Live Report From Pierced Arrows Live In Athens

The Dead Moon has been a reputable brand name in the world of Garage / Punk rock, even Nirvana has talked about how this band has influenced their sound. In these days, Dead Moon does not exist anymore but the remaining members have created Pierced Arrows.Gagarin club was almost empty when I entered the gate to be there just in time for the first support band. The Velvoids is a band that has been influenced by artists such as Johnny Thunders, New York Dolls, Fuzztones and other icons of the garage rock.

The sound was a little low but the band gave their best effort to entertain the few people that were there. They played for about half an hour and the reactions from the audience were positive. The second support band, 700 machines has the same garage rock sign and an additional classic rock attitude with heavier stuff such as ZZ Top, Motorhead, etc. It was obvious that they are known to the Greek audience so they attracted more people under the stage to view the show. Unfortunately the sound wasn’t good either and it was hard to hear the vocals…It’s a pity cause this band seemed to have a potential cool rock n roll attitude.

The time is a few minutes after 23:00 and a known figure with a cowboy hat comes up in stage to prepare the sound of his guitar, it was Fred Cole…In a few minutes all the other gang is coming up: Toody Cole and Kelly Halliburton. The power trio of garage rock came up in a simple form: bass, guitar and a small set of drums even smallest than the support’s drumset. The highlight was the drummer’s T- Shirt of Hellhammer!! Few people know that the drummer of the band used to play in a thrash band that was called Defiance in early 90s. Fortunately the sound was better than the previous bands, so we could enjoy rock n roll at its best …The music was a rollercoaster passing from glam punk to garage, hard rock, blues, acid rock. The attitude was macho and the fans were thirsty for distorted guitars and screaming vocals. The club was half packed so there was a family atmosphere inside the place. It was like being in a small pub, drinking your beer and enjoin your favorite pub rock band. Songs such as “Paranoia”, “Let It Rain” made people very happy, including me of course. The encore came after almost an hour of the regular set, it included the loudest hits of the band in order to make people dance along with the music.

So another rockin’ night came to an end, we were few lucky people there but the band’s set was  a reward for all of us.