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LAUREN HARRIS
Camden Underworld, London, 8 December 2008

A sparse crowd were here to see singer Lauren Harris, daughter of Iron Maiden's Steve Harris. A shame, because she does have a fantastic voice, and looks to kill for too. And all credit too for trying to make it on her own.

I was on the understanding that Lauren hadn't been too well, throat infection, but you wouldn't know it as she launched into tracks from her debut album ‘Calm Before The Storm'.

OK the mix wasn't good (someone shoot the sound man), her vocals should have been louder, but she sang and screamed and commanded the very limited stage space well. 'Hurry Up', 'Steal Your Fire' and 'Hit Or Miss' all went down well. Live the four piece are a lot more metal than on record; the CD is on the metal side of power pop, but you got a good angle here.

Second - and biggest gripe - was the guitarist's ego. No doubt he can play well, and when he just played, the odd solo, a few power chords, he sounded great. But all too often he was posing, posturing, grimacing and giving it far too much widdly widdly widdly. Way too much. Think a mix of Malmsteen, Ricky Medlock and a late 80s glam rock poodle. This was sadly more detrimental to the music than the poor live mix.

A couple of new songs were aired, and really did go down well. These were a definite improvement; the new album should be a corker on this evidence.

The Alice Cooper song that opened the encore went down well. Overall a good night of classic rock.

Never mind the nepotism, Lauren is due some success in her own right.

Review by Joe Geesin

Album review