Date: March & April 2006
Venue: The Cavern youth café, Kirkwall, Orkney
School bands had the chance to perform at The Cavern youth café in Kirkwall earlier in the year, with the events taking place every Saturday night in March and April. It was an ideal opportunity for bands to get their music out, and the nights were open to everyone aged between 12 and 18.
With the huge increase in local young talent and enthusiasm (see page 10), the opportunity was much needed, and with the bonus opportunity to record their own songs, there was an increase in band interest from last year.
Kirkwall Grammar School band Audio Narcosis kicked off this year's season on the 26th February with their collection of self-written rock songs. As well as showing off their own collection during their set at The Cavern, they also gave tribute to bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.
The band have recently recorded a 13-track album, becoming possibly Orkney’s youngest rock bands to have achieved this. The album was recorded at Attic Studios in Finstown, and took around 9 hours to complete. Taking influences from Jimi Hendrix, Rage Against The Machine and Led Zeppelin, the album is on sale from the band themselves at just £5.
The following week, 25K took to the stage – and as all the members are just in 3rd year, they are possibly the youngest band to have had their own slot. The band are relatively new to the Orkney music scene, having performed their first gig at the school’s Battle Of The Bands last December. The band features Jack Paget, Finlay Bichan and Kevin Gray. They played a collection of their own tunes amongst covers of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and Kings Of Leon.
The last KGS band to perform at The Cavern is Blindspot, who like Audio Narcosis, have a collection of their own songs which they are hoping to record in the near future. Their set consisted of not only their own songs, but also takes on songs such as Muse’s Plug In Baby, Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out and Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris.
From Stromness were Hetti and the Petticoats, the only female band to take part. The majority of their performance consisted of covers of songs by various artists - the Spin Doctors and Interpol to name a few. I was impressed to see that despite the immature remarks from the boys at the front, the band managed to rise above it and continue with a good performance.
Also from Stromness came Superego, who performed… several Green Day songs, as well as tunes by the Foo Fighters among others. Between Green Day songs, the bands showed off their various rock and pop-punk originals, all of which were top notch.
It is hoped that a CD showcasing each band’s own songs (and perhaps covers, too) will be released later in the year.