Fox Reviews Rock

Waking up on a Saturday morning with a weekend where we haven’t had anything planned – for a change. I, St Jimmy, decided to look at local music venues to see what was on stumbling onto Slackrr at the Hairy Dog in Derby, after giving them a quick listen we enjoyed what we heard and for £10 each, the tickets were bought. With parking close by and free after 8 pm on a Saturday this worked out perfectly as doors for the gig opened at 8 pm. It was only a short walk from the car park to the pub.

First up for a pop punk night was Waltr, who is very new to the scene as this was only his second gig! His first being just the week before in Nottingham. Although on stage alone and singing to a backing track he had strong vocals and was a great listen. He was very good at interacting with the crowd and got them closer to the stage while playing some original songs and a couple of covers. We think he would be a very good frontman for a band, and we look forward to what he does in the future. He currently doesn’t have any songs online but you can check him out on Instagram here.

After a trip to the bar to get a drink; and delighted that Lilley’s cider was on tap, we were ready for the next band, Side Project.  A 5 piece band from Leicester consisting of a vocalist, 2 guitarists, a bassist and a drummer, they were fun to watch as they liked to joke around with the crowd.

One guitarist from Croatia was asked by the vocalist to give us some facts from the country. The guitarist responded with “they have cheap drugs, plenty of beautiful beaches and great weather” and when asked what the hell he’s doing in the UK, he replied “that he liked the rain”.

Side Project entertained us by playing ‘Sanity’, ‘Sad Songs’ and ‘Worst of Me’ where the bassist played the latter with one hand whilst drinking a beer. They kept winding up the bassist as he didn’t have a mic so he wasn’t allowed to speak. It was great to see a local band with great chemistry.

Sad Songs  – Side Project (All Rights Retained By Side Project)

After the set we took another trip to the bar whilst waiting for the final act of the night, Slackrr. They are a trio from Southampton with the lead singer (Scotty) on guitar, a backing vocalist (Cait) on the bass and a drummer (Louis).
It was obvious that this band has played a lot of shows with their confident stage presence, bouncing around the stage, and fantastic crowd interaction.

The singer told us the meaning behind the songs before playing them, as well as saying how much they appreciated everyone for being there and supporting smaller venues as it is important to keep these places alive for musicians and we agree.

They treated us to 11 songs including “Holding on” and “Ebb & Flow” which reminded the crowd to look after their mental health and help the loved ones around them. For the final song they wanted us to pretend we were at Wembley and instead of going off stage the band turned around, they then came back on stage (turned back towards us) for their encore “Playing With Fire” that was easy to sing along to, and quickly became one of our favourites.

The show ended with the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to the bassist Cait, as it was her 25th birthday! We thought this was a nice touch and reminded us of how much we appreciate smaller bands and venues as it’s a lot more intimate.

We finally headed over to the merch stand where the Slackrr t-shirts were only £10 and couldn’t say no to yet another bargain! I (St Jimmy) got served by the band members and took the opportunity to ask for the setlist. To our surprise they went one step beyond and signed it for us. They really appreciated us being there which is always great.

Playing with Fire – Slackrr (All Rights Retained By Slackrr)

Overall all three acts were great to watch and the Hairy Dog is a great small venue for bands to play at boasting two bars, a games room and a great selection of beers and ciders! We also appreciated that the bands watched each other from the crowd with us.

Slackrr are touring all over so if they have a gig near you we absolutely recommend you go check them out! We will also be keeping tabs on Side Project and Waltr as we would love to go see them again.

St. Jimmy & Rex ☠️🖤

All the songs used in this review belong to their respective owners and this website does not claim any right over them.