The Answer @ Media Club

story by: Katherine Boothroyd    photos by: Tamara Lee     publishing credit: Discorder Magazine

A reasonable sized crowd gathered at The Media Club for a group of relatively unknowns. The Answer hail out of Northern Ireland and are mostly known as the band supporting AC/DC on their North American tour. When asked how the tour came about, guitarist Paul Mahan said that George Young (brother of Malcom and Angus of AC/DC fame) was originally slated to produce their first album. The deal fell through, however The Answer remained in touch with George and sent them their finished product. He passed it onto his brothers and the rest is history.

The fact that they are opening for one of the biggest rock bands on the planet makes for a fair amount of expectation to live up to. And given the look and sound of The Answer, it would be very easy to label them as a Led Zeppelin rip-off, but onstage they proved themselves to be a formidable force in their own right.

Playing bluesy, rock and roll, they poured themselves into every song. Singer Cormac Neeson’s stage presence made it very hard to ignore the band. He swung his long blond hair around like it was on fire, throwing himself around the tiny stage and into the audience. His band mates, in particular bass player Micky Waters, didn’t shrink into the background either, giving Neeson a run for his money is the head banging stakes.

The crowd lapped up everything The Answer was giving out. The Answer clearly love being on stage, and the audience feed off their enthusiasm. The band couldn’t wipe the smiles off their faces and neither could the audience.

Playing songs off their latest album “Demon Days” they appeared determined to rock harder to prove they deserved to be there. The show was loud, hot and fevered. They played each song harder and faster than the last, only slowing down for “Comfort Zone”. They picked it back up by launching into “Under the sky” and got the crowd going with the ‘Belfast blues off’.

Preaching to a receptive audience, Neeson had the whole crowd smiling and yelling in appreciation. It felt like we were all in on a secret gig, witnessing something that has the potential to be brilliant.

It was an early show, the whole thing was wrapped up by about 9.30-10pm which seemed a little premature.

Although a lot of people may have turned up to see if they could spot a member or two of AC/DC, The Answer proved they could hold their own, and then some.

The only downside was me forgetting my ear plugs. I think the Media Club is still shaking.

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