Amber & Nuclear Lullaby

We had another couple of great new young bands visit us from the East last weekend. First up were Nuclear Lullaby who met at Cardiff metropolitan university and describe their sound as “new grunge”. To be honest, they reminded me of the Smashing Pumpkins, who I always thought were old grunge, albeit on the lighter more indie side of the genre. As with most of the young bands playing in town lately, these talented youngsters were all great musicians with well crafted songs. While their sound may have been familiar to the flannel shirt clad members of my generation, theirs is not a sound that is heard often enough in the metal heavy scene of West Wales, in my opinion. Again, I know I say this every week but they were a great bunch of lads who were happy to listen to me talk nonsense while we enjoyed the next band which is usually a sign of a band with a good future ahead of them.

That next band were again youngsters from the East, this time in the form of Amber from Cwmbran. Again the band had grunge tenancies although these lent further towards the funky/indie end of the grunge spectrum than Nuclear Lullaby. This was evident with a couple of Red Hot Chili Peppers covers, played to perfection. When I was a student living in Birmingham in the mid-90s, the band that I probably watched more than any other was Reef, who were still unsigned at the time and so would play every gig going, it wasn't unusual for me to see them two or three times a week. I was taken back to those gigs on Saturday night by lead vocalist, Lewis' energetic jumping and prowling around the stage, which is exactly how Reef's Gary Stringer used to perform, trying everything to use up all his energy. These boys had a great groove to their sound and are just the sort of band to turn first time listeners into instant fans with their enthusiasm and feel for the music.

Again, two excellent new young bands who are sure to be ones to look out for years from now.