The King Lot - Harleys (Ayr) 08/10/14

There are three reasons why people attend gigs at the club level.

One is to support friends and relatives who are in bands, or who are performing solo.

Another is to catch the stars of yesteryear - as they are very often still excellent - in a more intimate environment now that their hits are largely in the past.

And the other is that they may just get the opportunity to witness a band on the cusp of breaking free from the circuit, an act that are still at the stage of paying their dues, but have that spark that may get picked up on and with any luck jettison them to the next level.

And it is in this latter category that The King Lot are comfortably sitting just now.

As evidenced from their stop off in Ayr - as part of their current hit and run tour of Scotland - the band took their performance right to the edge of what can be accommodated in a club.

Breathing some fresh life into melodic hard rock they have all the hooks needed to secure a hit and enough stage presence to give some of the big guns of the genre a run for their money.

There’s a heavy influence of late eighties, early nineties GUN in the sound, but the trio aren't afraid to add a bit of weight to the melodies and crank it out hard as they drag it into the present.

Push that sound towards the punkier attitude of the Wildhearts and late era Almighty and you are starting to get the ball park feel for it.

There was also a welcomed (by me) nod to the scuzzier element of the glam rock sound as they powered through a muscular rendition of the Love/Hate track ‘Blackout in the red room.’

The only criticism I could level at them was the inclusion of a track that wandered too far into Bon Jovi territory, and in the interest of full disclosure it wasn't that it was a bad song.

In fact if Bon Jovi rocks your world then it may well have been a highlight.

So this was a taste issue rather than one of the band having failed to deliver.

In fact it’s doubtful that The King Lot ever fail to deliver.

As the majority of the world still seems to be hanging on to bland pop being regurgitated it's probably overdue for a guitar rock revolution to kick down the doors.

Maybe if it all comes crashing about our ears then this band could be positioned to be in the right place at the right time to maximise on the demise of current state of affairs.

Here's hoping. 

For further information jump over to their facebook page here.