October 11, 2005
Doing this reviewing thing is a hard life, we spend most nights drunk and in little venues spending what little money we earn on getting more drunk and then spend the days after trying to make sense of our drunken rambling notes.
Today is no exception and as I read back the notes of this gig images coming flowing back but its all a little confused specially since we saw Stickers for Kids twice in the space of a week. Luckily, Stickers for Kids are pretty damn good, mixing a punky indie rock feel with a nice twist that is supplied by a roaming fiddle, interesting guitar effects and a soft yet strong female vocal. Tonight their sound is a lot stronger than the first viewing earlier in the week. With the fiddle really coming through strong and adding diversity and an extra dynamic to the songs. The vocals also come through stronger and mix a soft edge with blunt faster rants. The songs are based round some really nice moving walking bass, tight and strong drum beats and a guitarist who not only mixes his sounds well but also has a good stage presence, which the other members sometimes seem to lack. The guitar is high on treble but with the soft edge of the violin, Sticker for Kids songs have a good balance, the guitarist also knows how to use his effects and mixes eerie sounds with a deep and dirty distortion to give the songs more bite. The nice changes in tempo add energy and feeling and it has a fairly original sound, it would be nice to hear more of the fiddle in some songs and maybe some more harmonies, but the band seem to compliment each other very well. Not the finished article but an interesting work in progress.
Next to take the stage are Autodisko and the first thing that we notice is what a nice suit the frontman is sporting. The guitars are fairly melodic and with the use of flowing synths and clear cutting vocals they mix the driving rock of the 90’s with more than a hint of a 80’s influence. The drumming is very tight and pushes the songs forward well but at times, some of the other instruments seem to be a little offf the pace. The synths add an upbeat and consistant, uplifting feel to the songs and with the frontman roaming the stage and giving a energetic and confident performance the crowd seem to enjoy the show. The songs use repeatative hooks and infectious riffs to keep a catchy feel, the sort of feel that The Killers have used to maximum effect over the last few years to gain great commercial recognition. Although Autodisko have a farly original feel and use good build ups especially at the start of their songs they get a bit repeatative and the songs sound a bit to similar, lacking imagination and diverse dynamics at times. With the mix of modern rock, think The Hives mixed with The Killers and 80’s synth rock of the New Order vein, the vocals and keyboard stand the sound in good stead, but they could do with more variety and some more input from the guitars would give them a more interesting sound. Their is potential here but they need to step away from the current crop of rock that has developed from The Killers success and a few lyrics that weren’t based around ‘girls’ would be nice, in our opinion.
So, to a band who have one of the most interesting and fun sounds around in Nottingham at the moment. Since their appearance in last year’s Junktion 7 Battle of the Bands final, Swound! have grown a reputation as a really imaginitive, fun and energetic band. Using really bouncy, upbeat and weird guitar riffs, that mix powerful hook chord riffs and random injections of odd lead scales, they create a great party atmosphere. The drums and flowing bass keep the songs tight and move them along well, with infectious choruses and great shouting, chanting harmonies from all the upstanding members. Swound!’s songs are not only sing-along classics, but make you want to dance around the room and smile from cheek to cheek. The confident, catchy and sarcastic, fun lyrics mixed with crazy harmonies and inventive vocal patterns give Swound! a niche all of their own, and with the un-predictable changes and slightly insane injections from each instrument, it has a really uplifting vibe. The guitars and bass interlock and take it in turns to carry the melodies and with the shouts and screams over the top, they mix punk, indie, rock and pop to a inchanting and charming effect. Swound! are a really original band who are completly at ease with their sound and stage antics, they do what they want, leaving all technical theory at home, By taking nothing seriously and not worrying about being overly complex, Swound! have become a really random yet brilliant band. Legends in their own right and they can literally claim to be superheroes of the party punk rock genre.
Once we get our breath and mind back, we are left in the more than capable hands of Dragonflies Draw Flame. As the deep, distorted guitars drive in and the pounding bass crashes into our ears, it is evident that DDF know how to write driving rock songs. The vocal patterns are very catchy and with the use of some nice hooks and harmonies are fairly infectious. The guitars mix soft slower driving melodies with faster dirtier and more punk riffs to give them good dynamics and with the well-timed harmonies, the songs also have plenty of power. The drumming also had some nice fills and with the bass bouncing along well to keep the songs tight, the druming added some diversity and imagination, giving the vocals and guitars room to experiment. This wasn’t however, a perfect perfomance and at times they seemed to not quite be on the same wavelength, with some noticable mistakes. Even though they appeared confident, there was a lack of presence in-between songs. Also the vocals were drowned out at times and you couldn’t really hear the lyrics especially when the guitars really kicked in. It reminded us at times of Idlewild but not with quite as catchy edge or as strong lead vocal. Some songs really stood out well and had a less predictable sound to take them away from the ‘Idlewild’ tag but like Autodisko, their is certainly room for more originality here and more use of the backing vocals and maybe more softer build-ups would give them a feel more of their own.
Review –
