Eruption heats are in full flow and everyone who’s live and local is ready to show off what they’ve got in a bid for £2000. What is Eruption you ask? Eruption is a yearly competition hosted by Krakatoa giving the opportunity for those local to the Grampian area to showcase their talent and reinvest in their music if they succeed.
Each act gets a 30 minute set to play and are marked across five categories: material, performance, technical ability, audience engagement and professionalism. 16 acts with the highest scores across the heats will go forward to four semi-finals in January before one band from each semi final will compete for the top prize in February. This competition has been running since 2016 and is always a high point in the local calendar.
Tonight I headed down for Heat 7 of 15 and it’s safe to say I had a brilliant time. This evening there were 3 acts, all putting up a good fight for a space in the next round.
First up were We Are Animals. Their lead vocalist showed influences of Talking Heads and B-52’s whilst the rest of the group had elements of Green Day in their sound. They had an enthusiastic following who sang and danced along to many of their tracks and a competition for some dinosaur toys certainly increased crowd participation.
Second on the bill this evening were Audiokicks who were so well received that they had the only encore of the evening. Highlights included newly released single Bones & Skin. With them being 1/4 Norwegian there was also a fun opportunity to ‘RO’ in support of Norway who were kicking off against England at the World Cup as their set came to a close.
Finally were Ectoplasm who were playing their first ever gig. For a first outing, they played well together as a group and their frontman exuded confidence throughout. If you hadn’t already spotted the Nirvana shirt on the bass player, you would definitely cite grunge music as their main influence from hearing them alone. I look forward to see what they do next and how they evolve as a band.
And now we wait until September for the final results from the heats. Here are a list of bands taking part with the styles of music they play – I recommend checking them out!
9Tease – Alt Rock
Axman – Rap Rock
Casket Weather – Punk Rock
Ceramics – Rock/Punk/Alt
David Dallas
Deary Me – Pop Punk/Alt Rock
Deavenu – Indie/Alt Rock
Devil In Helsinki – Metal
Elvina X – Electropop
Exiled – Hard Rock
Extracts – Indie Alternative Rock
Filthy Animals – Weird Punk
Flaxman – Emotionally Dark/Musically Diverse
Fractal – Experimental Progressive Rock
Hot Blooded Reptiles – Hard Rock
Keflapod – Alternative
Key North – Swirling Indie Rock
KVTRINA – Pop Rock
Meta Continua – Rock/Indie/Electronic/Alternative
Mysnoma – Psychedelic Rock/Indie
Nautilus – Country/Jazz/Reggae
Neen: The Wiser – Classic Rock/Heavy Blues
Pine Ridge – Country/Indie/Rock
Poür Me – Alt Singer/Songwriter
Queens Arcade – Repressive Pirate Punk
Radio-Activ – Pop Rock
Reswallie – Rock
Scared Of Trees – Indie Bedroom Rock
She Leaves Echoes – Sparkling Indie Pop
Slam Turret – Alt Rock
Thrush – Post Noise
Time Stands Still – Modern Alt-Rock
Track Outside – Post Hardcore
Vacants – Hard Rock
The Vigilante – Electric Blues
Zerofate – Shoegaze/Grunge/Alt Rock