Honeyblood, Estrons, Tear - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 4th May 2017

London four-piece TEAR were first support for Honeyblood at The Wedgewood Rooms, having recently released their mini-album VINYL01 on Tim Burgess' O Genesis Recordings label.

'Careless Again' starts out slow and with a jangly guitar kicking in and sparse drums while the vocals ramp up a good few notches as the song progresses. When the bass-line teases in with full drumming and guitar overlaid, we were taken on a journey, winding along grungy paths through ambient lo-fi.

'The Sprawl' again starts out slowly and soon crescendos into a great rolling energy of a song while 'Never Fade Away''s warbling bass-line has a sultry essence as front-woman Camille Benett proclaims, "I dont want to wait ... you've been waiting your whole life ... never fade away".

Best track of the set for us was 'Nothing You Can't Have'. In this song Camille's vocals turn more Jefferson Airplane psyche-laden and really come ringing through for a touch of the trans-Atlantic.

'Begging' is way more garagey and grungey, with Camille's voice deeper and more akin to a PJ Harvey fronted Hole, interspersed with floaty vocal breakdowns the song flows nicely with elements of riotous choral screams. Check out the official video for 'Begging' here:

Renowned for their fiery live shows, Estrons were next up and they certainly did not disappoint.

'I'm Not Your Girl' has a great marching attitude to it which was complimented to great effect with dark and atmospheric lighting, while singer Talisyn Sällström was sultry and fierce, "take it, take it ... I'm not drunk it's how you make me ... make me lose my mind". Check out our live video here:

'Drop' was another high energy song, and 'Make A Man' which starts off slowly really ramped up the pace with its lively beating intensity and teamed well with great melody, delivered with a passion. 'Belfast' flows brilliantly, check out the official video here: 

The new single 'Strobe Lights' which was released last week was the best moment of the set for us.

The driving dynamic guitar and drum interplay was totally energizing and the crowd were really starting to get involved.

With tireless animated energy, Talisyn is a great frontwoman and the rest of the band really clicked together well to produce an awesome and frantically bouncy melodic punky set.

Estrons play The Great Escape this month and we highly recommend checking them out live if you can - we highly recommend it!

Glasgow's Honeyblood released their much anticipated follow-up to 2014's debut album late last year and they are currently touring the new album ‘Babes Never Die’.

Their first single from 'Babes Never Die' - ‘Ready For The Magic’ is a great song that resonates with deep melodic hooks and is even better live; "you got me frantic ... it's electric". Check out the official video here:

Lo-fi gem 'Choker' from their debut album has a no nonsense triumphant sentiment to it "What doesn’t kill you, Just makes you stronger, What doesn’t fill you, Just feeds your hunger. ... ruby red pearlets".

'Sea Hearts' was another great performance and one of their more punk-rock moments, check out a little snippet of the crowd loving it here; "hey, hey! It's just a little heartbreak":

The ballad paced ‘Walking At Midnight’ has a pop melodrama to it and the sheer beauty of Stina's vocals really shines through. Also on 'Gangs' and 'Hey, Stellar' Stina's voice is haunting and  perfectly supported by Cat's backing.

Of course they played the new album's title track 'Babes Never Die' with it's lo-fi garagey charm and 'Killer Bangs' from their debut with its ear-wormly catchy tune. We were left thinking that it always amazes us just how much impact a 2-piece can have with such a full sound. This was an atmospheric set, expertly delivered with dark and sultry undertones, both Cat and Stina have a great live energy and obvious passion for the music making the whole set a pleasure to watch.