The Vim Dicta live at the Masons
Live music fans in Llanelli experienced something special last week with the visit of American touring band, The Vim Dicta. Despite the fact that they have been touring in the UK since February, the band were still full of enthusiasm and energy when they arrived in the Masons. I do not think I have ever seen anyone so excited to have their photo taken with a copy of the Llanelli Herald, as drummer, Chris, who posed with last week’s edition which featured an interview with the band in the Llanelli Rock Scene column.
The band claim on their website that they have never received a bad review and they’re not going to get one here either. My biggest fear for the night was not regarding the band, having listened to them online beforehand but that there may not be an audience for a touring band who had not played in Llanelli before. Thankfully, word had got around and we had a great turn out. The positive vibe coming from The Vim Dicta and the crowd must have rubbed off on my band, Fighting Fifth Husky, who opened the night, as we had great fun on stage and received some good feedback from the crowd. Second band up, Greenmailer, never fail to impress and again they played a blinding set to an increasingly enthusiastic crowd. A few members of the audience asked if these were the American band, as they definitely have a very Seattle-routed sound but despite my reply that they were from Pembrey, Oregon, they are local boys that you will get chances to see play again.
Headliners, The Vim Dicta, had the crowd hooked from the start. Their unique sound, described by the band as psychogroove, mixes a number of different genres. There was definitely an underlining jazz feel but with a raw grungy sound over the top. The band are influenced by everything from soul and R ‘n’ B to hard rock acts such as Led Zepplin and Jimi Hendrix and they manage to meld these distinct types of music together to create a beautiful new sound.
Each member of the band is a huge talent in their own right and I was fascinated listening to each one of them individually. Normally I regard drum solos as something of an indulgence that only drummers enjoy but such was the quality of Chris’ technique that even non-drummers were blown away by his ability. With Chris’ outstanding drumming, Matt’s excellent guitar skills (I learnt quite a few new jazz chords that night) and Cori’s atmospheric vocals, the band could do no wrong on the night and the crowd would not let the band stop at the planned time. Even when Matt broke a string, another guitar was found for him to carry on. Such was the friendship struck up between the band and the audience that they stayed until late into the night to chat with everyone there.
The band have since posted on their facebook page that this was one of their favourite gigs of the tour and they have asked me to pick up a couple of copies of the Herald for them so that they can show the folks back in L.A. that they’re now big in Llanelli. Hopefully, they can return the favour so we can see if a Llanelli band can make it big in L.A. Music fans always talk about the time that Nirvana played in Newport and keep an eye on The Vim Dicta so you can say you remember the time that they played in a small pub in Llanelli.
