The band put an end to a three day recording session with this performance. Frontman Joey S's final words were, "Yes, we do rock!"
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As is the case for many local gigs, if you haven't heard of the band, you're not going to bother, but as one member of the general public demanded a ManPlayingKazoo demo amidst the band's set, it goes to show that this was no ordinary local gig.
The night kicked off with four-strong group from Derby entertaining the Nottingham crowd. It would seem that Pressure were lacking something vital. The presence on stage was all there, yet something lacked within the self proclaimed pioneers of sax-rock's performance. It would seem like the band seemed aware of this and took the trip back to Derby shortly after their set fizzled out.
Taking the stage next and making it seem like they were playing to a festival gathering rather than the hundred-strong crowd in attendance, Swound! abruptly buried Pressure with the catchy riffs of tunes such as "Lost in Space" and "Jellyfishing". Every second that the 5 piece were on stage had each and every member of the audience with a smile across their face and their feet tapping in unison to the beat.
The band had just put an end to a three day recording session with this performance and with their new material, especially a new track named 'Squadron Dromer' going down a treat, meant it was to be hard for the co-headliner's ManPlayingKazoo to keep up the pace. This was seconded by the Swound! frontman Joey S, who's final words were, "Yes, we do rock!" to which the crowd assured us was true and requested loudly and energetically for an encore, to which they obliged.
The night was hardly over. Last but not least came ManPlayingKazoo who took to the stage and vibrantly launched into "Friendly Guy". Singer and guitarist James Housely and bassist Howard McDonald frequently vacated the stage to join the members of the crowd in mid song, showing everybody in attendance that they were not going to let the predecessors Swound! walk all over them. Their stage show perhaps slightly out-doing their music, but not a true fault you could throw at the excellent Nottingham University Band ManPlayingKazoo.
Swound! and ManPlayingKazoo are two bands that you may hear of again in the near future. My recommendation, is that if you get the chance to see either of them play for £2, please do so, because within a few years you'll be paying £10 or £12
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