A trip to the Corporation in Sheffield on Friday to see Twister for the second date of their much anticipated UK tour.
I first discovered Twister last year when I attended Winter Rocks Festival, they hugely impressed me, so much so that I sought out their music and have followed the band’s progress over the last six months.
So to tonight, support was provided by the very enjoyable Misery’s Smile, a five-piece rock band fronted by Richie Hevanz who interestingly also fronted the band Heaves Basement. Richie has a great voice and the band played some catchy tunes including latest release Serenity. Audience interaction was the name of the game and the band went down really well with the busy Corp crowd. A perfect start to the evening setting a high bar for Twister to follow, definitely one to watch.
Now onto Twister who hail from the North East, taking to the stage with the song Save Yourself. Audience attention was instantly grabbed with lead guitarist Jake Grimes and Bass player Ryan Lee both hammering away at two huge kettle drums. Drummer Jack Corbett held down a thunderous drum pattern as Singer Steve Stokes burst on the stage and the Twister train was definitely out of the station!
One of the things that really stands out with Twister is the huge effort they put into their live shows. Big Marshall speaker stacks behind them with integrated video screens, smoke machines, great lighting, visually they are superb. Back in the day I played the Northern club circuit with my own band and recall that North East bands had a great reputation for putting on exciting and visually interesting shows, that pedigree definitely continues here with Twister.
Musically the band are up there with the best, they are all top-class musicians. Stevie has a great voice and also plays guitar, so together they really do sound massive. The band focused on tunes from their latest album Cursed and Corrected, but also played new release Don’t Play Nice, and as yet unreleased Trading Hearts.
Essentially a rock band, Twister however have managed to maintain a modern commercial edge to their songs with catchy riffs and hooks, they deserve to be huge hits. My personal fave is Monroe, but to be honest there isn’t a bad track on the whole album which really deserves to be heard by a wider audience. Judging by their latest release and with a taster of some new material tonight, the future looks very bright.
Finishing the show with Feeding Frenzy the audience cheered for more and Twister didn’t disappoint. Returning to the stage with Mystery and finishing with the anthemic 64 White Lies to top off a memorable night in Sheffield.
To conclude, in my honest opinion Twister deserve to be huge, hats off to them they are clearly very hardworking, committed and talented. I for one will be following their journey and spreading the word, maybe one day I’ll be able to point to this review and say ‘I told you so!’
Go and see Twister live as soon as you can, they have one date left of the tour in Newcastle and tickets are available so do yourself a bank holiday favour, trust me you will not be disappointed.
Check out the album ‘Cursed and Corrected’ and new release ‘Don’t Play Nice’ on all major streaming platforms.
