Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
We all have that favourite venue, it is only natural after all to enjoy spending time in one place, the large and expansive, the intimate, the lively, the back alley dive, the glittering recently opened where the vibe last longer than the free 1st round paid for beers, and should the quality of bands never diminish, should the introduction to a new sound forever catch you pleasingly unawares, then what is just four walls and a sound desk to some, will become like family to you; it is as if you are ready to pronounce allegiance to the venue by declaring You Are My Blood.
Recorded live at Melbourne’s Cherry Bar, Don Fernando brings a selection of songs to the audiences in what is their debut live album, fully captured during a period which saw them reach their 10th anniversary and is apt to look back upon as they prepare to go back out on the road for their upcoming 15th and with the strut of a group knowing just how to please their fans.
You Are My Blood, or rather it is in their blood, the undying quest to keep the audiences on their toes all night long, and for a band that comes across as willing to showcase their naked aggression, their raw, unyielding power on stage, blood is a premium, blood is the act in which family is forged, and in the heat, sweat and tantalising, in your face, production, Don Fernando come out of the outback, the sun against their backs and shoot with precision into the body of naysayer’s claims and protestations.
Across songs of industrial sized authority such as Take You, Haunted By Humans, Rise In Sea, Motherload, and the album’s finale of Running and Hiding, the fact that 2022 sees the group hit 15 authoritative years as one of the must see live acts is one of command, for in blood and live on stage such whispers of love to a venue are solemn and endearing, for it is the clout of expression that makes a memory, and whilst many will have to contend with their imagination to understand what makes Don Fernado tick, the sense of appreciation, the groove, the dominance of their sound is enough to make the lips quiver in anticipation, the heart begin to surge, and the voice, that instrument of love declared, enough, you have my soul, You Are My Blood.
An album by way of introduction, or a feast for the already initiated; either way Don Fernando don’t just walk into 2022, they come in screaming and willing to take grateful sovereignty over the fan’s music listening.
Don Fernando’s You Are My Blood Live is out now and available via Golden Robot Records.
Ian D. Hall