It’s a shame to see Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele so sparsely populated for Rockinburgh. Not only is the mini festival an absolute steal at £25 for the weekend, it’s also a fundraiser for charity Rockin’ for Tots and deserves to be a great success. Admittedly, it’s less of a shame for those of us who have our tickets and are able to catch ten exciting bands over the weekend at close proximity, sharing drinks at the bar and getting autographs at the merch stand.
Local lads Nothing Speaks get things underway on Friday evening, initially living up to their name with a lengthy instrumental. It's a relief to discover that they do, in fact, speak! Fresh faced and presumably formed fairly recently (they’ve yet to release a single), there is promise in the crunchy, heavy riffs and the clever dynamics that dominate their sound.
Wild Fire are, to my ears, a throwback to the days of good old British heavy metal; A bit like Judas Priest, if Rob Halford sung with a Scottish accent. Frontman Mikey Roberts doesn’t shy away from the high notes and the songs are carried by that unmistakeable twin guitar sound. The visuals have clearly been considered too, there’s an obvious red and black aesthetic, Nick Smith’s guitar shoots (spits?) sparklers, smoke billows at the sides of the stage and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s is offered around and swigged from the bottle. But don’t let the clichés put you off, these Scots can really rock and with tracks like the storming ‘Undercover’ and gloriously overblown ‘Slide It Down’, are worthy of your attention.
She Burns Red are met with by far the most enthusiastic response of the night, testament to the strength of recently released debut album ‘Out of Darkness’. Theirs is a difficult sound to describe, with two lead vocalists making their mark on this emotionally charged rock; The misery of the lyrics juxtaposed with oddly upbeat, catchy melodies. Bassist and vocalist James McCulloch cuts a striking figure, impossibly tall, decked out in a kilt and vest, a smear of red painted across his eyes; but it’s the vocals he trades with guitarist Andy Moore that really have us rapt, the big choruses of ‘Crosshairs’ and ‘Heavy is the Head’ generating mass singalongs.
