The Rescue Rooms is an intimate venue (part of Nottingham’s ‘Rock City’ complex) taking me back to my teenage years watching punk bands and vomiting on strangers within these very walls, although its a bit fancier than it used to be. The performance space can be described as cosy and is packed with ageing rockers, some of whom have outgrown basic hygiene.
We Fell to Earth opened the show playing with reckless abandon mixing electronic sounds and guitars to create what can only described as one almighty noise. There wasn’t room on stage to move between the smattering of effects units, gizmos and instruments but their music spoke for itself, or it would have done if the sound man wasn’t intent on deafening the crowd!
After another soundcheck and some waiting, Masters of Reality take the stage. Main man Chris Goss was dressed in bright orange and had the air of zen master about him as the crowd offer a rapturous welcome for the ‘Gosso King’. ‘Absinthe Jim and Me’ kicked off the set and I was taken with their distinctive sound, a fine example of ‘Desert Rock’ with tight vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Beatles. Goss is a seminal figure within the ‘Palm Desert Scene’ (QOTSA, Kyuss and Screaming Trees to name a few bands). His guitar sound was unique in its heaviness whilst retaining a clarity normally lost in the heavier genres. Third song, ‘Deep in a Hole’ was excellent and it got everyone going, there were limbs flailing and people getting knocked over, it was quite a spectacle!
My major criticism of their set was that the gaps between the songs were too long, their music would draw you in and it would have been better to maybe have a few segued tracks in the set.
We were treated to a couple of extended jams before Goss and Drummer John Leamy performed ‘Hey Diana’ and ‘Lovers Sky’ as a duet using an acoustic guitar and an old Casio keyboard to great effect. The highlight of the set came shortly after when the band closed with ‘John Brown’, Goss ferociously played an amplified acoustic with a slide whilst giving his band mates space to indulge in solos.
This was my first experience of Masters of Reality but it certainly won’t be my last.
Alastair Ballentyne