Gig Review - Junker at The Retro Bar Manchester, UK - 9th November 2011

Junker Gig Review – 9^th November 2011 at Retro Bar, Manchester, UK

Reviewer – Phill Bruce

Headline Band – Junker

Support Bands – Lovechild & Scott

There are some amazing interesting bands on the music scene these days and one of the bands that have really caught my eye is Junker.  Junker musically is on top form.  They comprise of four decent guys from Crewe, UK.  We were invited to the Retro bar in Manchester recently to see them on their busy touring schedule. To say the least I was amazed to what I heard, so what did I hear well read on.

We arrived at Retro bar to find Gavin and the lads having a cigarette outside.  We got a real nice welcome from Junker, we all then went down the stairs to the cellar like bar. The venue was small yet comfortable and the gigs itself was private and intimate.  

First on was a solo musician Scott, his music was amazing but he would benefit very much from a backing band.  Scott had a lot of talent and even though he lacked the band his set was indeed a good one, his set could be described as a melting pot of soul music with good solid metal guitar riffs.

Next up was Lovechild, another good talented band.  They were more heavy rock with an eclectic mix of songs from the 50’s to the present day adding their own spin on the covers they did.  Their own music was really good with rocking flavours and very soulful but yet powerful vocal tones.  Their set was crowned off with an amazing cover of Led Zeppelin’s "Good Times Bad Times," which in my mind helped to really show the talent of these musicians.

After a short break between Lovechild ending and Junker setting up we all went upstairs for a quick break before the mighty Junker appeared on stage.  Then the time came and Junker took to the stage with their drummer in a clown mask.  The lighting effects on stage helped to highlight the band with the green and red colours contrasting with the band members.  They started with the track called "Something" and then led into "Powerstone".  It was obvious when you heard their music the sheer genius of these guys. In chatting to Junker I found that a lot of their songs are to do with murder which I think is an interesting subject for music so the song "Text Pest" fit in quite well with that it being about a stalker.  Lyrically and musically I could not fault Junker in any way shape or form.  We then were served to the delight that is "Raping The Faith", which arrived fresh on a heavy yet melodic platter.  The only cover that Junker did was System Of A Down’s "Aerials".  In my mind System Of A Down are a very hard band to cover musically and was astounded to hear the flawless cover that Junker managed to pull off, the music and vocals married together to perfection.  Following soon after came "Eureka", which was proceeded by Junker’s very own fucked up love song "Fall To My Knees".  "Sick" was a song that encapsulated Junker’s main theme to presicition perfection.  Their set was drawing to an end with "Are We Dead Yet" and it finished with "Rake" in blazing style.

Junker is a band with an amazing amount of talent and defiantly a band to keep an eye on as these guys have the potential to make it HUGE and I am sure they will.  All in all even though the gig was intimate it was an amazing gig to say the least. 

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https://www.junker.co/