Lixx & Holyrude Vault - The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh 26th April 2024

I'm here for another sold out Live And Louder Session, hosted by Scotland Rocks Radio.

Illness hit the band 2Sevens so they had to pull out at the last minute, however, they shall be invited back to a future session.

We are now left with two bands for tonight, so the show starts a little later than usual. 

 

First up are Edinburgh Sleaze band, Holyrude Vault. A band which has gone through a few line up changes. They started out as a five piece, gone down to a four piece, gone through a couple of singers, which left them as a three piece for a short time. The band is now a five piece again, fronted by original guitarist turned bassist now vocalist Josh, other original guitarist Connell, drummer Chris aka Bubba Chunk and former Wild Fire man Nick has entered the fold on Guitar. At the moment, Christian (a well known face in the Edinburgh music scene) is helping out on bass, so the band are looking for a full time bassist. Josh openly admits that he isn't a singer, but is trying hard, to be honest, I've heard a lot worse. 

Wearing mirrored sunglasses, indoors and at night, Josh takes to the stage and firstly thanks everyone for coming out, and coming in early to see the opening band and jumps right into the set. Even with the "new" singer, they sound really tight. This is where I add that second guitarist Nick, is not with the band tonight as he is away doing a charity event that was planned before he joined Holyrude Vault. The bands sound, as you might expect could fit right in with American sleaze bands like Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, LA Guns and Pretty Boy Floyd (who the band opened for back in 2022). Josh took on the guitar parts that required that second guitar, which gave them a much fuller sound. I for one, can't wait to see them play as a five piece again. 

As the bill was down to two bands, there was a little bit longer than the usual fifteen minute change over, which gave people more time to mingle, go to the bar or buy more merch. As the lights dim a little, radio station spokesperson Rob joins the band on stage, asks everyone if they are enjoying themselves and gets a roof raising cheer in return. He then introduces Lixx, another huge cheer and the band bursts into the opener 'In For The Kill'. The first of their fourteen track setlist, ten of them coming from their new compilation (NOT a best of) album, "BOOTSTOMPING GLAMPUNK ROCKNROLL".

Lixx are a band that were around in the 1980s. Looking back at some old photos, it's fair to say they were a "Hair Metal" band, something you couldn't call them today, ahem. Like a few other bands of the day, they parted and went on their own path, but have gotten back together in the last couple of years. It could have been said back in the day that "girls wanted them and boys wanted to be them". Funnily enough, with groups of fans tonight, the same could be said again! Every time vocalist Joe spoke, he got a cheer, guitarist Nazz had parts of the crowd cheering his name, but unusually, drummer Stevo always gets the biggest cheers of the night, and it's not just when he was introduced, several times the band couldn't start the next track due to the cheering. I actually felt sorry for bassist Robin, as no one chanted his name!

The album is well titled as there are many Boot Stomping songs tonight, like 'Zero Zero' had the crowd singing along. 'All The Wrong Reasons' and 'Frustrated' had the Glam but with old school Punk rawness. But the whole set was pure Rock N' Roll! 

Tonight felt like the band were on stage for about twenty minutes, but the clock told a different story. Almost an hour and a half had passed!

I am in a very fortunate position, I have covered every Scotland Rocks Radio session, and now part of the crew, I have never been to a gig that was sub par. 

The two bands tonight fitted so well together, even with such a wide age difference. Just goes to show, no matter the age difference, "BOOTSTOMPING GLAMPUNK ROCKNROLL" really is for everyone. 

As with every band I go to, whether, it's Scotland Rocks Radio or Rockfiend, please go and check out the bands, especially if you don't know them, check them out on whatever social media or streaming provider you use, you might just find, something "new" to enjoy.

See you at the barrier!