The Sonix at The Royal

So it was back to The Royal Hotel for us tonight, a venue which only seems to dabble in live music on the odd Friday night here and there but one which I quite like because the band has plenty of room in which to work and you can usually get a good view without too much difficulty - it's also only about 5 minutes walk away which is a big plus! Perhaps the only downside is the odd shape of the room and the presence of some dividing walls/pillars which tend to give sound engineers a few problems but when we arrived remarkably dry having managed to dodge the near monsoon conditions outside, Graham, the band's sound engineer, had risen to the challenge using some imaginative speaker positioning.

Tonights band, The Sonix, are a 4-piece with local connections and they line up as Leeds-based James Debroy (lead vocals), Winterton's Andy Preskey (bass & backing vocals), Scunthorpe's Nick Wood (guitar & backing vocals) and Barnsley lad Pete Newell on drums and backing vocals. Some of you out there will remember Andy from his time with The North and Smiff whilst Nick was formerly with Rival Sounds aka Northern Lights.

touch. We learnt, just prior to the band going on that lead singer James Debroy was struggling with a throat problem but he concealed it well as the band opted to press on with one long set rather than take a break and risk losing his voice altogether.

The band opened with "Wishing Well" and Primal Scream's "Get Your Rocks Off" before launching into tidy versions of "Sweet Home Alabama" and The Zutons' "Valerie" with the good sized and (unusually for The Royal) responsive crowd warming to them straight away. From our central, just right of the mixing desk position, the sound was punchy and the vocals clear with the impressive lighting rig adding that final visual

In all, The Sonix played a good 1 hour 45 minute mix of rock standards, soul classics and modern indie tunes. Nick Wood put on a great show slotting in some slick solos, swapping his Les Paul for the Strat to get that clean choppy riff on Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", opting for an acoustic to change the mood on "How Long" and, after a storming version of one of my wife's all-time favourites, Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music", taking lead vocals on "Teenage Kicks" giving the Debroy tonsils a well earned rest. Lively young drummer Pete Newell, atop a neatly constructed drum riser, loved every second behind his Tama kit (which, by the way, included a thumpingly gorgeous 24 inch bass drum) incorporating some nifty fills whilst laughing and smiling his way through each song and giving the whole performance a lift - great to watch.

The band put their own slant on the Cult classic "She Sells Sanctuary" and whilst "Chelsea

Dagger" lacked a bit of punch, the guys turned it round (after a protracted drum intro) with "Billie Jean" featuring an expertly played bass line by Andy Preskey, and Mika's "Grace Kelly" in which James Debroy's falsetto vocals were the highlight. The band closed with James' "Sit Down" (interestingly combined with a couple of choruses of The Proclaimers' "500 Miles") and Oasis' "Some Might Say" then encored with the timeless "Alright Now" to send the punters home happy.

A top night at The Royal then from The Sonix, a band we don't see too much of around here. They're gigging all over the country and are due to make a return trip to Germany in November to build on their success over there earlier in the year. These lads are well worth catching next time they're in town.

PJF