Halifax’s Grayston Unity was reputed to be the smallest live venue in the country, but all things must change, and so it was a similar vibe but in a bigger space, for one of the first gigs in the new venue.

The Grayston has taken a lot of care to make sure what made the old venue special has been transported lock stock and barrel to the new place, and it works. In fact, now there is a specific gig space in the basement, it is even better. There’s not that many things you can say that about.

Local three piece Stonebow opened the proceedings this evening, right at the end of a weekend festival in various venues in the fax. It was my second time for seeing the band (the first earlier on in the year), and I was pleased with Stonebow’s development in the time in between.

We witnessed a nicely confident performance, made all the better for the lively appreciative reception the band got from the almost full room. This is why it’s so important to come early to support the supports – get it right and we feed off each other and reach new heights.

Here it felt that Stonebow are moving further into pastures new, with a matured spacey but sharp new wave vibe. I closed my eyes and got a few whispers of space dust weaving back to the likes of Free and Thin Lizzy, with a little Hawkwind swirled through, and then some sharper more urgent indie vibes mixed in.

This probably sounds a bit mad, but I loved the way Stonebow’s drummer hits the centre of the cymbals so they reminded me a little like cowbells, or a Hare Krishna procession. I loved that quirk and there was a pleasing monochoposis where that noise felt just a little out of place. It added to the edge.

The Stonebow vocals were nicely confident with a good live range going on. Meanwhile, I also noted that bass seemed to push at its role and play a dominant feature along with lead guitar. There was a lot to take in with this band.

It was cool to see Stonebow slowly losing the covers in their set (unless I’m losing the plot, there was a very solid Kings of Leon number in the set tonight), and a host of original songs including new track Breathe, which the band confessed they had only run through 5 times ever. It’s great to see a band grow in confidence, and I’m sure that particular tune will just develop as they play and tease it further.

We have an excellent range of local bands around at present and Stonebow are up there in that leading pack.

Holiday Ghosts were on their UK tour fresh out of Blackpool (I guess someone has to be) and into Halifax and waxing lyrical over the new venue.

This Falmouth come Brighton south coast band came across both nicely chilled, but super practiced, and the set was a delight from start to finish. The name of the band is a little lost in time, but I like the idea that it evokes how busy a tourist town was in season, as you are tramping around their empty November streets. Holiday Ghosts.

Fans of the likes of Modern Lovers, Transformer era Lou Reed, The Bug Club and the Magic Numbers would really appreciate Holiday Ghosts’ laid back, homespun, clever sound. I closed my eyes for a second time this evening, and could pound the streets of late 70’s New York.

Lead vocals were shared by 3 in the band, giving a great contrast to the set, and the guitars (electric and acoustic), bass and drums give a solid but homely feel to the music.

The focus in the band is often the rapport between vocalist/lead guitarist Sam Stacpoole and drummer/vocalist Katja Rackin who seems to bounce off each other and who often write the songs together (Katja often does the lyrics, Sam the music) although guitarist Ben also contributes some of the songs. Sam and Katja have been the mainstays of the band, with Ben and Morgan joining more recently.

Another highlight is the tone from Sam’s guitar and the standard of his playing. That kind of relaxed New York soft punk style could be lazy and executed very cheaply. Not so with Holiday Ghosts, a rolling tune lights up with that guitar playing.

The set contained some tracks from Holiday Ghosts 2023 album, Absolute Reality along with some earlier treasures. The band now have 4 albums released and a strong back catalogue.

A set list and a new album later, Holiday Ghosts were a brilliant introduction to the new Grayston Unity and a chilled performance perfect for a manhatten meets the south coast stroll.

* words from tiggerligger

* images and videos tiggerligger’s own