Rock Regeneration

The Old Firestation, Bournemouth

Do you know of the band with equal love of dark brutality and baby powder? Now you do (or almost, so read on).

One Wednesday evening I was off to see “Skid Row” play in one of our local venues as you do. It was actually a biggie, as big bands hardly play round here and when they do they normally are pretty mainstream. We don’t often get good stuff in a beautiful British Riviera where alternative music scene is not very well developed, but you do get an odd diamond here and there. I’ve heard that Swedish band called “Sister” and American “The Last Vegas” would be supporting.

So, here I was, waiting for “Skid Row” to appear, patiently checking out support bands. First on stage came on “The Last Vegas” (America), but this review is not about them, so I won’t bubble on how great they were (they weren’t bad, actually).

Then the usual stuff happens when bands change over and most people go to empty bodies filled up with cheap beer on tap normally sold at those kind of venues. The most hated by all gap in the gig. And then something happened…

Four “dead boys” started making noise on stage. They looked as if they’ve crawled out from a tomb in which they were buried for centuries: all lanky, zombie-like, black long hair and dark clothes covered in dust. And the hell broke loose…

Sister 1

Frontman Jamie kept throwing equilibristic moves balancing between the stage and the security barrier, throwing microphone stand up in the air and somehow managing to catch it every time. Bassist Rikki heated up the tunes with his bass and drummer Cari banged on like a thunderstorm. At some point I got a bit worried, hoping that the venue has saved some extinguishing equipment from it’s old days when it actually used to be a fire station.

Ravishing riffs from melodic to almost trashy poured and poured on spellbound crowd. And there we had it:“Sister” was setting the “Old Fire Station” on fire.

Later that night I chatted to their guitarist Tim, making first attempt to speak in my broken limited Swedish. I had to resort to English in the end. Tim pointed out that many genres influenced them from crusty sounding punk to black metal. But they still love a bit of Motley and W.A.S.P., hence that’s where all the glamor glitter is from. I guess it’s fair to say that any good musician won’t bracket themselves into a particular style. Good music just happens naturally.

Gotta give guys good marks for style. They were definitely unique with their obscene black metal and sleaze mix. And where else would you get best Sleaze Metal from? S-W-E-D-E-N I hear you chant. (please, forgive me “Sister” crew, or shall I say “Brothers”?). As much as the guys don’t like to associate themselves with any particular style, they have definitely have had a bit of Glam sprinkled all over them. Or was it baby powder again, which they never forget to bring with them on tour along with some booze. In one of the earlier interviews singer Jamie admits that most of their apparel is self made “If you want something nice, you gotta do it yourself”, he says. So, they surely care about putting on a good show and making an effort not only with their music but also with the whole entourage.

Overall “Sister” made great impression on me as not every day you go to see a headline act and actually prefer the support band. (Sorry, “Skid Row”). Check out their last album “Disguised Vultures” that came out early 2014 and was produced by Crashdiet’s Martin Sweet. And who knows what guys have planned for us in 2015.

Links
http://www.sisterofficial.com
https://www.facebook.com/sisterband

Words by V. Kavaliova.
Sister pictures by Darrell Drury.