Metal Faerie

Vacant Head Space Monday Nights 07.09.10

Deep-fried frazzled and beyond over the day, I seek, on whim as much as need, some way to unwind after my first gruelling day back to work. So Test and I set out alone to tackle The Gap and whatever it had to offer there in the way of live rock music and an active rock scene.

My camera, punched in the soul after everyone screaming “Get That Thing Out Of My Face!” at the last Standing Penance rock party, has started to die, and hasn’t stopped since. Armed with an extra pair of useless batteries, we enter The Ship Inn to see what experiences await us.

Insert Vacant Head Space and my mixed thoughts and feelings on doing this review. I have heard this band twice before. I remember sharp, sour, harsh lead vocals. I remember a rather barf-worthy set list consisting of Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive, Katy Perry’s I Kissed a Girl and other more decidedly Pop-Not-Rock song selections. I cringe ... and then encounter a very pleasant surprise.

I hear vastly improved vocals, especially by lead singer Paige Banfield. They are a little softer, a little sweeter and a little more powerful. Although her voice is by no means pitch perfect, and can weaken, wobble and waver on the occasionally more challenging registers and notes, it’s timbre and tone are, for the most part, definitely on key and on point tonight.

Members seem to be more involved and I observe them playing more of a role, especially bassist Craig Haniff. I remember vacant being applicable to a lot more than merely the name of the band where at previous gigs Craig would just be standing there, simply staring off in his own little world, lost in the music of his most wicked bass. Now he brings his comedic and charismatic character to the forefront of the stage, and references to him being the clown of the group are no longer an inside joke, as I experience it personally for myself this gig around.

The band is more high-energy-focused, and less pretty-but-frequently-forced-front-woman-focused, especially with lead electric guitarist Rahn Phillip’s spastic stage persona and presence. This takes the pressure of performance off Paige, and redistributes it evenly throughout the group. However, with everyone simultaneously singing back up together from time to time, said group can feel a little boy (plus girl) bandish, simply because lead vocal work is redistributed evenly as well, and can lend itself to less enunciation and projection on the part of the singers at times.

As with the Look Hooz Left gig I previously reviewed, I find myself once again not caring at all for the lacking crowd response to the lively, high-energy performance up on the stage. I blame this on the conservative, the self-conscious and the old present, more than I do on the band. As I watch Craig and Paige having to resort to humorously threatening the crowd with repeat renditions of their songs to get greater involvement and adulation, I cringe again, this time on the band’s behalf.

These questions are begged. Why is a band consisting of members in their late-teens to early 20s playing for a crowd of well-over-30 somethings? Where are the friends, family and strangers in their own age demographic? Are Test and I the only ones here remotely close to age 25 and under? And since when is liming and hanging out synonymous with rocking and wilding out? We import this genre and this scene from America and Europe, but they somehow left the correct crowd response pack out of the kit?

Seriously, WHAT GIVES???!!!

Smart song selections make for a much improved set list that complements Paige’s vocal range, and allows the vocal strengths and dynamism of the guys to shine, especially Rahn’s and Craig’s. They also make for a more enjoyable show as well, as pop covers can never make a group of entertaining performers a rock band. Only hard, heavy alternative to blazing, blistering rock can do that.

Highlights of the night are an inspired performance of Paramore’s Ignorance by Paige, cute classics like Joan Jette’s I Love Rock n’ Roll, Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, and some killer contemporary covers of Pink’s Like A Pill, Eagle Eye Cherry’s Save Tonight and Blur’s Song 2.

Their very own original, Changing on Me, while somewhat radio-generic and not as attention-grabbing as some of the other songs in their set, still moves them firmly from the cruddy pigeonhole of cover band to the elite class of true artists that rock bands who write their own originals are, and for this I applaud them.

Rhythm electric guitarist Jonathan Banfield, who co-formed the band with sister Paige, is charming and endearing in his somehow awkward naturalness on stage and drummer Phillip Norville is one of the most engaging I have sampled from the scene so far.

Always professional, impeccably well-dressed, and coming complete with printed copies of their set lists, I can now say that Vacant Head Space has grown on me much like a fungus (for a faerie this is a good thing), and beyond this review I am actually enthused about their performance at next week’s Cavehill Woodstock; review coming up next!

GIG PICS!