Essential Gigs

News

Friday, May 16, 2008

Belfast quintet Sparks Fly's sound is heavily influenced by artists as diverse as The Kinks, Nick Drake and early AC/DC with a smattering of Smashing Pumpkins thrown in for good measure.

Effortlessly bridging the musical gap between the epic and the intimate, their songs tell stories with heartfelt choruses and strong arrangements, as opposed to concentrating on flamboyant guitar wizardry.

That's not to say you won't be dazzled by their instrumental skills, though — they base their sound on a three-guitar/three-part harmony combination, backed up by a driving rhythm section, courtesy of Steve on bass and drummer Raymie.

They are playing at Belfast's Pavilion Bar tonight, staged by Audio-III, an independent Lisburn-based record label dedicated to promoting new original music from these shores, while giving their signings a fair deal.

Artists currently on the label include the excellent Velma, Firefly, Babysun and Belfast four-piece The Acolytes, formed in 2005 by singer/guitarist Seamus Garland, who'll be joining Sparks Fly for the showcase gig.

Tomorrow night, at the same venue, things get somewhat more extreme as Metal Meltdown III prepares to launch a sensory assault, generated by a line-up of bands heavier than Fatty Arbuckle's lead-lined coffin.

Expect doom-laden sludgecore, tortured riffage and discordant feedback, courtesy of some of Northern Ireland's leading purveyors of music from the dark side.

The line-up includes War Iron, Slomatics, Wretch, Dwell In Sun and Beef Central — a recent addition to the bill after Two Tales of Woe pulled out — will be kicking off proceedings with songs about waffles and Joan Jett, apparently.

Strabane's Dicey Riley's has become one of the best venues outside Belfast or Londonderry to catch live performances by local bands, having hosted shows by most of the big hitters on the circuit.

Tomorrow's show features Belfast rockers Sixstarhotel, whose recently released debut A Kind of Crusade garnered plenty of critical acclaim and their well-honed sound comes from the experience of relentless touring. They toured Holland and Denmark earlier this year and, after Saturday's gig, they're off to play some dates in Scotland before returning for a date in Carrickfergus at the end of May.

Completing the line-up are frisky mid-Ulster rock trio General Fiasco, who, last month, stormed the NI:NG showcase gig in London and scored the headline slot at Stiff Kitten.