GIG REVIEW – Maines, Sustinere @ Ink., Colwyn Bay

Maines launch their long awaited debut album ‘Sometimes We Live’ – originally prepared as an EP, until I pointed out it is actually album length, you can check the review of it here.
Ink. in Colwyn Bay is a cool place, the kind of gaffe all the cool people hang out at, and you too become cool just by being there. It’s an art gallery, studio, bar, café and occasional venue. The décor is ace, the vibe is optimistic, the social media content is bang-on and the staff are positive. This can only mean the council will hate it and try to close it down as soon as possible.

Sustinere step from the shadows and into the psychedelic spotlight to begin proceedings. A riff-rocking duo from Chester stomping on the toes of Black Keys and Alffa, but doing so far heavier. The emphasis is most definitely on those Clutch-like riffs as the guitar shook the building… Way too loud for the un-mic’d drumkit, but that’s guitarists for ya!! Playing a lot of stuff from their new album ‘3.5’ Sustinere kept every head turned toward them in this attention deficit world we live in today. (Check their stuff on spotify).

I’ve seen, and reviewed Maines more times I can remember over the past few years. Of late they’ve gone through line up changes, with the pairing of Dave Pod (voc,gtr) and drummer Craig, the only constants. Even as a three-piece (with Greg on bass) they still maintain a standard higher than you’d expect, and, as with Sustinere, the guitar (and bass) were too loud, so the punch of the drums was lost in that sonic wall. This was soon corrected when the council called to say there’d been a noise complaint and the guitars had to be turned down to normal levels!
Remember: if you have beef with anyone making a noise, your ONE complaint will spoil the fun for the majority of people enjoying themselves. I’ve seen a festival stage abandoned, and venues closed down because some grumpy twat could hear something different faintly in the background from behind their living room curtains. This is the world we live in, where the (wrong type of) minority have a voice (see Brexit, social media etc).
Perhaps the line from the album opener Cont Dracula is both double-edged and true; ‘We are no better than those that we condemn…’

Maines; baseball capped and unfazed, of course coasted through their shoe-gazing Class-A post-hardcore repertoire, collecting plaudits and album and t-shirt sales in their wake. Great to hear the LP live and in the flesh. They left us with the feedback drenched epic classic Parallux. Ace.
Buy the album ‘Sometime We Live’ here