Venue: The Standard Music Venue            Date: 9th December 2001

Tonight, Tony Hill's Fiction were headlining The Standard Music Venue in East London's Walthamstow ... and what a headline it was.  But firstly, a bit about the support band for the night.

Triacyde are the side project of Dean and Syd's and are a different beast from Fiction.  Fronted by the seemingly pleasant Innis Barford and guitarist Gary Mason, they launch in to what can only be described as a cross over of freeform jazz and good, honest hard metal - they cross various paths with influences ranging from Ozric's, Hawkwind and Nektar (anyone remember them) and they then do a pretty far out version of Hawkwind's 'Masters of the Universe' which showed Innis at his best.

'Yesterday', a dreamy melodic trance track, had me taking notice - there're sudden changes into some great riffing with Gary Mason doubling up as a keyboard player using no keyboards - just guitar effects ... very clever indeed.  They finish with an earsplitting cover of Sabbath's 'Never Say Die' which they performed to perfection.  I liked this band; they're a bit different from the usual, but good.

I've been waiting for Tony Hill's new three piece to headline for a few months now and this gig did not disappoint. They opened with a riff loaded 'But There Again' from Tony's 'Inexactness' album which set the pace for the rest of their set.  'Right Now Forever' and 'Naked Ape' followed, showing Tony at his finest. This is really where the band shine as Dean (bass), Syd (drums) and Tony launch into a couple of lengthy power jams that nail the audience to the wall with sheer power from this very loud trio.  A tune from their recent self financed CD was 'Everybody Knows' while the emotive 'Could've Been Great' gave us a brief glimpse into Tony's past - a great and truly doom laden song from a truly underrated song writer.

The rhythm section of Syd Farrell and Dean E. Holt complement Tony's unique guitar style; they keep a solid rhythm that doesn't cramp or hinder his fluent playing.  This band is a real breadth of fresh air that harks back to the days when rock bands really did do the business and not prat about jumping on the next bandwagon. They don't care about the politics, they just want to go out there and do it - and going by last night's show, they're doing it extremely well.

With tracks such as 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' and 'Naked Ape'  the band gel and play with an amazing feel, jamming out the next six or seven minutes without any prompts from either member.  Tony's lead work is relentless and stunning in its complexity, the way he runs beautiful licks straight out of chords is a lesson to any aspiring guitarist to be and a sheer joy to behold.

There's not really any sign of Tony's past in the sound, but Fiction are NOT High Tide. I get the impression that after thirty-ish years, he has moved on from the cult side of psychedelic and is now playing a style of music that is rooted in the late 60's and early 70's - bands such as Mountain and Cream immediately spring to mind.  This is certainly a full on, guitar fueled, power rock band with prog/psyche overtones that need to be seen and heard. If you see one band this year, make it Tony Hill's Fiction.

Paul Bristow