This demo from Leeds threesome NERVOUS SHAKEDOWN is pretty menacing stuff. There’s something slightly ominous about all three songs, particularly the first track, ‘Come With Me’; a brawny little number that sounds a bit like early Queens Of The Stone Age. The raw, shrieking vocal is particularly mention worthy, as is the overdriven noise of axeman Mark Stainton. His guitar style is interesting, particularly the lead bits, which are reminiscent of Stooges songs like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ – you know how Ron Ashton managed to produce such a damn cool racket, whilst often sounding like he was a) drunk, and, b) had sausages for fingers? Well Stainton’s got something similar to offer; the music might be rocky but the absence of wanky tremolo picking or right hand tapping is actually quite refreshing.
Second track ‘Not Playing God’ starts of with some nice regimental drumming and develops into a reasonably tense and atmospheric song thanks to a repetitive guitarline and a headbanging chorus. There’s a jazzy interlude about two thirds of the way through as well; unfortunately the song is let down somewhat by the ending – it drastically fades out (like when you listen to some music clips online), either too early or too late depending on which way you look at it. Nothing that can’t be fixed in the studio though.
|
‘White Shoe Rock ‘N’ Roll’ is the least impactful of the three songs, but manages to show off the capabilities of drummer Jason Pick and bass player Dan Wilson better than the other tracks.
So all in all, this is a pretty good demo. It’s not hugely memorable but it does get better with each listen and with a few more songs of the calibre of ‘Not Playing God,’ Nervous Shakedown could be well worth keeping an ear open for.
|
