Gig Review

Not Advised
Plus The Fallout Theory
Rayleigh, The Mill
21st February 2008


Not Advised                 The Fallout Theory
      

I had been looking forward to tonight’s show for a number of reasons, reason one was the fact I had never been to Rayleigh before and had the chance to check out a different venue, number two I have been wanting to see Not Advised play for quite a while now and number three the press release going around promoting the tour claimed that Not Advised were embarking on a fully sold out UK tour so I was looking forward to seeing the band for the first time and rocking out to a sold out venue that I had never been to before.

We got to Rayleigh later than planned due to heavy traffic and roadwork’s down all the major roads, the venue is pretty hard to miss mainly for the fact that it is situated alongside the historic windmill which I guess is where the venue gets its name from. The venue looks massive from the outside looking slightly like a school with two floors. Once you first walk into the venue you walk into a big hallway, which has the front booking desk, doors to the toilets, and stairs to the second floor of the venue and also the door to the main hallway. We made our way to the main hallway which looked like your average school hall except for the fact it had a fully licensed bar to the left hand side. When we walked in there was a small number of people sat on seats down the right hand side of the venue waiting for the bands to start.

We missed the majority of the first band due to our interview with Not Advised happening later than planned due to the band and ourselves being caught up in traffic and getting to the venue later than expected. However we managed to get back in the hall for the main support band The Fallout Theory.

We headed straight back into the hall after the interview and was shocked to see there was only about 40 people maximum in the hall despite the fact that it can hold 500-600 people. The Fallout Theory took to the stage minutes after and kicked straight off into a poppy song, as soon as I saw front man Carl Haffield throwing himself around stage like a ball of energy I knew The Fallout Theory were going to be my kind of band. The band played through a number of songs that are from their forthcoming new album such as the melodic 'Don't Show Up Perfect' to the more laid back sound of 'You Got Me Good'. Half way through the show the band announced that they had a new drummer Darren May, the man was sat at his drums Travis Barker style with his top off and big chest tattoo on show, and really good drumming skills to match. Frontman Carl Haffield spoke to the crowd at every opportunity he had, first off all asking the 40 spread out people in the venue to come closer, it took some time but the crowd came closer in the end, then Carl went one better asking the crowd to go nuts and jump up and down, but this was to much to ask for such a small crowd and wasn’t very successful. The Fallout Theory played for a good 40 minutes leaving the small but dedicated crowd happy.

After the Fallout Theory finished we went to the bar for a quick drink and returned to the main hall for the headline act.

Not Advised are a poppy punk band and are the closest thing England are going to get to sounding like New Found Glory, Blink 182 and the other heavyweight American bands of the same scene.

By the time Not Advised took to the stage at 10.10pm there was only about 15 people left in the building which was quite shocking but Not Advised didn’t let it get to them much, the band joked along with the 15 people in the crowd who stayed along to watch there set, and even getting the crowd to form a line of "wooo" which was quite humourous for a few minutes.

The start of the set had a few minor hiccups such as Greg Day's bass string breaking mid song, but apart from that the band didn’t let the lack of crowd and support get to them, they played the show like they were played to a packed out festival crowd, guitarist Jack Hairbrother was completely energetic on stage spinning around at every opportunity. Frontman James Thomas has a stunning voice, which is fast, catchy, poppy and best of all English.

The band played a 40 minute set and fired through some great tracks such as the awesome 'Jane Says Left' a song that is really fast and has lots of backing vocals of "wooaaah". One of the highlights of the set for me was hearing the band play 'Here’s an Idea', a song that I have listened to time and time again on the bands myspace, the song was played with so much energy with the whole band running and changing places on stage, well except for Andy who was sat behind the drums and gave his drums an equally energetic bashing. When frontman James Thomas introduced the song 'Too Many Superheroes Not Enough Phone Boxes' I instantly geeked it up and thought of Superman, but it wasn’t long before the music wiped my thoughts away.

'You're The Designers We're The Deciders' was the song that I had been waiting for all night, the song was the closing song of the show and sounded even better live than it does recorded, the band jumped round the stage full of energy for the last time for the night.

The show was a little bit of a let down with the oversized venue and lack of people turning up, which I put down to either Rayleigh not being a popular place for live music or the promoter being extremely lazy and not promoting the show properly, however Not Advised played like the venue was packed and are going to have no trouble what so ever playing to larger crowds or in bigger venues. Could this be the start of the English pop-punk revival? Let’s not jinx it just yet.

Review By Trigger

 Not Advised

Greg Day (Bass, Vocals)
Jack Fairbrother (Guitar)
Ash Oliver (Guitar, Vocals)
James Thomas (Vocals)
Andy White (Drums)
 The Fallout Theory

Carl Haffield - (Vocals)
Lee Smith - (Guitars)
Craig Haffield - (Guitars)
Daniel Woolhouse - (Bass)
Darren May - (Drums)
 Band Related Links
Not Advised Myspace
The Fallout Theory Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?