HMV Next Big Thing - Alice Gold @ The Borderline

Alice Gold is an up and coming and very exciting artist. With her superb voice, hammering guitar riffs and convicted rock bass lines. Alice's sound is a soulful mix of rock with an accessible pop twist. She and her band are on a mission to be heard. With her personal influences hailing from rock n roll pedigrees like Hendrix, Zeppelin and Joplin. Starting her musical career in the US after winning a Winnebago in a hand of poker, she travelled across the states, this kind of creative mindset is clearly routed in her musical catalogue.

After seeing her show last night it’s not too hard to imagine she is destined for some pretty big things! There was sweat and running mascara in abundance! She gave 100% and her band really held their own as musicians. Starting with a meaningful punch and carrying on through her set right to the last note. She owned every last member of the crowd at The Borderline, which is commendable for her début headline show.

Playing behind her mass of blonde curls like a female Jimmy Page from the 60's, Alice sang from her heart, seeing the emotion in her face as much as hearing it in her voice. A performance by Kraftwerk this was not! With a crisp and chic look and electric guitar style to match, she makes a refreshing change from stale and predictive scenesters and certainly stands out from other female artists.

The set had an engaging momentum and from what I could hear, the lyrics were clever and bouncing along between the rhythms of the music and stomping of people’s feet.
Alice will be a breed of rock chick that you should get to know about now before waiting till she becomes a big artist, which she probably will do.

For her first headline gig, this was an accomplished effort and I can see her rising up the rock and roll ranks to be there with some of the heavier players on today’s music scene. She's not there yet, but she's on her way.

She kick starts her tour at the end of March supporting 'Noah and the whale'.

Words by Victoria Carr