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I've mentioned before the way that time seems to fly these days. Case in point is my nephew George. It only seems like a couple of years since my sister proudly passed me her first born baby son who promptly threw up on my shoulder (I only mention it to him every time I see him - well its part of the job description of being an uncle). Now he's almost grown and fronting his own indie band.

Last Saturday the Encounters (that's what George's band are called) headlined the O2 Academy in Sheffield. The small room of said venue, I might add. This was also the launch gig for their newly recorded debut EP.

I'm a veteran of several Encounters gigs by now. The drill is that four or five young bands play on the same bill. Each band are expected to sell tickets to their friends, fans and family keeping a percentage of the money. The venue is normally the small room in the Academy or the small room in the Corporation (another Sheffield venue).

Normally I'm keen to catch all the bands when I go to gigs. Partly out of politeness; partly out of tightness (I've paid for the ticket so I'm getting my money's worth); and partly because experience tells me that its often worth catching the other acts on the bill.

However I normally make an exception for the Encounters gigs. Its a matter of getting in and out whilst catching the least number of acts possible.

Previous experience of Encounters' gigs is that there's a lot of energy but its usually pretty sloppy. I put this down to youth and inexperience. For instance I saw them just before Christmas at the Plug. The sound was awful but it was clear that the band weren't as tight as they could be as well. For my review of that gig take a look here (scroll down a bit to find it).

What a difference 4 months makes. The band are much tighter and open with a song I'm not familiar with (turns out its the first track on their ep - 'Back Home'). They perform their usual mix of originals and covers. I find that I'm even starting to recognise a couple of the regular numbers. Recently they've added a second vocalist, Jenny. She is a good addition. She's a better singer than George and it brings a kind of tension to the performance. The two vocalists trading lines more than harmonising.

Mind you there's no doubting that George is the main man still. As one of my sister's friends said - he uses his awkwardness to its best advantage on stage. He has competition though from Chris (the Keanu Reeves lookalike) on lead guitar as well as Jenny.

So how does the EP sound? Its pretty good actually.

The opening song 'Back Home' is the newest and it as a great cacophonous opening to it before the song itself starts up. It has a bit of an extended intro as well which builds up the excitement and makes it a good set opener. Check it out here. 

'Rosie' and 'Goodbye Wave' are solid pop songs. The one slight disappointment is last song 'Roller Skates'. This is a live favourite (although by all accounts the band are bored with it) but its too tame on the studio version. It lacks a bit of the unhinged excitement you get when its played on stage.

Overall the sound is pretty good with no real weak links. The rhythm section keep it tight and I particularly like the lead guitar lines from Chris. Jenny is only involved on two tracks though; which is slightly disappointing but not that surprising considering she's only been in the band for a few months. 

The final touch is that the first run of eps have individual covers handmade by the various band members. I actually bought a couple - one made by Josh the bassist (I think) and one from George himself (although I think his mum may have also played a part) featuring a bit of one of his shirts! Hopefully they'll be worth a bit on e-bay in the future!

I'm not claiming that this ep will change your life. But I think the songs are well above average and very mature considering the age of the band. I'm not sure how you would go about buying a copy at the moment though. Go and like them on their facebook page and I'm sure if they get their act together, and get a bandcamp or something similar, you'll get a notification. If you are desperate give me a shout and I can place an order with George.

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