February 16, 2006
The future is notsopretty. Sure Sheffield, London and Manchester can boast about their music scene but take one look at Nottingham and the feeling that the music is about to explode is on fire. Face it. Were spoilt for choice. But to venture outside of Nottingham it is a little harder to find the next big thing.
There are approximately 25 people on the floor at the gig. Now there were 40 odd at a sex pistols gig and that was described as history. However a band cannot make history unless the music is good so with already seeing this band live I was cautious about how tonights gig would go.
Different, raw and energetic are just a few words that come to mind. The lead singer graces the stage with ripped jeans and converse and big rimmed black glasses, a necessary addition. First song is Mommy what is a pacifist which features on the bands demo. There is fantastically compromise with vocals in the song with higher pitched excellence ala Kate bush. The different and diverse catchy guitar riffs in the set wave a joy division inspired air into the room. The stage presence, which is an essential ingredient, is fantastic with moves as jittery and abstract as the late Ian Curtis. One might even say there are melodies inspired by Radiohead. However they are more than a band that has their inspirations and the innovative and collective ideas are unique and personal. This band is so different. Tempo crawls from one side to the musical spectrum to the other keeping us on our toes. The riffs, distinctive bass lines, blundering drum beats and spine chilling vocals mesh together in a perfect fashion. The great thing is that although the sound is not polished and clean the rawness adds to the songs with a gnarly kick.
A personal favourite of the set was the song happy where the guitarist accompanies vocals as well where the tempo is initially fast and then reduces to a slower jamming perfection. Then they play the infamous holy makrel batman, featuring on the bands myspace account. which pleases a certain enthusiast in the crowd. Later songs in the set show diverging guitar melodies with ever changing texture and diverse dynamics. Contrasting with this the simple yet necessary drum beats which give a lot of the songs that extra kick merge well with the rest of the instrumentation.
The passion of the band is shown when we see the bassist on his knees, the microphone wires around the singers neck and the heads and feet of the crowd moving that little bit more. I would recommend seeing this band live because there is a sense of excitement at the gigs that it is something that shouldnt be missed.
With catchy songs that are lyrically talented, immense vocals with gnarly guitar riffs, great drum beats and bass lines, a widespread fan base and the bonus they are all pretty good looking; I would urge you check them out. This is the band that has sold out of demos at their gigs and I would say the sky is the limit.
Review by Kristi.
