Originally published by L.S. Media. August 30th 2010.

The Mathew Street Festival is a time for the whole city of Liverpool and all those that visit it during the Bank Holiday Weekend to take in as much music as possible. For some it’s the chance to reminisce over their youth and watch the six main stages come alive with songs from a different time. These then will stay in the mind for another year and the rest of the weekend will largely be forgotten.

Scratch beneath the surface and the fringe offers the best opportunity to see the bands that will hopefully become a household name in years to come. Some of the current Liverpool scene has made it this way and it will turn out to be no different for one of the best bands to have played this year, The Trestles.

Although the band didn’t play a full set, time constraints are always against you when there are so many bands to get through in a small venue such as Zanzibars, but the guys sped through the set with precision and guile which thrilled and rocked an audience in the mood for something new and exciting.

Vocalist and acoustic guitars Alan O’Hare has the ring of the old and the new in his look, he seems to epitomise the two of Liverpool’s finest musicians and the mix works, with a sound that is almost homage to the anger at social injustice of Amsterdam’s Ian Prowse and the quirkiness and humour of Ian McNabb.

Opening the evening set with A Shot of Wonder, Alan, Tom Carroll on guitars, the talented Howard Northover on drums and Micheál Tetlow on bass proved again that the future of good, honest music is safe and well and residing comfortably in Liverpool. Other songs that the band played during their time on stage were These Streets and Thirty.

The guys then premiered their new debut single Sing On with a passion not often seen in today’s world and with all the members of the group playing for the same cause. Where The Trestles were different from some bands playing over the weekend was that the song wasn’t being played to show the band off (although they managed that anyway) it was to show the power behind the song, as if the tune was more important that the guys delivering it.

With the next group of hopefuls waiting shyly in the wings and also itching to get on, Alan and the band took the opportunity to finish with the stunning A Drink of Water. The applause and cheering was testament to a great set, a band that will appeal to all ages and a stand out over the weekend.

Ian D. Hall