remain extremely optimistic about their potentially revolutionary future.
Elgin's Mad Ferret festival is quite possibly one of the most obscure events that I've attended. The festival is located on a farm a few miles from Elgin, surrounded by fields; abandoned tractors and strangely situated green houses. After assessing the situation, sitting in hammocks, setting up equipment and chatting to the locals, the lads headed back to the hotel for some hefty, Scottish scran.

Refreshed and ready to go, it was time to head back to the farm and headline the festival. Roaring on to stage with the typically fiery 'She's A Weapon', 'Racket' and 'Lucy the Castle', the boys got proceedings under way with a bang. Steve soon found comfort in his new surroundings; it's safe to say the band sounded tight, especially considering the short space of time they've had to get their songs polished off to perfection.

'One Night On The Street' sent pulses racing and 'We Are Us' was blasted out with more explosive, punk – energy than ever. The Wheel is indeed spinning folks, it's a certainty. The new track, 'Do It Again' offers a blend of raw, characteristic rock and roll that Twisted Wheel fans know and love. It definitely provided proof that their much anticipated, second album will be something to get your hands on. Despite not being played on the night, new tracks 'Turnaround' and 'Postman' are both sounding equally ace.

'Tell The Word' is a blistering, rock and roll anthem that was originally recorded in America, together with their debut album. Having being missed off the final track list, it was offered as a free download for thousands of fans to take advantage of. Following an impressive rendition of 'Let Them Have It All', 'Tell The World' sounded superb live. Boys and girls who've seen Wheel in action will be familiar with the infectious B-side 'Bang Of The Beat', Jonny's solo rendition to the people of Elgin was revelled in.

Elgin is a characteristic place, filled with a range of characteristic folk. During 'Bad Candy', one chap found his way backstage to make enquiries relating to whether Twisted Wheel were the last band on. I subsequently informed him that they were indeed the last band on, I was then met with the nifty sentence, “Good, because they're fuckin' brilliant”. This was followed by a short jig, before the fan returned to the gig. Top marks mate.

Next on the set list was the brand new song 'Poppy Love', which is shaping up to be a classic. Well knows anthems such as 'What's Your Name?' and 'You Stole The Sun' came before the catchy, electrifying new song, 'UK Blues'. The excitable Elgin boys and girls in attendance knew all the words to 'Strife' and were delighted to hear the puck classic, 'Oh What Have You Done', which brought the blazing, heart racing set to an end.

Rest assure folks, The Wheel is still rolling at an uncontrollable pace. Heads are high, there are a number of tasty gigs coming up, new songs are sounding mint and there's a new record on the horizon. There's definitely more than enough vigour, drive, enthusiasm and talent that will continue to turn heads.

Check out Twisted Wheel, ladies and gentlemen