12/9/2019 Lilith & The Knight + Hawkxx @ The Dublin Castle

An interesting but ultimately disappointing night. I arrive in time to see the support band who were previously unknown to me.

This was Hawkxx. New to me, but they certainly made an impression.  Heavy, grungy but tuneful and commercial.

Sometimes you stumble across a band you've never heard of and straight away you think they sound and look great! Immediately you find yourself thinking things like "Why didn't I know about this band before?" and "Why aren't they already stars?". It doesn't happen very often, but this one of those bands.

I get the feeling a lot of work has gone into their look and sound - this doesn't seem like a band who were just formed last week. They look and sound like they know exactly what they are doing and come across as very polished and professional. Hawkxx go straight away on my 'Bands to watch' list.

And so onto the band I'm actually here to see. I'd been aware of Lilith and the Knight for some time before I finally managed to catch them - circumstances just kept getting in the way - as well as 'security' at another Camden venue... I had a promo CD of theirs and had seem one or two videos which made me want to check them out - an intriguing  mixture of Goth and metal.

Heavy and with a fantastic image, I was keen to see them. And in January, then again in May this year I finally did. (see blog earlier posts) I was impressed - this was a full-on rock band. Not quite as heavy as I was expecting, but with a dynamite singer! The band were solid, but it was the singer who grabbed the attention with her stage presence and charisma - backed up by really great vocals. Proper actual singing - no screaming or dumbed down nu-metal or grunge - no grunting or growling to fit in with 'the scene', just a soaring, melodic and natural melodic absolute top quality polished vocal performance. So much better than heard nearly all current metal bands. I did note that although the band were tight and obviously knew what they were doing, they all looked like they were in different bands and just didn't belong together - visually at least. If they could just sort their image out they had the potential to really go places. But ominously, before their last gig they announced that it would be their last ever show playing their current and older songs. Apparently the band were about to go though some changes (for unspecified reasons) and reinvent themselves with a new look and sound - they say things will be very different and some of their fans may not like it... Tonight the 'new' Lilith and the Knight is finally revealed...

'Different'? They aren't kidding! The bass player and drummer appear to have been sacked - and not replaced. Only the vocalist and guitarist have survived the reshuffle, while a keyboard/laptop player has been added in the form of the singer's sister. I mentioned last time I saw them that the backing band looked like hipsters instead of rock musicians and the only thing missing were the beards - now a beard has appeared on the guitarist!

All the old songs have been ruthlessly swept away - as has any trace of rock, metal or goth. The girls look and sound great, and the new songs are OK - but this is pure Radio 1 type pop music. The guitarist seems to have very little to do...

Musically there is nothing wrong with the new sound - if you like that sort of thing. I suspect some of the band's old fans are rather bemused by these developments. I certainly am. Maybe they should have changed the name of the band along with the image, songs, and sound?

What were they thinking? Did 'management' put them up to this? Was the whole 'rock' thing just a charade the whole time? "Ever get the feeling you've been swindled?" As far as I'm concerned all their credibility has gone straight out the window. Did they ever 'mean it'? Do they even 'mean' this? So many questions, but after this I'm not sure I'm even interested in the answers. However, I will be interested to see how many of their old 'rock' fans come along for the ride - or will the band ditch them just as ruthlessly as they ditched their old songs and image? Maybe

Good luck with that girls...