{"id":25836,"date":"2024-12-21T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25836"},"modified":"2024-12-18T21:21:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T21:21:53","slug":"eureka-machines-the-virginmarys-the-empty-page-brudenell-social-club-leeds-14th-december-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25836","title":{"rendered":"Eureka Machines\/The Virginmarys\/The Empty Page – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds. 14th December 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It must be Christmas time, The Eureka Machines are having a shindig at The Brudenell, and you\u2019re all invited!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Chris Catalyst may well be everyone\u2019s go-to sidekick these days, whether he\u2019s playing with The Sisters Of Mercy, Ugly Kid Joe or even a Nameless Ghoul in Ghost, you may well have seen him play without even realising it. But the Leeds based singer\/songwriter has his own \u201cfunny little band\u201d called The Eureka Machines, and every now and then they come back to remind everyone how good they are. This is one of those times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Late additions to the bill are Manchester alt punks The Empty Page and they have the grand job of opening proceedings tonight. Ex Obsessive Compulsive duo Kel and Giz are back with an impressive new album entitled \u2018Imploding\u2019 and it\u2019s nice to catch them live for the first time in many years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With hypnotic, effect-ridden guitars, throbbing goth bass and Siouxsie Sioux\/PJ Harvey vocals the 3-piece band deliver an energetic set that veers from Sonic Youth\/The Smiths style indie floor fillers such as \u2018You\u2019re Tame\u2019 to energetic, punky blasts of noise like \u2018Dry Ice\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a punk poetry element to Kel\u2019s lyrics and delivery, matched with Giz\u2019s clever guitar lines it makes for an exciting live experience. <\/p>\n\n\n

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This is the first time I\u2019ve seen The Virginmarys perform as a two piece and I was wondering how the dynamic shift would work in a live setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the duo stage front, drummer Danny Dolan grips his sticks tight and haunches over his kit, like a boxer waiting to throw the first punch, his eyes focused on his partner in crime Ally Dickaty, waiting for the signal to count in the opening barrage of beats and riffs that make up \u2018You\u2019re A Killer\u2019. The pair are mesmerising to watch and the sound that emanates from a single guitar, a voice and a drum kit is as full and intense as any rock show I have seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Lies, Lies, Lies\u2019 follows. Rawer, yet just as powerful as the album version. Danny pounds seven shades of shit from his kit while Ally spits diatribes with the guttural rage usually reserved for the likes of Slipknot (who incidentally are playing a short walk from the venue tonight). Two songs in and The Virginmarys are sounding freaking intense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight, they play pretty much the whole of their new album \u2018The House Beyond The Fires\u2019 which is a pretty brave move. There\u2019s no between-song banter, Ally preferring to let the music do the talking, and the highlights are plentiful. Singles \u2018Northwest Coast\u2019 and \u2018When The Lights Go Down\u2019 shine brightly, but it\u2019s the newer album tracks which really show an intensity to their live performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sound in The Brudenell is usually spot on and it plays in The Virginmarys favour. Ally\u2019s guitar sounds amazing, crystal clear in the opening strains of the likes of \u2018White Knuckle Riding\u2019 and when the distortion and effects kick in on the likes of \u2018Dance To The City\u2019, it sounds massive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are just two older tracks played tonight, the emotive \u2018Look Out For My Brother\u2019 and a killer \u2018Just A Ride\u2019 which close the set. The song choice just shows the belief Ally and Danny have in the new material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fresh off a European tour and with the new songs bedded in, the Virginmarys are a tight live unit with a fistful of killer tunes that pack a punch and they are a force to be reckoned with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone want\u2026.a biscuit?\u201d asks Chris Catalyst mid-way through the Eureka Machines triumphant headline set, before happily handing over a box of Family Circle to a more than obliging front row. It\u2019s a bit of a northern \u2018in joke\u2019, but Eureka Machines and a certain amount of their fanbase like a good cup of tea and a biscuit. Maybe Eureka Machines are the Rich Tea of the rock n\u2019 roll world? It\u2019s safe, it\u2019s familiar, you know what you\u2019re going to get with a Rich Tea, and when you have one for the first time in a while you forget how bloody good they are\u2026that\u2019s a Eureka Machines show right there! <\/p>\n\n\n

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Enough of the analogies, Chris Catalyst and his band don\u2019t play shows very often these days, which is a shame because his self-proclaimed \u201csilly little band\u201dare actually very bloody good, and they have some top tunes in their arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ve not played a show for 12 months, but it may as well be 12 hours. Tight, comfortable and energetic, it\u2019s like they\u2019ve never been away. Obligatory black suits and white ties, obligatory between-song banter from Chris Catalyst and obligatory power pop filled set list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kicking off with \u2018Champion The Underdog\u2019 we have a set filled with ridiculously catchy tunes that could give any stadium-filling band a run for their money. \u2018Pop Star\u2019 is played early, \u2018Being Good Is Ok, But Being Better\u2019s Better\u2019 and \u2018Affluenza\u2019 are proper earworms and \u2018Wish You Were Her\u2019 is an emotional highlight. Even a cover of The Bangles \u2018Walk Like An Egyptian\u2019 is perfection in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is they have a new album recorded and a new single in the (virtual) shops, and they play that single tonight. \u2018Back In The Back Of Beyond\u2019 is typical EM fodder and bodes well for the new album in the new year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They don\u2019t do encores, but \u2018Zero Hero\u2019 rounds up a killer set from one of the country’s best kept secrets. Funny little band? Let\u2019s give the Eureka Machines the credit they deserve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It must be Christmas time, The Eureka Machines are having a shindig at The Brudenell, and you\u2019re all invited! Yes, Chris Catalyst may well be everyone\u2019s go-to sidekick these days, whether he\u2019s playing with The Sisters Of Mercy, Ugly Kid Joe or even a Nameless Ghoul in Ghost, you may well have seen him play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[117,1787,1818,1710,1681,1680,1833],"class_list":["post-25836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-eureka-machines","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tourlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25836"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25844,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25836\/revisions\/25844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}