Live Review: Gignition: Oh White Mare, Black Ink, Red Roads, Riley Pearce

The introduction to what would turn out to be an evening of rock was Riley Pearce, a young man armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a voice that holds to the lower register. Though having an excellent picking style to his playing, there was a consistency to his vocal delivery that made all the songs seem like each other. However, with the final two tracks there was change to a percussive slapping-strum style, bringing with it a faster tempo, and more life to his voice.

Three-piece rock outfit Red Roads hit the stage loud and kept it there throughout their set. A tight rhythm section as a whole, they were also well versed in their rock-tropes, with many an “Oh ooh!'s on the vocals and slamming outros. Combine this with an obvious Ramones influences in their playing and this is a band with potential but needing to push further afield to find their own sound.

Black Ink proved to be a polished unit, each band member playing their role perfectly, the instruments oscillating between high-clean sounds and harder metal-tinged riffs. While admiring the voice that was born to sing ballads, both in range and lyrics, when adding the measured guitar leads and a crazy-solid rhythm section, these guys lead me to the perverse criticism that they are too polished – the soul and competence are there but the raw vulnerability to let people in and feel the emotion is missing.

Speaking of such things, Oh White Mare swiftly became my favourite of the night. Initial impressions upon seeing a keyboard onstage were thwarted as they produced a gritty sound, two singers-come-guitarists taking turns on the lead and often doubling over each other added a great range to the sound. The bassline held a strong sense of propulsion throughout, and when the keyboard was used it became a percussive instrument over anything atmospheric. Definitely a group to keep your sights on.