Max Raptor and Hildamay @The Venue, Derby 15/3/2012

My first time into the derby-based music venue, ironically called The Venue and there’s two bands on tonight and from what I can gather there’s a lot of hype about them. Hildamay, who have been on the music scene since 2008, and all that can be said was that the crowd reaction was absolutely huge and not surprisingly these guys just sounded awesome. Everything about them was just fresh from the vocals to the bass and their sheer energy on-stage. From what I’ve heard Hildamay have definitely got what it takes to seriously hit the big time.

Burton-on-Trent’s own Max Raptor co-stole the entire show and all I can say is that these guys are just incredible and have lots of raw energy and oozed masses of adrenaline. They sounded like complete pro’s and not surprisingly everyone still wanted a piece of them even after the show. Seriously, the locals of Burton should be proud of this lot, you’ve got one incredible band on your hands. The guys show some serious power when they’re in front of an entire crowd.

Other pictures from the night

New Music Night @The Venue, Derby 10/4/2014

Rap-Torial group shot

Rap-Torial

The Deadtime Philharmonic group/duo shot

The Deadtime Philharmonic

Field Studies group shot

Field Studies

Three bands played to the crowd on the night; Field Studies, Rap-Torial and Thee Dead Philharmonic though I later learnt on arrival that there was supposed to be a fourth band on the bill Hey Sholay but they had dropped out and also that the third member of Rap-Torial was absent making them a duo for the night. Ambient Alt-rock band Field Studies made an impression  and even I admit I saw a lot of potential in these four.

M.C & DJ duo Rap-Torial could easily be described as a match for Eminem and Professor Green. In terms of their music they take both the Hip-Hop/Rap genres to their true roots and not go down the typical manufactured route. With the penultimate song I was impressed with their sampled a track by 60’s soul singer Ray Charles before completely re-inventing it into something new with Jacob ‘Jaws’ Willshaw’s fast-paced lyrics. Straight up I admit that any M.C/Rapper that can either sing or rap from the heart whilst displaying a mixture of emotion and angst gets my full respect. Eventually Thee Deadtime Philharmonic made their entrance and pulled in quite a crowd. Now Philharmonic have grabbed much attention and after the first two tracks I could see why. This band has got something and they even got the attention of the BBC Introducing flat form on the night, so they must be doing something right. Singing about anything ranging from the class system, political justice/injustice and innocent murder victims and alike, these guys have definitely got something to say.

All words and photos by Adam J Humphreys