I have only been to Chinnerys once before but
was quite impressed with the venue, it’s
quite a small venue but it’s one of those
venues where you can see no matter where you stand,
well unless you are stood directly behind one
of the pillers that help hold the ceiling up.
When we got to Chinnerys there was a massive queue
of at least 60 people outside who were aged between
16 and 17, it wasn’t long before we entered
the building and realized the venue was pretty
packed inside as well, I felt quite excited because
I prefer gigs when they are busy to when they
are nearly empty, and the last time I went to
Chinnerys the venue was near enough empty.
The support band for tonight was an oddly named
local band called Fat Penguin, who are a 5 piece
rock band from Southend who have been around since
2006, from what I heard of the band they seemed
alright but we missed the majority of their set
due to a slightly later than scheduled interview
with Slaves To Gravity, however we could still
hear the music loud in the dirty dressing room
Slaves To Gravity were given.
After being in Chinnerys for about an hour I
realized that the main reasons the venue was packed
was because the support band were based in Southend
and had a bit of a hardcore local following and
secondly it was a Friday night and a great place
for the kids to hangout.
 Slaves to Gravity took to the stage at 10.15pm
when the band came on the venue was still pretty
packed, lead man Tommy Gleeson was situated right
at the centre of the stage looking quite like
a pirate with his long black hair, facial hair
and black eye make up, bass player Toshi Ogawa
was situated to the right hand side of the stage
and spent most of the show running and jumping
all over the stage, guitarist Mark Verney was
situated to the left of the stage dressed in black,
and drummer Jason Thomopoulos was situated directly
behind frontman Tommy Gleeson.
The band have got quite a rocking sound that
sounds like a mix of Soundgarden meets Audioslave
with a dash of the Zico Chain. To be fair, the
crowd were mainly at Chinnerys to see the local
band Fat Penguin with the majority of the people
there not knowing who slaves For Gravity are and
looking to emo for a dark dirty sounding rock
and roll band. Despite this, the band certainly
knew how to get the crowd of Chinnerys rocking.
At the start of the set a few people were bopping
there heads along to the beat and by the end of
the show people were throwing each other about.
 Highlights of the set were when the band played
their singles, with the biggest highlight being
when they played 'Meantime' the song has a Zico
Chain style ‘twingy’ introduction
and was the song that got the biggest response
from the crowd. The band also played their forthcoming
single 'Mr Regulator' the song is the most commercial
sounding song the band have made so far, starting
off quite mellow with huge chunky radio friendly
choruses.
They played for about 40 minutes, which was enough
time for the band to preview a fair few tracks
from their forthcoming debut album 'Scatter The
Crow', from what I have heard the album is going
to be worth checking out once it is released at
the end of March. If you missed Slaves To Gravity
this time around, don’t worry the band are
back on the road for a huge tour come the start
of April. Slaves To Gravity are best experienced
live as they are a straight up honest rock and
roll band who are full of energy.
4/5
Review By Trigger
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