There must nothing better on a sultry summer night than to be packed into a small venue like this one. The air conditioning may be on 11, but Dead Air are sweating buckets and putting in a hard shift.
Taking the well-trodden route along the M4 and over the Welsh border, these Londoners are causing heads to turn. The band are your archetypal rock’n’roll three-piece, with a sound as tough and muscular as Queens Of The Stone Age or Rage Against The Machine. Guitarist Lyle Salvatore is economical but effective, chopping out sweeping chords with abandon – and they say a band is only as good as the drummer, and boy does Richard Greenbury hit his drums, to the point where cymbals are falling off their stands.
Meanwhile, Dead Air lead singer Reuben Moonasar is everything you want from a frontman: his commanding stage presence bolsters a vocal delivery that’s both understated and powerful. He’s modest, too – letting us know just how astonished he is to see so many here for the band’s Newport debut.
Highlight of the evening, though, comes when Greenbury grabs the mic to announce that he’s getting married in two weeks. Is his choice of wedding song appropriate, we’re asked? Whereupon Dead Air launch into a raucous version of RATM’s Killing In The Name. Let’s hope the bride and in-laws share either or both of his humour and music taste – as for this crowd, unsurprisingly they go mental, a few invading the stage for good measure.
A triumphant night for the band, who depart with a Terminator-esque proclamation, “We’ll be back.” When it rolls round, get your tickets quick. Gigs – and venues – like this are where the real rock’n’roll bread and butter is to be found.
Dead Air, Le Public Space, Newport, Fri 17 July
words and photos PAUL WINDSOR
