Another cold night out and about in the swamp and once again I’m heading out to the Royal. Many nights of my youth have been spent at this bar and the atmosphere has not changed a bit. Still the same brick covered wars, stage has not moved in decades with its dark little back bar, but I am not here to review the bar.
First to come onto stage is Streetlight Requiem. Hailing from Wellington this Punk three piece drilled out a powerful set including a cover of The Cure's 'Boys Who Cry'. Not bad for a group who have only been performing together since late 2008. It was a shame that the sound being produced had the bass out shadowing the grunchy guitar licks that I had to get closer to hear.
Up next was the biggest disappointment I have seen his year, and the fact they were a local band, made it worse. Cervix, took forever to set up, messing around onstage and their performance was not much better. I did hear some talented licks from the stage but it was overshadowed by the un-professionalism of the band. With most songs lasting about 90 seconds they were more a garage band than someone who deserved to be paid to be on stage.
Once that was over the Waikato boys whom I want to watch, walked onto stage. Eqwanox have a mixture of genres and will be going far in the New Zealand Music scene. Just having released their new album 'All Roads Lead To Here', they opened with a style and grace you would expect the headliners, and even after my spirits were dampened by the group before I felt revived for the opening song. Unfortunately the swamp did not come out for the night so the crowd was minimal but the boys still turned on the sounds. With a mix of songs from their previous albums as well as new tracks Eqwanox did not fail to perform.
If you get a chance to catch them live while they are touring I recommend going along. Go out and buy their album or go see them live, well worth your time.
"The band strings together tight gripping melodies and strong vocals/backing vocals and produced one outrageously great album" – Muzic.net.nz
"I like the name Eqwanox, it’s spelt differently and that’s what you need, something that’s different from the rest so you can market the idea" - GILBY CLARKE (Guns N Roses//Rockstar Supernova)
EQWANOX are a Rock band from the Waikato with Punk, Grunge and Pop Rock elements.