The Trial live review

Chelmsford band The Trial was in the dock at Hot Box last Friday night. Guest reviewer Andy Mckay was the judge. His verdict is unanimous. Read on for his sensational account of the proceedings.

The Trial is at liberty to continue their pursuit of the rock and roll dream. You can catch them at Roots & Grooves in Colchester this Friday (20 June). Support comes from hotly tipped trio The Violence Reduction Unit. The VRU’s profile is included below.

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The Trial: channelling Kafka and Dylan?

Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K. Or… something is happening, but you don’t know what it is. Do you Mr Jones?

Kafka. Dylan. Prominent young blades leaving an indelible mark on the twentieth century. A joint Rorschach blot that has bled through into the twenty-first. Two unique voices, two fever-dream writers documenting existential angst, signposts for the counter culture.

The lineage continues. Bands with a literary bent, informing their music with the treasures of the past, reworking, reshaping, big cinematic dreams and small screen impressions, an awkward alchemy confidently shaping what comes next.

The case for The Trial

So. The Trial, effortlessly cool young Essex rakes, named for the infamous Kafka novel. Disquieting. Packing a punch and a little unease. Teenage angst? Hardly. They’re in their element, under the stage lights, hiding in plain sight, on home turf. For a band so young, their presence is electric, the crowd bristles, anticipates, takes a breath.

And then they begin. And how. Brimming with ideas, with passion, with belief with a set of songs that draw from so many sources your head swims. Post-punk? No. Post-modern? More likely. They’ve studied. They’re classicists, addicted to creation and performance and now they’re burning it all down in the best way possible.

The suspects

Introducing The Trial. They’re all poster boys, cut from similar cloth, the gang’s all here.

Eliot Meydan on drums, Keith Moon crossed with Pete de Freitas, flaying limbs and total flow, the kid’s a star, both rock solid and deadly.

James Murray. Muzz. Vocals and guitar. Born to do this. Looks the part, plays the parts, deft composition and an easy stage presence, he’s comfortable, he steers and guides his bandmates with immense care. He knows they’ve got his back and he theirs. Which lets them truly play.

Reuben McCulloch, badass bass, he locks it in, he locks it down and still manages to fly, impressive with his sympathetic playing and solid stage presence.

And last, but no means least, their new guitarist, James Courtney, teasing and torturing the strings of his Mustang and unleashing great swathes of six-string serenades that give each song exactly what it needs.

Summing up

The Trial manage to be all periods of rock’s rich pageant all at once, conjuring up hints of the West Coast counter-culture of the late sixties, the cool of 70s New York, the beats of swinging London and Cool Britannia, the razor sharp shards of the best 50’s blues and rockabilly, hep cats who know where they come from. But are also blazing a trail towards where they are going. Wherever that may be.

Chelmsford has another great band – track them down as if your life depends upon it.

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The Violence Reduction Unit

The Violence Reduction unit is an independent trio making contemporary alternative music with roots in rhythm and noise.

Formed in spring this year, they promise an audible path to salvation through shoegaze and psyche in a fresh take on post-rock.

Birthed in Manchester, England, The VRU features Sam Arscott on electric guitar and vocals, Alec D’arcy Jones on bass guitar and vocals and Martha Hosey on drums.

Expect maximum volume and moments of vulnerability.

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