He’s the most charismatic as well. While his fellow band mates on guitar mostly just stand there he really gets into it. He and drummer Jorn are the only ones who are sweating. The other two just look too… how shall I put it… friendly, too nice. There’s no attitude. The rest of the audience thinks different though. That’s not very surprising as the band had an extensive guest list and they brought a lot of fans.

The music itself wasn’t very original but they’re ok. They know what they’re doing and the breaks and tempo changes certainly were convincing. The lack of variation in the melodies caused the songs to sound a bit the same. But they’ve got time enough to grow and work on their songwriting. Whether they’ll ever get an attitude is a different story.

Travoltas
These punk pop veterans do have that rock ‘n’ roll attitude. They play their combination of Ramones styled punk rock and Beach Boys pop melody with that arrogance a band needs to stand out from the masses.

But there’s more. The Travoltas do not only sound like a mix between the aforementioned bands they have the songwriting skills to match their heroes. Melodies that stick and song structures that keep your attention without becoming farfetched. The emphasis is on their latest studio effort Endless Summer. According to the reviews their best effort so far.

On their records they have experimented with various influences and arrangements. Live the songs fit together very well as they are forced to adjust the arrangements to their live set up. Drums, bass, one guitar and one synth. This simple set up allows the sound to be clear and transparent. The vocal harmonies work out good too. On the records it sounds like lead singer Perry does the harmonies as well but keyboard player Skokie and bassist Dan are convincing.

As I said, these guys do have an attitude. Guitarist Vincent has this ‘I wanna rock’ aura about him, Skokie’s standing behind his keyboard with his feet a mile apart, drummer Woody kicks his bass drum so hard you can hear it straight from the stage and Perry and Dan have confident smiles on their faces.

Arrogant, yes, but they obviously don’t take their selves too serious. And it gets the audience going. Even the songs of the new album are being sung along. The ‘Ooh-wee-oohs’ and ‘Hey heys’ as well as the choruses. Rock!

(Review: Walter de Korver
Pics: Sebastien Sam)