Young bands give their all for disaster appeal (From Western Telegraph)

Young bands give their all for disaster appeal

The artistically draped chilli lights were an indicator of how hot a night this was going to be.

It was the acoustic culmination of a three-night musical event organised by Colin Greer, front man of Nikolai, who had got together some of the three counties' finest young bands and DJs to put on a fundraiser for the Tsunami Disaster Appeal.

Hosted by Michelle, of Granby's/Vibe Carmarthen, the various artists played their parts with passion and the audience responded in numbers with generosity.

For this. the most laid back night of the three. they brought in the big guns - four rock bands with reputations for excellence.

As always Nikolai managed to be both emotionally resonant and musically satisfying. With a mischievous urge to keep surprising their audience, they conjured up some jazz/funk in a 'lounge version' of Tansy, one of their best known songs, just to confirm to us how their original and unmistakable sound is forever metamorphosing.

Love Rocket's riff-pounding tunes were dispatched at a high rate of knots, as they translated their down and dirty guitar-grinding rock 'n' roll antics for the acoustic arena. Such is the force surging through this mighty band (even acoustically) that the system momentarily couldn't cope and we had a (fortunately short lived) power cut. I missed the beat of a bongo or snare, but drummer Rob had decided to lend his support from the bar. It was that kind of night.

Sounding wounded, wasted, or possibly both, The States, aficionados of the quiet/loud dynamic, opened with turbulent acoustic grunge. "This is so hard. There's no room for error here," acknowledged their charismatic front man, Ziggy, of the difficulties of unplugging for the first time. But their spirits were undaunted.

Big on emotional volume, Supernauts enveloped the almost devotional audience in a warm glow. Aled's tremendous voice bleeds with a vulnerable honesty (perfect for healing bruised hearts) particularly during the howl of hot anguish that is Jackie Jones.

And Danny showed us that his wizardry is not just confined to keyboards as he brought slide guitar and harmonica into the mix. As expected, Supernauts pulled out all the stops, spectacularly.

Altogether this jam-packed musical three-nighter was a huge success. The fact that the venue was rammed wall-to-wall on all nights and that an impressive £1,800 plus was raised for the Tsunami Disaster Appeal is testament to the commitment, energy and enthusiasm of our young local bands and their many fans, and of course to Colin's unstinting hard work. Tremendous.