Mighty Atom Showcase
8th May 2001

Well The Mighty Atom showcase was the first opportunity for us to see the four bands currently signed to the company's record label in one musical extravaganza compared by the Reginald Perrin of rap, M.C. for the "Headcase Ladz", "Nobsta Nutts".

The night kicked off with "Stickman", a punk rock outfit from Llanelli, not having seen the band play live before I had little idea of what to expect, aside from the rumours of Jock straps and nudity. I was treated to a tight set of original material reminiscent of bands such as NOFX, and Snuff, with plenty of humorous stage antics to boot. The band's energy and attitude flowed through the music and soon got the crowd to their feet breaking the barriers between band and audience with plenty of good humoured abuse being hurled in both directions. Needless to say the rumours are true!

The next band up to bat were "Denzel", a melodic rock outfit from London playing their first gig in Wales, and more importantly their first gig since 1999. Despite this break "Denzel" looked and sounded confident creating a varied and interesting sound through tasteful use of guitar effects, and memorable melody's. The local crowd took to the band immediately, and supported them through a professional set delivered and received with enthusiasm, the band took the opportunity during the set to announce the imminent release of their debut single "Out of the Blue", something to look forward to.

The third band of the evening were local boys "Goatboy", opening their set with a furious barrage of noise before launching into a combination of solid riffs, drum and bass style beats, and cuts delivered by Dek Masha Slice driving the crowd into a mosh pit soon spilling onto the stage and diving back off in waves. The band, quite obviously loving the chaos around them enjoyed the set as much as the crowd, and were not allowed to leave the stage until they willingly ran through a couple of bonus tracks during which "Nobsta" grabbed the mic and demonstrated some freestyle skills.

The final act of the night were local metal act "Powder", who's raw metal grooves persuaded members from the previous acts into possibly the most aggressive pit of the night during which I sustained some face injuries causing me to retire to the bathroom for a couple of tracks, before enticing me back. The grinding riffs and melodic vocal lines delighted their fans whom responded in awe. Overall a good turn out and good music resulted in a successful evening enjoyed by all.

Hopefully this event will not be a one off, and I look forward to future releases from the label. In short, if you weren't there you should have been. In the event of a repeat gig, be there or be erased!!!