Surface Unsigned – Flapper, Birmingham – Sunday 28th February 2010

Seven bands, each with but twenty minutes to impress and get the voting public onside – piece of cake.... Joking aside, the bands had travelled from far and wide each intent on progressing ever further. Four would succeed leaving the unfortunate three to lick their wounds and plot their next plan of attack for world domination.

Air Canada from Northampton were first up and played a solid, if uneventful, set. Listing themselves as alternative/indie they reminded me a lighter version of Acres of Ocean or Sienna, with Radiohead and punk interludes thrown in. Their drummer intrigued me – during the faster sections he was using the bass pedal and floor tom. Impressive as his hand speed was I couldn't help but think he'd have made life a lot simpler with a kicker pedal. Spot the extreme metal fan! They were passable for twenty minutes, but I don't think I'd have enjoyed much more as it was all getting very samey.

The Empty Vessels are a blues/rock outfit from Oxford. Think classic rock in the style of Cream or The Yardbirds, and give it a more modern slant in the style of Wolfmother or Year Long Disaster and you'll know exactly what they were all about. They possessed great groove and looked very assured on stage. Lengthy soloing helped too. With retro still attracting fans by the bus load I could see these fellas doing well for themselves.

I could see them playing on bills with Voodoo Johnson, Mantra, Martyr de Mona, and Fury UK and not looking out of place; having seen these bands on numerous occasions, and at some not to be sneezed at events, that's high praise indeed. Justified though as they were very impressive.

The Amplifires hail from the Nottingham area and listed themselves as indie/alternative. My initial reaction was very positive; you don't see many eight string bass players or hear many guitarists soundchecking with Zep's “Whole Lotta Love” and “Communication Breakdown”.

Their beefed up rock and roll started off promisingly enough – and then the tambourine started. And then the vocals. There's no easy way to break this to you – the vocals don't work at all with the music. Then again as the set progressed the lack of stage presence and energy collectively was more than slightly disturbing. Pity really because it's clear that the band can play, unfortunately the end result left a feeling of indifference. Put succinctly, you've heard it all before...

Operatives, again from Northampton, were the first well supported band of the night, as the room filled quickly prior to their set. Listing Prefab Sprout and Bucks Fizz as their inspiration, combined with the Melvins T shirt the vocalist was sporting gave the game away. Thankfully they were a band where their sense of humour worked hand in hand with their music.

Melodic sections clashed with moments of all out fury capped by an eccentric display from the lead singer. Alt rock, punk, ska, crossover, label them as you will, they were head and shoulders the most entertaining live act witnessed so far, with huge stage presence and immense energy. Quite how you'd capture this on CD is another matter though...

Devil's Architect, from Nottingham, listed themselves as post Seattle rock – so grunge is a dirty word now then? There was a lengthy delay before their set started – mainly due to a problem with the beater pedal – but the weak vocals and out of tune guitar in the first song didn't endear them. They improved as they went on – marginally – but overall were distinctly ordinary. They did have reasonable groove, but lacked any real power or conviction.

Abandon, from Mansfield, played classic rock in the style of Bon Jovi or Van Halen and were hugely assured on stage. Aside from the drummer's obsession with masks, hats and sunglasses (really not funny fella) they were very stylish, especially the lead guitarist who displayed impressive soloing technique.

Abandon wouldn't have seemed out of place at Hard Rock Hell, or maybe Firefest, with their leaning towards classic rock/metal genres. Not my bag, but what they did they did very well indeed. They were the best supported band of the evening too.

The Razorbax, from Wolverhampton, drew on various punk influences and fused them well. There were elements of Green Day, The Jam, and The Clash, amongst others, blended effortlessly. The band were tight musically, developed power effortlessly, and had great stage presence to boot. In fact they were that slick that there's very little else to say – with the Operatives, they were the stand out band of the evening.

So who progressed I hear you cry? Operatives, Abandon, The Razorbax, and somewhat surprisingly Air Canada. It will be interesting to monitor their progress as the competition continues....

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