'Ticket's There' – Irish and International Music Blog

I’ve got the horn Ryan. After a successful find in Stillroom I decided to finally go and listen to a band many, many people are talking about. The Answer are being hailed as Irelands best Rock export since Thin Lizzy and Tickets There has been surprisingly lax in it’s efforts to find out more. I just haven’t been in the mood until now. More than likely I overdid things back in the Chinese Democracy days. Anyways, let’s move on.

I’ve never seen the band or heard their album.

Fucking Great. First song On and On is a superb example of how rock bands should sound. Real great mix of blues laden guitars, harmony driven vocals and first-class crashing drums. Lets see what second song, Demon Eye’s has in store. Intro’s a little slower than the first track…until about thirty seconds in and the band comes back (didn’t I just say something similar in the last review?). Good rumbling guitars and brilliant bursting bridge before a full on, over the top- riff fuelled chorus tears the song in half. Title’s a bit silly but pretty savage. The drum beat during the verse stands out much better here than the last song and the bass belts a fantastic line over everything. Another standing ovation guitar solo filled with bends, slides and all sorts of treats brings us to the first tame moment before the chorus comes ripping back in. The singer Cormac Neeson really pulls everything together and the gaps in Stillroom’s sound seem a little larger.

Never Too Late opens with an excellent lead intro before the band kicks into a 70’s style psychedelic prelude. The Answer are actually living up to every inch of the hype associated with them and I’m suddenly very glad I didn’t see them supporting AC/DC or they mightn’t have had the same punch. Just as you settle into the seventies buzz, another spiralling solo tears the whole things to pieces as the band display their talents at writing perfect little rock tracks. Defiantly a must for any Chris Cornell fans out there. Walkin; Mat brings us past the half way mark (god, normally the good bands only have one or two track up and shit ones cant fit enough on their page). For some reason, Walkin’ Mat keeps cutting off on me. This stupid, poxy Irish Broadband piece of shit. Have tried restarting three times but just can’t get it going so let’s hop along to the best named track on their playlist, Highwater or Hell. Good, same tone as the other songs with a much rockier chorus and good heavy guitars. There isn’t much more I can say about this sound, it’s just great. While Tickets There prefers abit more aggression and profanity in its tunes, there’s no flawing this kind of rock n roll craftsmanship. A slowed down bridge supported by a pounding drum leads the way for a brief solo before….the fucking internet kicks out again. Fucking pile of shit.

The final song on the playlist is Memphis Water and it’s a live recording from Japan. Again, the band returns to the 70’s style of Never Too Late but it’s got more a blues feel this time. Surprisingly authentic for a northern Irish band writing a song like this is the new millennium. I was pretty sure it had been done but The Answer do it well, not to mention the fact that the Japanese seem to be enjoying themselves. There’s yet another savage guitar solo just a minute in which send the recorded audience into a frenzy.

Well, one of the best I’ve found since starting the reviews. My only criticism would be the lack of a seal the deal style song here. They haven’t got a Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O’Mine or a Paradise City so the albums probably no Appetite. Saying this, it’s important to remember they have everything else. Hopefully things will only improve and The Answer will become the stadium rock

This entry was posted on July 1, 2009 at 7:46 am and is filed under Music, MySpace Review with tags IRISH NOISE!, MySpace Review, Stillroom, The Answer, The Answer review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.