Chris Earl
“Before ya’s al have a mosh later, ya can have a little dance now”, quips guitarist Dean, as the Red Remedy take to the stage. The Local alternative pop act are tonight’s only support, with Blood Command giving local bands a good little stage on this tour. The tiny, low rise stage of Cluny 2 is barely big enough to fit the Sunderland-based five piece. With a driving, 80’s and 90’s inspired sound (Think Heart mixed with early Britpop) the group may not be sonically close to the headliner, but the soulful voice of Maddy Storey is enough to make the admittedly biased-toward-heavier-sounds crowd take notice. Mixing pop, folk, soul and a touch of rock into things, they get enough blood pumping to get the crowd warmed up with their hip shaking tunes and effortless northern charm.
Norwegian and Aussie death pop group Blood Command are the reason everyone is here though. With every member wearing at least one bit of Adidas, they really are the ‘Band With Three Stripes’, as their opening number suggests. The room may be small but Blood Command play it like it’s ten times the size, with vocalist Nikki Brumen the star of the show. Her direct Aussie nature matches the bands no holds barred punk approach. Letting the crowd know they’re a bunch of ‘Sick Cunts’, she’s an absolute firecracker, mixing her shrieks and soaring melodies with splits, twerking and being carried around like Cleopatra by the crowd. Unusually for a small metal show, it also features a selection of wardrobe changes, all Adidas and all with an incredible swagger.
The setlist features cuts all the way from 2012 record Funeral Beach to brand new record World Domination and each one is greeted with delight by the audience, highlights being a massive ‘Quitters Don’t Smoke’, ‘Saturday City’ and a ferocious ‘Plague On Both Your Houses’.
For a Wednesday night below zero, the crowd absolutely turned up for the show. Two stepping, circle pits and even a small wall of death feature on a high energy night. No other band sounds or looks like Blood Command in the scene today, and for that reason alone, by rights they should be playing much bigger venues on their next British jaunt. The fans here are ones who haven’t got nearly enough of their fill of the band over the last few years, and each track is lapped up with fervour.
As the encore preceding one-two of ‘Forever Soldiers of Esther’ (Eliciting an emotional dedication to Nikki and guitarist Yngve’s late mothers) and a beefed up version of the folk-esque ballad (Complete with some line dancing by the band) ‘Losing Faith’ rings out, the crowd is sweaty and exhilarated. As they do the cheeky move of leaving the stage then running back on for the encore of ‘CTRL+ART + DELETE’ and ‘Cult Of The New Beat’, even the folks in the seats are standing up, fists in the air and a massive grin on their face. They know they’ve just witnessed one of the most exciting live bands today, and they can’t grace our soil again soon enough.