Julian has a message for his fans in York!
OK here goes with possibly my shortest gig review ever. Julian turned up at the venue complained about the lighting and fucked off home! Mr Cope you are not just a talented eccentric as I used to think; you are a twat, a diva, an arse, a tosser and someone who really couldn’t give a shit about his fans! Julian Cope you are the second biggest cunt in the world!
Julian fails to see the light!
I took the opportunity to visit Fibbers in York on Friday night for an excellent gig organised as a benefit for York Hospital Radio by a young man who I think will go a long way and be very succesful in band management and music promotion. His name is Simon Pattinson, this is the third gig organised him that I have attended and frankly he has a great record in getting hold of some terrific bands and tonight was no exception. So when you hear him described as the new Harvey Goldsmith, remember where you read it first!
First band up was The Deep State Collective. They had to limit themselves to a relatively hastily arranged acoustic set after their guitarist had to pull out due to illness. I heard a whisper that the singer wasn’t feeling too good either. If the latter was true then this dude is a real trouper! Their set was pretty accomplished and they clearly have some good songs. Jules and Chris, I thought you did an excellent job, I really enjoyed your set. As for the litmus test, well I would definitely go and see this band again. Check them out if you get a chance!
Deep State Collective
I was joined at the gig by another friend of mine; big shout to another Simon and his lovely wife Marie. Hello Mr & Mrs Hernaman. They missed the first band but arrived in plenty of time for IO who were next on stage. This was apparently their first live gig, which is kind of hard to believe given how well they played. The singer is Ollie Webb formerly of Swimwear Juniors and the drummer is Sam Ford once of the band One Night Only. Sam is a truly wonderful drummer, like Keith Moon spliced genetically with Animal from the Muppets and I mean that in a really good way. The band was really tight and seemed bloody well rehearsed. The singer was also a rather spiffing percussionist too. Do they sound like anyone else? Possibly, Simon H reckoned he detected an element of Echo & the Bunnymen. We also agreed that they would be a great draw at Freshers week in any University town in the country. I hope these guys go on to bigger things and personally I believe they will.
IO
It was a tough choice but I think the next band just shaded it from the headliners as my favourite band of the night. They were a York based band known as Stone Ugly. This female fronted quartet know a lot about stagecraft, production values and image. They built their entrance up with a piece of the Willy Wonka movie (starring Gene Wilder) and some dry ice (or maybe a smoke machine). The whole band also had some fab red stripes running the length of their faces from hairline to chin along the line of their right eye. Pretty damned effective too. In a bizarre twist of fate I was actually drinking Red Stripe beer all night too! What did they sound like? Well for me there was a big helping of Prog Rock served up with a dollop or two of New Wave and Post Punk sounds. I loved their song “Can A Leopard Change It’s Spots” Jenna, the lead singer has a really versatile and powerful rock voice. Does she sound like anyone else? To me maybe Siouxse Sioux, Hazel O’Connor (thanks to Simon H for that one) and possibly Karen O off of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I reckon these guys would go down a storm at Reading and Leeds.
Stone Ugly
The headliners were Maven Fiction. Their mainman was the lead singer from the Shadracks when I saw them a while back. Maven Fiction’s sound is much less jangly indie pop and much more electronic with a possible heavy influence from Mike Skinner off of the Streets. Regular readers will know that I have long been a big fan of the Streets. The counter vocals from the female vocalist were a brilliant counterpane for the lead vocal of Mr Maven Fiction himself. That can’t be his real name can it? His Mum was also there and there was even a suggestion that she might do a Pans People, sadly she didn’t! Back to the music though, I really like this new direction and I rushed to buy the CD they were selling at the end. An E.P. for just £1, that’s a real bargain. It’s bloody good too, it’ll be on my iPod very soon. The band was joined briefly by Jenna off of Stone Ugly on tambourine.Mr Fiction also has some has some real balls; he finished his set by stepping out into the audience with just an acoustic guitar. He didn’t only sing bloody well but he even got us all singing along. They have a few gigs lined up in New York. Good luck with those shows guys and I’ll be back to see you again some time I’m sure.
Maven Fiction
All in all an excellent night, just a pity too many of you didn’t make it. You’d better be there next time, because we know where you live! 😉
Maven Fiction
OK it’s nearly a month since my last gig review so I thought I’d better get back out there again. Gigs at Fibbers are usually well worth it and tonight was no exception, four bands for £5 that’s a real bargain especially as they were all pretty good or better. Fibbers is a good venue but when will they move into this century and start accepting plastic over the bar? OK rant over and let’s move on to those all important bands, in order of appearance of course!
The Waking Hours
As usual and like many before me I often see a band and try and work out their influences and sometimes just what or who they might sound like. For me these guys have elements of 60’s Garage Rock, some early Van Morrison in his Them days, indie (although I admit that is such a wide description nowadays) and one of their songs seemed to have a very U2ish sound with it’s ‘edge-like’ guitars. Overall a great sound from an excellent band. I would also like to give a special mention to their drummer, one of the best I’ve seen in quite a while. Shades of John Bonham (although perhaps not quite as loud) and Animal from the Muppets (and I do mean that in a nice way). remember that Animals licks were provided by a very experienced drummer. Anyway click here to check out the band on their MySpace page
Swimwear Juniors
Tonight’s bands were all nicely different which is always a good thing I think. The Juniors (am I allowed to refer to them like that? After all everyone knows the Grateful Dead as the Dead!). They seem to be a real fun almost party band, like the Pigeon Detectives if they weren’t so automated and actually had a personality. Unlike the PDs the Juniors have oodles of personality and come across like a band cloned from the best bits of the Arctic Monkeys and the Housemartins with a special extra added secret ingredient (and before you ask I don’t know what that ingredient is ok). They also had the wit and personality to pull off something that many of their peers wouldn’t dream of, a few bars of the Wurzels “Combine Harvester” between songs. Thankfully not the whole of that ‘classic’ song though! Overall an excellent set from Swimwear Juniors (I thought I’d be polite and use their full name for the final sentence!). OK so click here to check these guys out now and I mean RIGHT now on MySpace!
Soft Toy Emergency
This is the second time I’ve seen Soft Toy Emergency and oh boy what a great band, absolutely awesome, no I’ll correct that they were truly fucking awesome! If these guys are not playing mega gigs by 2010 then it will only be because the sun has gone supernova and turned into a black hole (ok my science is poor but who cares?). They are a genre defying band, you can’t label this excellent combination of fun, danceability, punk spirit and pop sensibility. They would blow most of the dull indie kids away at festivals like the Carling at Reading and Leeds. If this band appears near you and you do not go and see them I will personally ensure that you are forced to listen to nothing but Westlife for the rest of your days! So if you really aren’t keen on that kind of punishment check out this superb Liverpool band on MySpace by clicking here……… well, what are you waiting for….. DO IT NOW
Little Comets
Personally I would not have fancied taking the stage after a band like Soft Toy Emergency, it would take an excellent band to make a good job of it. These boys from Newcastle made more than just a good job of it, they were bloody good. In fact don’t let the name fool you these guys are bloody great big bright comets. They have some excellent songs and know how to work their audience. For me the nearest comparison I could come up with would be a bit like Vampire Weekend with extra added funk and English sensibility. I will definitely go and see them again! You MUST check them out on MySpace and also their excellent band site too. When I say MUST I bloody mean MUST ok!
OK that’s the review over and so far I haven’t reviewed a shit band, although I’m sure that day will come! I’d also like to give a special mention to two special ladies; Catwoman and Charlie who did the most amusing drunken dancing during the Little Comets set. Another special mention goes to Simon P who managed to get me a Soft Toy Emergency CD which I missed out on last month. And finally a special thank you to the doorman for asking me if I had any ID, you made this old bloke very happy ta very much!
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 