Skip to main content

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar. Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars...

A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs, were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable. 



After a short break -  in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few technical issues with the guitar at the start, but this was dealt with pretty efficiently. Bit of a mixed bag in that some of the songs were clearly stronger than the rest, but overall I heard a modern indie/alternative/post-rock/introspective sound, such as in 'Waiting for nothing to happen'; one riff in particular instantly recalled 'Slide' by the Goo Goo Dolls. I got the impression that a certain amount of inspiration came from various 90s bands... I also enjoyed the confident banter of singer Dan in particular - no new band shyness here! 

I'm currently sat listening to debut EP In Plain Sight, a pretty good sample of the show. The as yet unnamed debut album will be an interesting listen.   
Labels:

Comments

HiddenWitness said…
Hi, We couldn't find another way to get in touch, but wanted to say a really big thank you for coming along to the gig, and for taking the time to write what is actually... our first review! This put smiles on every one of our faces, and we will be sure to drop a link on the website to your blog asap. Some great feedback here, and some really nice positive comments! You are more than welcome at any of our future gigs, please come and say hi!

Glad that you enjoyed the one-off "In Plain Sight" EP too. It was put together specifically for that gig, and there are only 50 of them out there.


Chris
(Guitarist & webmaster for Hidden Witness)
2:55 pm, March 09, 2013
anthony said…
Cool ! I like it.
3:52 pm, June 13, 2013
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .
4 comments
Read more

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...
Post a Comment
Read more