The other night (being the 7th of Feb), I attended my first gig at the Dux Live in Christchurch. I was hoping I would get the chance to go to a gig during my brief visit to my hometown over Waitangi weekend. It was free entry, which is always a bonus, and I was keen on checking out the Dux Live, as it opened after I left Christchurch. The bands playing were a little bit of a mix. American acoustic act, Addie, played first (who I missed); followed by stoner metal band, King Coal; and then finally followed by Loaded Victim, who categorize themselves as aggressive rock, which I guess fits them well. I would also consider them to be alternative metal.
Anyway, I arrived part way through King Coal's set (think it was just after the first song as they introduced themselves soon after I got there). They were the band I came to see as stoner rock/metal is my favourite genre at the moment. I thought they were really good, better than I expected too, to be honest. I thought the vocals were good (and sounded a bit sexy hahaha) and their drummer was good too (these are the only things I can make a semi-decent judgement on). He made use of one of my favourite drumming techniques too! The drag. I would suggest you keep an eye on King Coal, as I believe they have the potential to become a big part of the stoner rock community. Hopefully they will play at a future Stonerfest!
You can download King Coal's E.P. for free from their Last.fm page:
Loaded Victim were next and they were good too. I was expecting them to be metalcore-esque, basing my judgement on their name (sounds pretty metalcore-y haha) but they were more alternative metal/hard rock, as I mentioned earlier. Goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover. I thought this band was quite 'tight' (musician term for sounding good/skilled/pro). Their drummer was really, really good, I think he was probably the most talented musician in the band. Was cool to watch too. The vocalist had a really good voice. Reminds me a little bit of Jon Toogood mixed with someone else... I also think these guys have a lot of potential as well, especially as their genre is a bit more 'radio friendly' than stoner metal. I hope to see them become one of The Rock radio station's favourites one day!
Check them out too. They have three free downloadable songs on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/loadedvictim
I think the Dux Live is quite a decent venue, it's nicer than Hornby's 'The Venue'. The bar is nice and big and you are able to order food if you like. There is an upstairs part too with some arm chairs, which looked nice. The stage was a bit small but I think this will be okay for local bands. The sound was good too. There is also a decent outside area for the smokers, however they had the door open to this area, which made it so there was pretty much no separation. This only bothered me because the smell of nicotine was wafting into the venue. Some days I don't mind it, other days I do. That night was one of the days where the smell was giving me a bit of a headache. A little bit odd when I think about it as last Saturday I went to my friends' house, where they smoke inside and I didn't have any problems with it (I didn't even get asthma! Usually I do from houses where the people smoke inside).
Anyway, the Dux Live is a decent venue and hopefully it will add more life to the limited night/gigging scene in Christchurch. King Coal and Loaded Victim are both great bands, I recommend them and I hope to see them play live again in the near future!
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