Live Review: LA Cobra 05-09-2009

LA Cobra
Mystic Boer, Bloemfontein
5 September 2009

These four guys from Pretoria are stuck in the glam metal scene of the good old 80’s and they’re reliving the glory days of White Snake, Poison and Guns and Roses. Their musical make up is complete with flowing long hair, excessive soloing and cheesy rock moves.

On the evening their glam/sleaze metal was delivered so accurately, awesomely and with so much fun it was impossible not to want to put on a leather jacket and grow bad hair - Bon Jovi style. And for those who were not old enough to remember, or not familiar with the 80’s glam metal scene, it didn’t matter because every one in the crowd stood gob smacked at guitarist John Strong’s shredding. His fingers were working at such speeds that his guitar produced sounds similar to what I would imagine it sounded like if Pacman was having a seizure. It was without a doubt one of the (if not the) most impressive performances by a guitarist I’ve seen all year.

Other than John Strong’s sonic mayhem, Don Cobra’s shirtless appearance, hair throwing moves and shrilling vocals completed the LA Cobra 80’s time warp. Overall, their songs are very accessible and when you throw in awesome covers of Europe’s ‘Final Countdown’ and Twisted Sister’s ‘We’re not gonna take it’ and blend it with their over the top stage antics you are left with one truly entertaining rock ‘n roll gig. These hair metallers left the crowd with one thing on their minds. “Let’s do the time warp again.”
7/8

NM - Andre Kluyts

Live Review: Isochronous & Kidofdoom 12-08-2009

Isochronous & Kidofdoom live
Mystic Boer, Bloemfontein
12 August 2009

Isochronous

The time factor in their name was not without a sense of ambiguity on the evening. Because on the day their transport from Pretoria to Bloemfontein broke down and to cater for the problems everything started a lot later than scheduled, but they still only arrived at the venue about 20 minutes before they had to go on stage.

However on the flip side, their arrival onto the NepTunes radar couldn’t have been timelier. About midway through their set I was left picking the pieces of my mind from the walls, because it felt as if I was in a trademark Quentin Tarantino shootout scene and they were blowing minds all over the place with their music.

One of the highlights were when bassist Franco, who plays a six string bass, well and truly tamed the beast with a face melting slap and pop solo in their track ‘Beauty Queen.’ Frontman Richard performed like a possessed logger sawing out the melodies on guitar and Alex on keyboard brings a pleasant atmosphere to their songs. When this band stops in your town. You have to go see them!
7/8

Kidofdoom

A person walking past the Mystic Boer whilst Kidofdoom were summoning their otherwordly sounds probably thought that the club was in the midst of an alien invasion.
But the only thing alien about this band is that it is an instrumental only child.

As in Isochronous the focal point of Kidofdoom is Richard Brokensha. But in Kidofdoom he has no vocal duties so his performance was a mix between a mad scientist and an orchestra conductor. He was constantly busy mixing tones on keyboard, whilst headbanging to the drum and bass rhythms and found some time to exert some rock ‘n roll contusions when playing guitar.

As there are no vocals, their live qualities lie in their ability to intrinsically connect the energy and ambiance of their songs with the crowd through clever arrangements and a tight performance. Kidofdoom’s music is a liquid remedy to a hangover of banalities that are creeping in at South African mainstream music. They are definitely bringing something fresh to the South African music scene and they are doing it well.
6/8

NM - Andre Kluyts