Straightforward out and out rock n' roll.
Barely a week has passed in Glasgow this year without the name of The Hedrons cropping up somewhere on a gig listing. A tour with Towers of London occurs shortly before the band hit the Download festival, there appears to be no stopping the relentless gigging of this young act. Thankfully, their hard work is to everyone's benefit as they appear to be growing in stature and confidence with each passing month.
Arriving with an ear splitting volume, the scene was quickly set for the show as the band powered through the opening tracks. In small venues there can often be problems with the sound and it's a judge of the bands character in how they deal with such occurrences. Its safe to say that the majority of the crowd would have been unaware of The Hedrons start being hampered, such was the eagerness and passion that the band attacked the night.
The pace of the set was relentless and never hinted at slowing up or taking it easy at any point. The tracks may have varied in style and lyrical content but the upbeat and in your face nature of the tracks remained throughout.
'Heatseeker' may not be an AC/DC cover but it does have the balls of one. It's a ferocious song, spiralling guitar lines and drum fills run throughout the song as the drums crash and pound throughout and the short and clipped yelps of Tippi push the song through with an added tension.
The most pleasing aspect of The Hedrons is the musicianship on show which maintains a high standard throughout. Given the regularity of their shows, it's not surprising that there is a tightness to the band but there still remains a spark and energy to the songs which indicates that boredom and ennui has not set in yet.
You know full well there will be plenty of would-be critics waiting to pour scorn on the band as they are all female but that's not a valid point. Basically, the band kicks arse which is surely the point of the whole show. In their own words, it's more pertinent they hail from Glasgow as opposed to what gender they are and this is evident throughout.
Not only is the band tight but there is a strong element of working the crowd and as Tippi and Chi both prowled the audience and Rosie and Soup held the line on stage, the crowd was firmly in the palm of The Hedrons. The closing instrumental freak-out went down extremely well and is sure to be a blast at Download. No can dispute that this is a band who enjoy their work and they do all they can to drag the audience along with them.
If rock n' roll success was granted through hard work and excitement then The Hedrons would be known throughout the land already but as everyone knows, this is merely one element to how a band is viewed. There may still be plenty of work for The Hedrons to do but they have earned the right to be given a chance. And seeing as they're working themselves very hard at the moment the chance to check them out is likely to be very soon.