Dartz! - The Sumo, Leicester 25/02
Dartz! & Rotary Ten - The Social, Nottingham 26/02
It's a Sunday night and Dartz! are gracing Leicester for the second time in 6 months; however the venue is surprisingly empty: Leicester's loss. Tonight Dartz! are very good. The only bad thing I could probably say about them is that they don't vary too much from their basic template: technical guitar part, aggressively-dancey drum beat, call and response vocal parts, maybe some tapping, big pop hook to finish. Having said that, it is an ace template for a song; the breakdown at the end of "The Lives Of Authors"; the hand claps of "Prego Triangolos"; the whole of "Once, Twice, Again!"; Dartz! play one fantastic song again and again. So good I decided to tag along with Rotary Ten to the Nottingham gig the next day.
A much better turnout (it wasn't a Sunday and it wasn't Leicester) and an even better set from Dartz! Again they open with b-side "Lines" and from then on then on they are spot on. Yes, I said "spot on". I should also mention Rotary Ten's set: they busted out yet more new material, including a nice feedback loop/syncopated hand clap part. Good guys, good set. I've run out of ideas. Just listen to them here. They're very good.
For completist's sake, there were also three support bands: Kalena (bad indie), Comic Boy (bad acoustic-emo) and Alisha Smiles (bad intricate emo).
A final note, the previous' posts comparison of Craig Finn from The Hold Steady and George Costanza should have been credited to Chris "Chris" Turnpenny. So there you go.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Friday, 23 February 2007
You're Pretty Good With Words But Words Won't Save Your Life
The Hold Steady @ The Leadmill 21/02
My plan was to try and write a "proper" review of this gig but I couldn't think of anything and I'm not a great writer. So instead I shall provide a series of bullet points:
1. Gigs at the leadmill have to be done by 10 for the club nights so by the time I got there and got a drink at the bar (which took 15 minutes I might add) the supports were all done and The Hold Steady were about due on imminently. Which was nice.
2. Despite it being an over-14s gig, I was one of the youngest there. I did not know middle aged people read Pitchfork.
3. Craig Finn is a very good front man. Lots of off mic shouting; if this were a proper review I would probably say "he spat the lyrics out with passion" or something similarly pretentious and equally rubbish.
4. Craig Finn looks a lot like George Costanza.
5. The Hold Steady do sound a lot like Bruce Springsteen. But in a good way.
6. They drink a lot. I guess this is to be expected when you're America's best bar rock 'n' roll band.
7. They finished by inviting people on stage for a dance. Good finish.
And with that I'm done. Fascinating, I'm sure you'll agree.
My plan was to try and write a "proper" review of this gig but I couldn't think of anything and I'm not a great writer. So instead I shall provide a series of bullet points:
1. Gigs at the leadmill have to be done by 10 for the club nights so by the time I got there and got a drink at the bar (which took 15 minutes I might add) the supports were all done and The Hold Steady were about due on imminently. Which was nice.
2. Despite it being an over-14s gig, I was one of the youngest there. I did not know middle aged people read Pitchfork.
3. Craig Finn is a very good front man. Lots of off mic shouting; if this were a proper review I would probably say "he spat the lyrics out with passion" or something similarly pretentious and equally rubbish.
4. Craig Finn looks a lot like George Costanza.
5. The Hold Steady do sound a lot like Bruce Springsteen. But in a good way.
6. They drink a lot. I guess this is to be expected when you're America's best bar rock 'n' roll band.
7. They finished by inviting people on stage for a dance. Good finish.
And with that I'm done. Fascinating, I'm sure you'll agree.
Thursday, 22 February 2007
Let's Get A Party Going
Whilst I think of something interesting to write about The Hold Steady gig last night, take time out of your busy schedule and sign the petition to get Andrew WK to play ATP. Regardless of whether you're going or not, it's a good cause. What have you got to loose?
(Images and links have been borrowed from The Runout Groove.)
(Images and links have been borrowed from The Runout Groove.)
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Look around, everyone's avin' it
The Twang, Situationists, The Alones - Lucorum, Barnsley
Everyone is most certainly avin' it. Or 'avin' it. Most people here aren't going to be going to another gig for a good few months. Or at least until
The Killers are next on tour. They will enjoy whoever they see play regardless of what they sound like. The Alones would have probably gone down pretty well had they not played to so few people. They sound like The Stereophonics with some sequencers thrown in for good measure. And rock and roll drum fills to finish every song song.
Three way harmonies mean Situationists are starting. Indie pop with an obvious debt to The Futureheads and The Dismemberment Plan. Apparently some skinheads really liked them. I don't blame them; they were on form tonight - enough woops and heys to keep anyone happy.
Tonight is the first night of The Twang's tour. This means lots of shiny new equipment and lenghty sound checks to make sure it all works well. They'll be paying back their label for years. A new effects unit for the guitarist means lots and lots of chorus and reverb for every song. There's some big John Squire worship going on, with a small dose of hair metal thrown in for good measure. I was probably the only person disappointed by their set - I thought they were going to be absolutely awful. Instead, they were simply mediocre at best. I fell cheated. I can't remember any of their songs. The sure sign of the next big thing.
Everyone is most certainly avin' it. Or 'avin' it. Most people here aren't going to be going to another gig for a good few months. Or at least until
The Killers are next on tour. They will enjoy whoever they see play regardless of what they sound like. The Alones would have probably gone down pretty well had they not played to so few people. They sound like The Stereophonics with some sequencers thrown in for good measure. And rock and roll drum fills to finish every song song.
Three way harmonies mean Situationists are starting. Indie pop with an obvious debt to The Futureheads and The Dismemberment Plan. Apparently some skinheads really liked them. I don't blame them; they were on form tonight - enough woops and heys to keep anyone happy.
Tonight is the first night of The Twang's tour. This means lots of shiny new equipment and lenghty sound checks to make sure it all works well. They'll be paying back their label for years. A new effects unit for the guitarist means lots and lots of chorus and reverb for every song. There's some big John Squire worship going on, with a small dose of hair metal thrown in for good measure. I was probably the only person disappointed by their set - I thought they were going to be absolutely awful. Instead, they were simply mediocre at best. I fell cheated. I can't remember any of their songs. The sure sign of the next big thing.
Friday, 16 February 2007
Monday and Wednesday
I saw these bands:
Lemmy
Gyppos
The Patricians
Love Ends Disaster
They varied between terrible and not bad. Not very exciting.
Instead of providing myspace links for these bands, here is a link for Wow, Owls! who I am listening to at this very moment. They're better than anyone I've seen in the past three days.
Tonight I will see The Twang. Should be interesting.
Lemmy
Gyppos
The Patricians
Love Ends Disaster
They varied between terrible and not bad. Not very exciting.
Instead of providing myspace links for these bands, here is a link for Wow, Owls! who I am listening to at this very moment. They're better than anyone I've seen in the past three days.
Tonight I will see The Twang. Should be interesting.
Monday, 12 February 2007
Bands at Club Nights...
Always an odd concept. Most people aren't there to watch them; they're always very much hit and miss. Remember when Liars and The Blood Brothers played Fuzz? That won't be happening again.
Speaking of Fuzz, last thursday i saw Airtraffic and Snowfight In The City Centre.
Snowfight sound like Savage Garden meets The Editors. Considering how much i dislike them, I've seen them far too many times. They played the song that sounds like "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. They've obviously been listening to this hot new band called Explosions In The Sky - they finish with Savage Garden gone polite post-rock.
Airtraffic somehow managed to be worse than Snowfight. Piano led indie is always a treat. A complete lack of stage presence meant that I didn't notice they'd left the stage until the dj started playing something. The highlight of the set was when they played a new song; both James, myself and the two guys standing behind us all pointed out it was exactly the same as "One Way Or Another" by Blondie at exactly the same time. I guess you had to be there.
Some days before that was Razor Stiletto. It had a Russian theme so the obvious act to get to play was a aldy on an accordian and another lady, dressed as a Russian peasent, doing some interpretive dance. But you couldn't hear the accordian. The other two bands were The Kreeps and Salon Boris. Surf punk and electro. Good fun.
BYE!
Speaking of Fuzz, last thursday i saw Airtraffic and Snowfight In The City Centre.
Snowfight sound like Savage Garden meets The Editors. Considering how much i dislike them, I've seen them far too many times. They played the song that sounds like "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. They've obviously been listening to this hot new band called Explosions In The Sky - they finish with Savage Garden gone polite post-rock.
Airtraffic somehow managed to be worse than Snowfight. Piano led indie is always a treat. A complete lack of stage presence meant that I didn't notice they'd left the stage until the dj started playing something. The highlight of the set was when they played a new song; both James, myself and the two guys standing behind us all pointed out it was exactly the same as "One Way Or Another" by Blondie at exactly the same time. I guess you had to be there.
Some days before that was Razor Stiletto. It had a Russian theme so the obvious act to get to play was a aldy on an accordian and another lady, dressed as a Russian peasent, doing some interpretive dance. But you couldn't hear the accordian. The other two bands were The Kreeps and Salon Boris. Surf punk and electro. Good fun.
BYE!
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