October 13, 2004
Being the first of those live bands Big Gay Following started tonight festivities with their obscure stage set-up. The drummer is the vocalist, so he and his kit were positioned front and centre, with bassist and guitarist at either side. This made the drums seem even louder, and they certainly were the most prominent sound, but there was a good quality of deviation between complicated and simple drumming, so they kept that prominent sound interesting. Some very early metal influenced guitar, power bass, and a quick blast on a synthesiser, showed that all three of them were great musicians, which was handy because Big Gay Following are more or less an instrumental band, of stoner rock with trippy musical arrangements. Only the odd song had occasional vocals by the drummer, and I donÂ’t think these were supposed to be noticed as much as the music. They seemed to be in their own little worlds on stage, and I donÂ’t think it would have made much of a difference to their performance if there wasnÂ’t a crowd in front of them at all. They just played it how they wanted to, and we were all happy to let them get on with it.
Changing the sound to the much more mainstream, Metro Joe brought with them a mixture of emo, punk, and indie, with an upbeat jazz and almost lounge ska vibe. Constantly ringing guitar, modest, repetitive drums, and a bright acoustic coating gave a very American ‘high-school rock’ feel to it all. But monotonous vocals let them down a little, and most of the lyrics couldn’t be deciphered. They weren’t incredibly original, but they had the odd song that managed to stick out, some would have some great technique by the lead guitarist, others would have plenty of umph gone in to the choruses. One in particular had two of their mates, including Swound!’s frontman Joey, up on stage singing and/or rapping(?) to one very cheesy song in the middle of the set, but it was that song that got the crowd going, very much a party track.
Mawda took to the stage complete with a fiddle player, ‘oooooh’ we all thought. They leapt straight into their modern rock n roll style, with stomping guitar and drums, and ever changing vocal patterns a-la The White Stripe, The Strokes etc. The fiddle was used mainly to create a dramatic effect, and this it did well, but it was a difficult not to feel a little bit disappointed at the fact that it wasn’t really used to its full potential. As we got further into the set, the rock n roll feel did continue, but their were glimpses of some feel good punk rock sneaking in there, and strange and unexpected Capdown type vocals. There was an excellent display of interaction between two vocalists, with their funny, smart-arse lyrics. They showed good variation in tempo, several songs which started slow and melodic, promptly stormed into another pounding little number, completely changing the mood and grabbing your attention.
Our hosts for the evening, Swound! stepped up for what was about to be their last time, hence the partying, but determined to go out on a high, as all things should, they were to end Swound!’s legacy with an ‘I don’t give a shit’ final gig attitude. Tons of energy went into this performance, much more than the previous couple of gigs, which perhaps suggested why this band was coming to an end, but they didn’t let it affect them, and whether emotions were running high or not, it was never going to be higher than the volume levels, or louder than the shirts. Swound! had a bigger catalogue of songs to choose from than I ever thought they would and they played a well balanced assortment of old and new, customary and unfamiliar, which went together to add up to a bangin set! It was fast and furious, and the barrier was put to the test many a time, as the last few minutes of the set became a mash of Nirvana covers, crowd surfing, and what party would be complete without the ol’ Hokey-Cokey eh? I think Swound! can be pretty pleased with themselves, one hell of an ending, one hell of a night, one hell of a partay!
Since this gig Swound! have released new CD and continued with there Party. To see more pictures from this gig click here Review ~ Steph Photos ~ Glynn
Written By Steph
Photos ~ Glynn
