Lewinski

The first band took the stage and started to tune up, I knew nothing of their musical style all I knew was that they were apparently (as billed ) ’Sounds Of The Underground.’ This I thought would make for an interesting evening and at £1 a pint, neither I nor my companions were in any mood to complain!

Said first band were Penfold, who consist of the standard formation of a whiney singer (who also dabbles in playing guitar), a bassist, a drummer and lead guitatrist who appears to be making 90% of the noise (more of that later.) As they progressed deeper into their set I began to be almost hypnotised by their Mogwai’ish instrumentally long and intricate songs. The vocal style of the lead singer would be best described by comparing it to contemporary artists like Staind and even on a good day Nickelback. The audience were appreciative of the efforts of the drummer who most of the time was the only constant rhythmic meter of the band. The lead guitarist provided most of the music and was complimented by a quiet (but still an integral part of the noise making) bassist. They finished their set to a low level of applause. As I later found out this gig had been their first rehearsal for 3 months due to university commitments and the like.

Next on the Sounds Of The Underground night were Lewinkski. While waiting for Penfold to vacate the stage and Lewinski to come on, I found myself listening intently to the music being played by the DJ. I find it fascinating (when going to see bands I have never heard of) to see if I can guess from the music the DJ is playing what the next band on the bill will be like. From the sounds that I heard coming from Penfold (having tried this tactic earlier) and now Lewinski, I have decided I have no such talent. Lewinski are a three piece band from the West Somerset town of Taunton. The best way to describe their sound would be to define it as Ska-Punk. Their obvious musical influences would be the likes of Greenday and New Found Glory, but saying that by being West-country lads they also have been noticeably influenced by the musical talents and style of Reef. As to the style of singing I have thought long and hard about who they sounded like and to my surprise the only answer that I came up with was Pusha. (For anyone who doesn’t know who Pusha are they are a band from the town of Weymouth Dorset). The reason being that all West-country lads sound the same (i.e like Pusha) when they try to sing in a Californian style (but obviously still have the West-country accent in the background). Lewinski preceded to play a set comprising of their own songs, with only one cover (that being an Elvis song). They went down well with the audience, this was because as I later found out they have been doing the rounds for quite some time now and with this gig being in their home town there were bound to be some diehard fans in the audience. So in conclusion Lewinski are your typical Ska-Punk band, with the songs about teen angst to prove it. With the music scene as it is now they could be big news soon (if only they were American).