With the slightly more fashionable doors open time of 8pm The Rocket Room hosted the fifth installment of The Next Big Thing competition 09.

First in the starter gates for the evening Rainy Day Women hoped to cure the winter blues with their rock pop blend. Their sound was pleasant to the ear and with a great musical underpinning through bass and organ. Smooth with a groove the four piece, an all male line up, clearly took pleasure in their time in the spotlight.

Proudly defying the glut of good looking bands out there Eagle Hawk relished in being introduced as crusty old rockers. With a singing drummer it was apparent the band had tried to find the best bloke from within their ranks to take on the job resulting in a not so polished and pretty crusty sounding vocal delivery. Not helped by a crackling speaker to the right of the stage they did have solid rock beat going for them and some vocal moments that verged on appealing although lots of feedback disguised as playing marred the set.

The only soloist of the night, New South Welshman Benjamin Compass, played an acoustic guitar and harmonica in his original set. Sounding somewhat like Brett Scallions of US band Fuel, Compass was raw but relaxed in his performance. With only a few gigs under his belt on the local scene Compass’ band Crash Compass are preparing more shows ahead.

A smashing intro perfectly timed to coincide with MC Justin’s jump off stage launched Arts Martial. Initially the vocal didn’t pack a punch but the band certainly got the attention of all the audience, with a friendly crew to cheer them on. Glad to have brought ear plugs Arts Martial gained the best audience response of the night and Mr Confidence added a subtle contrast to the rest of their material whilst gaining new admirers.

Alt/folk duo Wolves At The Door delivered a set of brooding despair upon a sea of yearning guitar, warped and dream like. Smokey vocals wrapped up in a slinky camisole and check skirt female vocalist Ash Hendriks had an outsider quality about her, quietly confident in her abilities. Her male counterpart James Gates delivered in equal measure with a voice so unique and ideal for conjuring emotion in the lyrics, style and score. This act played their instruments with musicality, something lacking in the standard chord progressions of their competitors.

With monogrammed blazers the three piece in quick tempo clanged their way through their first song so brashly that when it suddenly ended punters were so shocked that it took them several moments before they began to clap. Producing alternative rock with a hint of rockabilly Cim Ciaru sounded like a monster approaching in a 1970s B-grade horror movie, in the best way possible. When singer/guitarist Tristram chose to deliver a strong vocal the tracks really shone and gained a much fuller sound.

What was that MC Justin said? The Killerteens or The Guillotines? Oh no it’s The Kuillotines! Punk rock reared its greased up head for an energetic stage show. Leather clad friends and fans cheered, shook and did the crowd response shebang at all the right moments. Belting them out short and fast gave The Kuillotines an edge in being able to fit in a few more tracks into their set.

It was a tough and impressive heat with 4 of the 7 showing particular skill and looked to be the hardest decision of the competition so far with the judges deliberating for half an hour while bands and fans anxiously awaited the result. Drawing through a Friday night into Saturday morning the reviewer’s picks were Wolves At The Door, Cim Ciaru and The Kuillotines.

The official result:
Winner- The Kuillotines
Runner up – Arts Martial