Gramercy Riffs (Parts & Labour, Jan 29, '12)

As soon as I spotted the lead singer the memories came flooding back. I had seen Gramercy Riffs before (opening for Hey Rosetta) and I'd been underwhelmed by that performance. Ah well, here I was only minutes from home, checking out Parts and Labour as I'd been trying to for over a year now, plus it was for a good cause and they were already on stage. Stage may be a strong word as they were really just at the end of the P&L basement venue rocking without monitors. This meant the sound was slightly off at times but not a problem overall. The five piece carried on with the lone female handling most of the singing duties though one of her guitarists also tried his hand on a couple. The song before Dreaming caught my ear, then the one song I actually know was a slightly lighter sound for the set but set up an enjoyable latter half to the set. Presumably much of the Sunday night crowd had dispersed by this point, having seen some ten-year-olds from Girls Rock Camp perform earlier, and supported that cause for which this was a fundraiser. The epic levels portrayed in most of the awesome pictures adorning the walls of the place weren't quite reached but the Riffs closed it out fine.