Live Review from Girls with Guitars #7
1.光
2.寫照
3.說一聲永遠
4.死期到
5.奮鬥
When it comes to bands, in my experience, four times out of five you can judge a musical book by its cover; by which I mean that you can judge a band by the way they dress. This band took the stage looking like a mix between Heart in the 70s and Mötley Crüe, and indeed the glam style was pretty big on the radar during this set. However, and I rarely say this, their performance left a lot to be desired. I don’t know if there was something wrong with the sound during their set, but it often sounded like that. What they were attempting was a fairly broad-based approximation of 80s glam rock power ballads. However, for a start, the guitarist was not really audible for the first song, and afterwards played mostly in a very low register. Now that’s okay if you’re playing something like, say, grindcore, and only need a loud chugging background while you strum the guitar insanely fast. However, for songs that have a structure and need to have the anthemic feel of a power ballad this is almost useless. I would like to think that something went awry in the wiring of his guitar pedals and amp, but I saw no evidence to that effect on the night. When there was an audible guitar part, it sounded much like the tone used in most 80s Michael Jackson songs like Eddie Van Halen used in Beat It; some people might like these two sounds mixed, but it was definitely not for me.
The sort of singer a band like this demands, is one with unflagging skill to be able to sing with a strong, high-pitched voice all through the set; the singer they do have does not have this. Now, that’s not necessarily a problem, but her voice is a weak one and when set against a background that would make most singers sound pallid it makes her sound almost squeaky. On the night, she also missed quite a few notes in crucial places, and if you do that within the tyrannical regime that is metal it can sound really bad. They’ve got a pretty good rhythm section, but that didn’t really manage to save any of the songs. It sounds to me like they need a change of direction to be a band that has a distinct sound and can stand up to the quality of the bands in Hong Kong, if they want not to be just a disposable radio band that sounds like a clone of every other. The band have a lot to work on, and I wish them the best for their future.
— Shashwati Kala
當晚第三隊出場的是四人樂隊Muffy,是當晚唯一一隊唱廣東話的樂隊。他們玩的多偏pop-rock的風格,台型是頗吸引的。第一首《光》,女主音的聲音算是尖,與上一隊GDJYB主音剛好有點反差,他們的音樂一來都是強而有力的,鼓在每一首歌曲都十分搶耳。另外,他們的歌曲多帶出正面的感覺,且青春而有活力的。當晚美中不足的,是某一兩次的guitar solo不夠到位,讓聽眾聽得不夠過癮,另外主唱的聲線當晚聽著好像不夠穩定,假如用聲的技巧和穩定性稍稍提高,整體一定會大大的加分。
– Sidick Lam