Page 16 - Phonebox Magazine April 2016

The Vision are back
Band perform at The Sunset Lounge
Ian Roberts
I’m usually away gigging most weekends, but occasionally I take the weekend off, and recently I had the perfect excuse to do just that. A little bird told me that The
Vision had reformed and were playing live at The Sunset Lounge out the back of The Cannon Pub in Newport Pagnell.
Now for those of you who don’t know who the Vision are then here’s a quick history lesson about a really decent local band: Founded in 2006 in Northampton/Newport Pagnell the guys went on to play all over the country, including the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Their single “Trust” was massive for them, gaining critical acclaim and support in all the right places, unfortunately as is what happens with so many great bands they parted ways in 2008.
But hey let’s not get down about it because they are back and they’re sounding bigger and better than ever. So how do I sum up their amazing sound? Well, there’s a little bit of The Stone Roses, a touch of The Prodigy, even Kasabian and bands like the Doves and Bloc Party, but they also have this lovely late punk/almost Kraftwerk and early Cure thing going on too. I can’t put my nger on it but there’s something lovely happening with the synth sound and the bass lines, and when you add the occasional guitar strum and then the driving drum beat it’s an exciting sound that needs to be heard. The brilliant new single “Open Up Your Eyes” had the whole house rocking, they delivered a fantastic set of well crafted melodic tunes and left us all thanking the musical gods that they are back together again giving the people what they want. Hit them up on Facebook, search The Vision and then get out and hear them live. Steve Wells on Lead Vocals/Bass Guitar. Antony Baker on Guitar/Backing Vocals. Lee Wells on Synths/Samples. Ian Drewery on Drums/Percussion
Support on the night came from The Shamed
who are a four piece band from Milton Keynes/Northants playing their self penned material, they belt out songs of salvation that may just save your soul, and they do it with bucket loads of passion too. It’s a kind of rock punk fuzed re of energy and force but with masses of melody, they even throw in the occasional pop/rock sounding beauty. It’s loud and it’s right in your face, and it bites at your ears, and I loved it. The highlight for me was a song called One Life, it’s about the loss of Lee and Rob’s good friend who died very young. Seldom do songs hit you in all the right places on your rst listen but this gorgeous pop/rock melody pulls at every single heart string from the very rst moment that the guitar strums and the hook does what it’s meant to do. It’s such a beautiful song that when they came off stage I asked if I could produce the song for them I loved it so much, watch this space. Lee Smith on Vocals/Guitar. Rob Jones on Guitar. Leighton Grif ths on Bass. Richard Baker on Drums. Search Facebook for The Shamed and then go and catch them play live, you’ll thank me.
Also on the line-up were a really decent band called Final Clearance, if you like your indie rock with a wonderful violin, a heavy bass drum, cool bass lines and great vocals (think Arcade Fire being attacked by Pixies) then these boys and girls are for you, they played a great set. Tom Simpson, Ellie Preston, Trevor Morley, Sarah Scott, Lewis Simonds. Singer/songwriter Curtis Ersser also delivered
a ne set of his own particular brand of songs. DJ Mark (Scissors) Green was spinning some Indie classics between the bands, and then he rounded off the night wonderfully.
I nished my weekend off playing a little gig at Milton Keynes train station. I was invited to play at a vigil for two local young homeless men who had recently died on our streets in the City. It’s a tragedy when anyone dies but when two young men die in the cold in our communities then surely something must be wrong? So I was honoured to play in their memory, we even made the BBC News.
So get out and support live music, it’s where all the best music happens, the mainstream radio waves are so blocked up with mediocrity that it’s dif cult to remember what real music sounds like, so do yourself a massive favour and come and listen, we don’t bite, well most of us don’t.
Ian runs The IndieGo Show once a month at The Two Brewers in Olney, it’s a night of music, art, poetry and comedy, it’s held on the second Thursday of every month and it’s free entry. The next night is on Thursday 14th April, contact Ian if you would like to perform. Do go along to this wonderful night out, Ian gathers the very best of international and local acts to perform for free to raise money and awareness for local charities, it’s become the most talked about night in the area and is sponsored by The Phonebox Magazine. Check Ian’s website here: www. ianrobertsmusic.org or go to Facebook and search The IndieGo Show.
16 Phonebox Magazine | April 2016