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kopek4Matrix, Bochum, Germany
11th March 2013
Kopek, Red*Gin

When I arrived in Bochum at this snowy day in March, I was surprised that there was not a bigger demand for the band. Just a handful of people showed up to see what the Irishmen had to offer, most of them being young ladies admiring the three lads. Due to the weak demand (I would say about 100 people showed up), the show would be running in the small hall.


Red*Gin

RED*GIN is a German band from the Rhine-Ruhr area, founded in 2011. The female fronted band plays a mixture of Classic-Rock and Glam-Metal heavily influenced by the late 80's. Except Sandra, the other band members had already played together since 2008 in a Sleaze Rock band called BANGKOKK, already having some success in the underground scene. Together with talented female singer SandraS., the band under the name RED*GIN is now ready to achieve more and surely was happy being chosen as local support for KOPEK. RED*GIN is SandraS. (vocals), uFe (guitars), SvenG. (bass) and Teffe (drums). https://www.facebook.com/redbooze / http://www.myspace.com/redgin

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Music & Performance
Being described as Glam-Metal band mostly, the quartet did not look glam at all. They rather looked hillbilly. But don’t judge the music by the look. The female fronted band musically spread a lot of power combined with melodic guitar riffs and a really good voice of Sandra, in times reminding me of Doro Pesch. The songs being presented are connected to good old 80s Rock without any political ambitions. The band just wants to present stuff making fun. As Sandra told us during the show, they are currently working on their first album and so far, three songs are ready. We can be curious about the output, I would say. With their mix of harmonic riffs, grooves and melodies, they had the audience soon on their side and the girls in the front rows clapped along. According to singer Sandra, this was the best gig so far in their young career.

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Setlist
01. Go Down
02. Freeflight
03. Give Anything
04. Raise Your Head
05. High End Love (Intro Sven & Teffe)
06. Catch me in the Middle
07. Sweet Steam Night
08. Back off

Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 6.3 / 10

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Kopek

Irish Rock-Pop band KOPEK from Dublin consists of Brad Kinsella (bass & backing vocals), Daniel Jordan (vocals & guitar) and Eoin Ryan (drums, percussion). In their early years, from 2002 to 2009, the band was constantly touring and built up good reputation as live band. In 2005, they won the “Best Live Act at the Global Battle Of The Bands”, garnering them $100,000 and a world tour. Finally in 2009, the band signed to Religion Music, releasing the debut album ‘White Collar Lies’ which has received international acclaim. Several tracks from the album have been synced across TV and Film; such as the new American Pie film or ‘Saw 3d’. Last year, KOPEK was touring the US where their US released single ‘Cocaine Chest Pains’ reached position 25 of American Active Rock Charts and went Top 10 in Canada in Active Rock Station for ten weeks. In May 2012, the band finally released the album in Europe and now are entering German stages. https://www.facebook.com/kopek / http://www.kopekofficial.com/

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Music & Performance
Short past nine, Dublin based Hard Rock outfit KOPEK entered the rather small stage to be enthusiastically welcomed by their fans. The girls in front were screaming loud to give the band a warm welcome. After a folkish intro, the trio started with ‘Bring It On Home’, demonstrating right from the start the benefits of performing together for already more than 10 years. The show was powerful and energetic, very experienced. And all the time there was close contact to the audience. I did not have a chance to see the band playing live so far, but I must say they convinced me with their mix of distorted guitars, powerful drums, strong bass lines and Daniel’s screaming chant. He indeed has an amazing vocal range. Besides some older material, the band played of course lots of songs from their current release, and i.e. along with the album’s title track, ‘White Collar Lies’, the audience sang any word along. The band’s first single, ‘Love is Dead’, was played towards the end of the show, being an intense presentation. The rocking ‘Cocaine Chest Pains’, known from the ‘Saw 3D’ movie, overrun the house. Impressive ending of the show!

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To sum it up, KOPEK’s show was full of energy and they made an overall good impression, knowing how to entertain the audience with their strong stage presence. It was too sad that not more people were there to experience this show. I am sure the band’s popularity will grow during the next years.

Setlist
01. Intro
02. Bring It On Home
03. The Easy Way (D.B. Cooper)
04. Love Sick Blues
05. Running Scared
06. White Collar Lies
07. General Operative
08. Floridian
09. Bigger Than Us All
10. Shuffle
11. Sub Human
12. Sin City
13. Morning Light
14. Fever
15. Friday Night
16. Love Is Dead
17. Cocaine Chest Pains 
18. Outro

Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 6
Light: 6
Total: 7.5 / 10

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All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)


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