LIVE REVIEW: Starbenders, Artax, Human Renegade, Cathouse, Glasgow, 13/10/2023
Photo Credit: Vegas Giovanni
Starbenders tour finally hit Glasgow’s Cathouse on 13th October with much anticipation from the fans to hear the songs from their recently released third album Take Back The Night.
Human Renegade started off the night with a quite intense rock set. The fans were delighted to hear that they were playing their latest single Emo, released just that day, for the first time. Cathouse was around half full at this point, as the band played through their set with The Fallen Rising; their biggest song to date, 17 Hour Heartbreak, and Girl Who Cried Wolf. The set created a great buzz around the Glasgow room. 8/10
The short break allowed fans time to admire the collection of guitars dotted around the venue, Slash and Papa Roach being the more prominent ones. Walking up the stairs there are the names of a lot of famous bands that have played the Cathouse in the past. Artax were next up to entertain the growing crowd. The band describe themselves as 80s prog-pop/rock with synth-wave with the main members being Katie Wills on vocals, who only recently joined the band and Callum Warrender on guitar/keys. Warrender had plenty of energy as he worked up the crowd with some outstanding guitar solos before moving over to the keyboard. The band played a few songs from their 2022 album Sands Of The Oasis as well as their latest single, The Hand That Feeds, which was released in August. Wills’ vocals throughout were excellent and we think we will be hearing much more from this band in the future. 8/10
Starbenders would soon be gracing the stage as the room filled up to almost capacity, the crowd creating a good vibe as the band took to the stage around 9pm. Opening track Blood Moon eased us gently into the set before the popular Holy Mother had everyone nodding their heads in appreciation. Before BITCHES BE WITCHES, singer Kimi Shelter asked the crowd ‘are there any witches in the crowd tonight?’ as the guitarist Kriss Tokaji energised the crowd once again with his thrashing guitar style, moving around the stage constantly. Starbenders can be considered glam rock, rock or punk depending on which song they are playing at the time, and they certainly appeal to a wider audience with a good mixture of ages in the crowd tonight. We’re Not Okay from Take Back The Night had some fans singing the lyrics back to alongside Shelter, which was appreciated by the band as the atmosphere grew.
Cover Me was another big hitter as the drummer Emily Moon thrashed away on her kit at the back of the stage while bass player Aaron Lecesne created a few more band/audience connections. Body Talk was next up: ‘Body Talk/I wanna feel what’s dead inside’ screamed singer Shelter as the fans sang the words back to them. Other songs from the Take Back The Night album, namely Seven White Horses and Cherry Wine were possibly the best songs of the night judging by the reaction of the crowd and we would certainly agree. The set finished with three more songs from Take Back The Night. Firstly, The Game, which is the opening track of the latest album followed by Sex, which saw Tokaji also joining in with Shelter on vocal duties and thrashing guitar solos. The set concluded with If You Need It, a song that is delivered perfectly by the band to end an excellent night of music.
Starbenders will be heading back to the USA for a few more dates near the end of the year but judging by their performance tonight it won’t be too long until the band hit these shores again! 9/10
Written By: Alan Brown
