Those Damn Crows - Plymouth Review

Despite being at home following what feels like a whole week on the road, last night I was out gigging again. This October, particularly the back end of it, has been especially busy - and in just the last few days alone I have been to Manchester, London, Bristol, and Wolverhampton. I am certainly very tired after all of that travelling, and I am starting to wonder if I am getting a bit too old for all of this silliness - but no doubt it will not be too long before I am booking another such trip away. There is no place like home, though, and last night I left home for the 40 or so minute walk down to the city centre and to the Plymouth Pavilions - a large venue in the city which is criminally underused, at least by rock bands. Plenty of comedians turn up, as do those non-performative celebrities who have decided to undertake speaking tours, but live music is a relatively rarity. Acts like Daniel O'Donnell and the really big, professional tribute bands turn up sometimes - but if I go to the venue once a year then I am doing well. In fact, prior to last night, my last trip there was back in November last year - when I saw Squeeze put on a strong set to a packed house. Bands of Squeeze's ilk also turn up on occasion - but it has been a while since I last saw a genuine hard rock or metal act in the venue. I was probably Slayer back in 2015 - but since then I have caught a few rock artists there, with Robert Plant, Roger Taylor, and Gary Numan all impressing. It is a shame, as when the venue opened in the early 1990s it was regularly played by all of the big touring names. Acts just do not tour the UK like they used to - and Plymouth is just not an especially attractive proposition these days with no airport or motorway connections. It is not on the way to anywhere, either, so it suffers as a gigging destination. I make the effort when I can to support things that do happen, though, and I have been to many memorable shows locally over the years - particularly at The Junction on Mutley Plain which is likely the city's premier small venue these days following both the White Rabbit and The Hub being demolished. My reason for a rare visit to the Pavilions this time, though, was the Welsh hard rock/post-grunge act Those Damn Crows. I have been aware of the band for many years, and in fact saw them back in 2018 opening for The Quireboys - but I never kept up with them. I do not remember being especially taken with the band back then, and at the time I was generally pretty against the US post-grunge sound which was starting to dominate the UK hard rock scene. I have grown to like many of those bands now, though, including The Fallen State and Stone Broken, so when I saw that Those Damn Crows were going to be playing in Plymouth I thought it was time to give them a proper go. I have to say, though, I was not expecting them to play the Pavilions. Their other previous South West shows took place at the Phoenix in Exeter, which is significantly smaller, meaning that the Pavilions was a big step up. I know that the band did recently sell out the arena in Cardiff - but this was a special hometown show which was likely attended by a lot of family and friends, and Cardiff's arena is around half the size of the smallest examples of such elsewhere. In fact, at full capacity, the Pavilions is not much smaller - so I was really interested to see what the turnout would be like. By the time the action started, I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent crowd. The balcony was closed, and the tiered seating seemed closer to the stage than usual - but there was probably around a thousand people there, and the layout made the place feel reasonably full.

Before Those Damn Crows' set, though, the growing crowd was treated to two contrasting support acts. Both had half an hour to play with, and up first was James Bruner and his band - and Bruner's flashy, bluesy hard rock was generally pretty enjoyable. Despite guitarist Zach Mears looking a bit like Gregg Allman, Bruner's take on bluesy hard rock was not especially retro. His music felt fresh and modern despite it clearly being rooted in classic rock - and there was certainly a strong modern alternative rock influence there, too. He reminded me a little of The Struts' frontman Luke Spiller in vibe and stage presence, albeit with a bluesier voice, and he played some guitar, too - occasionally thrashing out some chords whilst Mears soloed. In many ways, then, Bruner's music felt like a good mix of old and new. Mears took plenty of quite extended solos during the set, which was a throwback, but the arrangements otherwise and the choruses in particular had something of a modern pop vibe and aesthetic - with the vocal melodies feeling more cutting in that pop-esque manner rather than sprawling in a blues rock context. It helped, too, that Bruner was made for the stage. He was immediately covering every inch of it, pulling all of the key rockstar poses, and bantering well with the crowd. A clear sound mix helped, which allowed his vocals to shine, but he was just a captivating performer regardless - and his backing band was tight, even if it was only Mears which stood out. All of the songs played were very much of a type, and there was little variety to be found, but this was not necessarily a bad thing - especially during a 30 minute set. More variety will be needed in the long run, but I get the impression that Bruner is at the beginning of his career - with a debut album due out soon. I certainly did not mind having to sit through his set, and I even enjoyed much of it, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses from here.

15 minutes later the lights went down again and Autumn Kings took to the stage. With a name like that I was expecting some kind of rootsy or country rock band - but instead what I got was a band that seemed as if it had been formed to deliberately annoy me. The alternative rock/metal band ticked so many boxes that I do not like - so it is safe to say that I found their time on stage a chore. Combine nu-metal riffing and aesthetic with a dual-frontman approach, one of whom pseudo raps and one of whom is very whiney, and I really found little to enjoy. I am not a rap lover but I can respect the greats of that genre - but that half-rapped, half-tough guy approach that so many nu-metal bands employed is one of my least favourite things. Combine this with whiney, emo-esque choruses and a band is never going to be for me. As such Autumn Kings just sounded so dated. There are smooth modern AOR bands that sound more current than Autumn Kings - who seemed stuck in the early 2000s despite being a fairly new act. Their sort of music has just not been popular for years at this point - and throwing in a Linkin Park cover towards the end of the set should likely really sum up the overall vibe they were going for. I also felt that they relied a huge amount on backing tracks. Lots of bands do nowadays, and Those Damn Crows made plenty of use of them later, but at times it felt like some lead vocals were even on the tracks - or at least whoever was singing was doubling what was on a track. I have to say there were a couple of bits which could have been mimed too, as something just felt a bit off, but that may not have been the case. Unfortunately it is harder to tell these days - but regardless there was certainly quite a bit of 'help' going on vocally at times. As such, I was pleased when the band's set came to an end - although they did garner a bit of a reaction so clearly some in attendance enjoyed them.

Following a 30 minute change over, the lights went down for a third time and Those Damn Crows took to the stage - kicking off with Dancing with the Enemy from their latest album God Shaped Hole. This album topped the charts when it was released earlier in the year - meaning that the band are pushing into the big time. It is no wonder that they targeted some larger venues on this tour - and on their first visit to Plymouth I imagine they would have been happy with the turnout. Whilst I have become familiar with the band's four albums in recent months, I would not call myself an expert or a die-hard fan. Despite this, I enjoyed the band's set and I can see why they have become so well liked. Shane Greenhall is a great frontman who used every inch of the stage to his advantage. He was very much the star of the show, though. The band's music is concise and vocal-focused, so the rest of the band rarely had a chance to shine. They all did their jobs, and David Winchurch (guitar/vocals) did occasionally solo, but really Greenhall was the focus all night - with the others feeling a bit anonymous at times. His voice powered above the band during the set, with anthems like Man on Fire and Find a Way garnering strong reactions from the crowd. Nearly all of the new album was played during the night, too, with many of those songs coming early on. Heavier, groovy tracks like Spit & Choke sat nicely alongside more poignant pieces like the atmospheric The Night Train - whilst later on Greenhall was left on stage alone to sing the album's closing ballad Still by himself. It was a good mid-set pallet cleanser - particularly following two older sing-a-long anthems in the Shinedown-esque Who Did It and the more emotive I Am. There was a moment during Glass Heart earlier in the set, though, when Greenhall seemed to forget the words and seemed lost for quite a while. This revealed that there was quite a lot vocally going on on the backing track - so as I have criticised Autumn Kings for such it is only fair that I also do so here. There were a lot of prominent vocals on the track, although largely harmonies and backing vocals, but given that three of the four instrumentalists sang backing vocals it seems strange that so many extra layers were needed. This was a bit of a shame to see, and I would rather the band did these harmonies as, to be honest, most of the time they looked to be singing I could not really hear them. In truth, I am probably a hypocrite - as I have only pointed this out due to a mistake making it obvious. I am sure that plenty of other bands I have praised have done similar things less obviously. This is not to single out the band, then, but rather to highlight this issue more widely - and it did not effect my enjoyment of the show outside of that moment. There was plenty to enjoy later on in the set, too, with Greenhall sat behind a piano for a powerful rendition of Blink of an Eye before perhaps the overall highlight of the set was the hard rocking and fast-paced Go Get It. This is the sort of song I really like from this band - which is likely why their second and third albums are so far my favourites. These rock the most in my opinion - or, otherwise, the melodies are just really strong as was the case during the soaring ballad This Time I'm Ready which was another overall highlight. The crowd sang the song loudly back at the band, as they did regularly throughout the set, but it was perhaps the final track See You Again which saw the most singing. The band dispensed with the encore tradition and just played straight through - and Greenhall conducted the crowd through some big sing-a-long sections as the set came to a powerful end. The setlist was:

Dancing with the Enemy

Man on Fire

No Surrender

Find a Way

Spit & Choke

Turn It Around

Glass Heart

Dreaming

The Night Train

Who Did It

I Am

Still

Blink of an Eye

Go Get It

Sin on Skin

This Time I'm Ready

See You Again

Despite my comments on backing tracks, which is a wider comment and not specific to Those Damn Crows, I am glad that I made the effort to head down the Pavilions last night to catch the band live. I can really see why they are catching on and they certainly deserve to be playing larger venues. I would like the band to push themselves a bit more going forward, though. They shine the most when they really rock in my opinion - so it would be fun to hear more of that side of the band in future. I will certainly be following the band going forward, though, and I will go and see them again if they ever come back to Plymouth.