LYXX

@ Newcastle Trillians, September 12 2011

Newcastle’s premier rock bar, Trillians, got out the eyeliner and hairspray for three bands that turned a stormy night into a celebration of sleaze.

All girl rockers LYXX opened the show with their brand of sleaze with a hard rock edge. Tracks such as Thrust, Rip Her To Shreds, Up All Night and Bad Man Bangin, prove that these girls are ready to take on the boys who dominate the rock n roll arena.

Falling Red erupted onto the stage and within seconds Trillians became animated. How You Feel On Me, Little Vice and new track, We Are Who We Are, keep the party going while Last Kiss Goodbye gives us all a chance to catch our breath.

Audience participation was required for the finale as Ain’t Down With The Rock and Comets cover, Rock Around The Clock, saw a whole lot of shaking going on. A change in line-up and time spent on the road has this band’s skills honed to sleazy perfection and they delivered a set that didn’t just warm up the crowd – it left them smoking hot!

Swedish/American glam rockers Vains Of Jenna are easy on the eye and the ear. Offering an eclectic mix of original tracks and covers taken from their 2011 release, Reverse Tripped, they took the crowd from glam to classic rock and threw in a little RnB for good measure.

Vains classics such as Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead and Enemy In Me were interspersed with Cee Lo Green’s tale of heartbreak F**K You, which, in turn, lead into a few bars of Maggie May.

But it was their interpretation of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water that had the audience in raptures. Much like Mr Big’s Billy Sheehan the following night, Singer Jesse Forte took the vocal made famous by Ian Gillan and turned it into an erotic and hypnotic journey drenched in aural intrigue.

Vains of Jenna are a fine example of a truly great rock n roll band. Sure, they’re sleazy. But they’ve evolved into something far superior done so without losing any of their credibility.
- Rush On Rock

Lyxx are an all-girl band from the North East who have been impressing me for much of the last year with their live performances, and arguably outshining the much more established acts they have been supporting. I have been hoping for some new studio recordings from them for some time now, so it has been my pleasure to have had their new EP for the past few weeks.

The title track ‘Thrust’ really kicks things off with some fantastic lead work which sets the stage for the whole EP. Steph's vocals on this track really show off how she is one of the most unique great female rock singers I have heard, with so much character and aggression that translates the emotion of the song perfectly. I warn you now about how catchy this track is, I have woken up many a morning with it stuck in my head. You just can’t help but sing along...the riff is just far too catchy!

‘Nothing at all’ provides another decent riff, I would say significantly heavier than that of Thrust but you still know its Lyxx. More aggressive vocals from Steph, helped by a distorted effect, dominate and shine through this track with pounding drums, and once again some great lead work from Ruth. Like the previous track the production quality is great.

The third track on this album, ‘Alone’, is probably my favorite.. Well almost, it’s between this and Thrust depending on my mood. Anyways, it came as such as a surprise for me after seeing the band so many times, I never expected a track like this... They say the real test of any singer is their ability to sing more than one style or specifically for rock singers whether they can take it down a notch and sing something much softer. Alone provides Lyxx the opportunity to show what they can do outside of the in your face 80’s rock feel, and produce a truly wonderful ballad song. Steph gives the listener the chance to hear a much more softer side to her voice and it really helps bring life to the lyrics. The track itself is dominated by a bass melody that intertwines with the clean guitar chords and some more great lead guitar work. I’m looking forward to hearing what this is like live as I feel that this track will grow and grow and has the potential to become a real classic, and that is where my only fault with this EP lies. For as much as I love this song I feel it is still missing something, it still needs to grow in my eyes as it has all the potential to become an epic.

“Wanna be me” is fairly fast paced and typically in your face, it provides an excellent way to end the EP with more of the same from which we heard on the first two tracks, catchy riffs, great lead work, fantastic lyrics and another chorus that will more than likely stay in your head hours after you first listened. It’s another one of those songs which you could easily hear on the radio, in fact I would argue that any of these four tracks could be heard on the radio, there is no doubt for me this track will be very popular for fans, especially live.

I have spent most of my time reviewing Thrust thinking about any other all girl bands out there writing material as good as this, and I have to say I’m really struggling to think of any. Lyxx have proven with this EP that they can compete with anyone in this genre and I would put them up there with anybody else in the country playing similar hard/classic/80’s rock.... Whether that’s an all-girl band or not.

If they are able to get this EP to the right people I have no doubt that Lyxx will reach bigger and better venues. The likes of the Runaways set the foundations for all girl rock bands, and Lyxx are proving already to be more than capable of building upon them. - RockTheNorth