Media Review - Man Raze, The Academy 2 By Robert O Connor

On a quiet Wednesday night in these recession times, surprises are welcome treats to break our attention from the constant news update about how screwed we all are. Tonight there's more than one in store as The Academy fills up with members of Whitesnake, Def Leppard and their entourages to watch Man Raze in action.

Formed in 2004 by Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Paul Cook (The Sex Pistols) and Simon Laffy (Girl), Man Raze have been working on and off ever since. Because of the members touring and recording commitments with their other bands, they have only recently managed to release their debut album, Surreal and play a hand full of shows around the U.K. Tonight see's them in Dublin for their first ever Irish gig which they're using as a warm up performance for their set at this years Download festival.

Dublin locals Travega are tonight's warm up act and honestly, they sound a little out of place for most of their set. The small crowd warmly applauses each song but there's a definite lack of energy for their performance. After their set, yours truly retreated to the smoking area for some badly needed nicotine but not before bumping into Paul Cook for a brief chat about an interview we'd had earlier in the day. About two drags in, Vivian Campbell from Def Leppard along with Doug Aldrich, and the guys from Whitesnake arrive just in time for the show.

As soon as Man Raze hit the stage, a swarm of people appear in the tiny venue as if from no-where. The band shoot straight into the punk fuelled This Is, immediately grabbing the excited crowd by their short n curlys. A rocketing performance of their most recent single, Turn It Up follows and causes a mass sing along and some furious head banging. Any ideas that Man Raze are just a side project for the laugh go straight out the door.

The bands energy and enthusiasm stands out a mile and it's very clear that the three seasoned musicians are thoroughly enjoying their new outlet together. Rather than resorting to playing hits from their well known day jobs, they play their debut album in its entirety and tracks such as Low, You're So Wrong, Connected to You, as well as their first single Skin Crawl (with Phil even throwing in a solo from the Def Leppard's latest album, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge) bring the house down. The reggae styled Runnin' Me Up sharply changes the sound of the evening as does the psychedelic Spinning Out and they go along in proving that the bands intentions of avoiding labels is working out as planned.

With their arsenal of songs depleted the band return to the stage for an encore of Jimi Hendrix's Fire before packing things in for the night after successfully breaking their Irish cherry. With talk of recordings for their second album in the works, Man Raze are well on their way of building up a collection of highly fused material with all the technical ability and grandeur of Leppard, the basic pop sensibilities of The Sex Pistols not to mention their own unique sound thrown in. Hopefully we'll see them back in Dublin soon.

By Robert O Connor @ Drop-D Magazine 2009.