So I'm on my way to see Dananananaykroyd and I'm running late, and I need to get there because I'm supposed to be reviewing it for someone who's far more reputable than this blog will ever be. So I'm in a bit of a modd coz I'm miss Dinosaur Pile Up who are the support. But the bus driving is on a bit of a mission so I'm liking that.
On gets some old duffer with about 8 carrier bags. Bus sets off at a rate and sends the old fella stumbling about a bit. Normally I'd be a bit outraged at this coz I love any excuse to hate busdrivers, but I'm in a hurry so this guy can drive like a maniac if he wants just as long as he's moving. The old fella gives him a bit of a look as if to say "I nearly fell over then" but then starts scrabling around on the floor for a free paper. I'm thinking you old fossil just sit the fuck down, nevermind the metro. He picks one up and makes his way to the back ofthe bus and sits in the opposite corner to me. Sitting down he sees the back seat is strewn with free papers and he goes "oooh there's lots of free papers here" so my internal Weirdo alarm is going off now and I'm staring hard out the window. Rule Number 1 avoid contact at all costs.
Few stops later a women gets on, mid fifties I'd say. She's swinging her handbag and singing out loud and comes and sits in the middle of the back seat with a "Oops a daisy" as she sits down. Weirdo alarm goes off again. Two weirdos on one seat, something batty is bound to happen.
Few stops later the old fella starts coughing and the woman breaks rule number 1 by saying "ooh too many cigarettes!" to him. He goes "I don't smoke" to which she replies "Ooh i do" she says it in a way that's like he's just said he doesn't like jam on his crumpets. So I'm thinking two weirdos, but whose the weirdest of these two...well...this is what the old fella said next...
"I don't smoke, I don't drink and I don't gamble, never have. When I were sixteen I worked down a mine, I'm a yorkshireman you see. There was a man that worked down the mine, they called him Pendlebury. Anyway one week he took his weeks wages and went into the bookies and placed half his money on a horse. Well that horse came up short. So in he went again and put the rest of his weeks wages on another horse. And that horse came up short. So he went home and told his wife about it, you see he wanted to take his kiddies on holiday, they were going to Cleethorpes. Any road, that night he went and threw himself down the mine shaft and killed his 'sen!"
To which the woman replied "What dead?"
Brilliant that, I thought. The geezer is more mental, anyone can see that, but he won't stop there.....
"I don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble, don't go pictures, don't do bingo, don't do crosswords," Crosswords being the evil twin of gambling of course, "I've read the bible about 6 times and that's where I get my joy from, reading that book."
So he's obviously a weirdo but I feel a bit bad because he's obviously not got much in his life except reading his bible stories and you can't really knock him for that. We sit in silence for afew minutes the woman obviously knows she's beaten, she's number two weirdo on this bus. She engaged him and he beat her down Knock Out delivery round one. She'll maybe learn her lesson now...at this point a sneak a peep and she's pretending to sleep!! But this fellas not bothered and despite the presence of two young girls a few seats away he carries on with a great line ...
"Cut him in half it did, that mine shaft. A man I know who works the bucket said he heard a bang and then the screaming"
It's a sign of the times that we don't strike up conversation with strangers like the olden days (whenever they were). I'm not sure that's a good or a bad thing.I do know that you're probably better off not engaging nutjobs on the bus though and herein ends the lesson.
Oh..yeah made the gig..Danan' were pretty good.
Friday, 30 October 2009
Thursday, 22 October 2009
No Age/The Drums @ Deaf Institute 21/10/09
Word on the street is that The Drums are this years Vampire Weekend. I'm not so sure which street I'm referring to but after writing a hastily put together review of their mega catchy "Lets Go Surfing" single I was strolling around Topshop (as you do!) and there on the video wall was the Brooklyn based combo singing the very same song. If you've scored well with my well versed opinion and manage to get your video on the TopShop instore video wall then I'm pretty sure the future is looking bright for you.
After being heavily touted around this years In The City Festival/Event/Conference (not sure what the hell it is these days. I do know it used to be free and now it's £20 a wristband) I fully expect The Drums to be this years darling band. Strange to see them added to tonights line up with No Age then, but then again not that strange eh??
So I was sort of annoyed with myself right from the start but my know-it-all girlfriend assured me they wouldn't be on until ten. So when we rocked up we'd already missed the first few songs. You could tell the hype had spread as the crowd was spilling out the door. Luckily the aformentioned know-it-all spotted a break in the crowd and we hot footed it onto the Deaf Institute balcony. It's actually the first time I've seen a band from up there and its quite a weird experience, you sort of feel like your sat on the shoulders of the crowd whilst balancing one footed on the stage. First thing I noticed was that The Drums had no bass player yet lots of bass. It took me a nano second to spot from my current vantage point the drummer cueing up a backing track for each song which contained bass, whistling, vocals and keyboards... Which I sort of think is the sort of thing...well...a band should play!!
Their line up is a little off balance too; Singer, drummer, two guitarists (who were both playing very similar things, shirley one could have grabbed a bass?) and two backing singers. I love the idea of backing singers, these two perhaps weren't so much as singing backup as singing along to back up and fake wistling too. I'm well into musical gadgetry myself so I'm not really sure why all this backing track stuff bothers me so much. Maybe because it's easy to put on a 'show' if you don't have to worry about the music!! Singer Jonathan Pierce (yeah I know) looked like he'd come as an extra from a tin tin movie with his stripey top and short long pants maybe he'd just stepped of WHAM's summer yacht. The guitarists swooned around like foppish rascals carefully avoiding eye contact with the audience. Musically...yes it was alright, and "Lets Go Surfing" is a major CHOON and I wouldn't be suprised if the band got major exposure on behalf of that song alone. It was hard to hear anything else in their set that had anything near the same effect. It was all very cool and nicely done but I wonder if comparisons to Vampire Weekend are in the end just wishful thinking.
I have to be honest and say I was glad to see a fair few people fuck off after The Drums had played. The Deaf is a great venue but they don't half have a tendency to over pack it and no matter where you stand your either in the way of the bar, the smoking terrace, the bogs or the door. So yes, it was nice to see a fair few people do one.
Californian Two piece No Age came on stage and started faffing with their gear. I sort of like bands who can be on stage doing nothing and not feel the need to speak or apologise. The guitarist had an Ampeg Bass stack, a Marshall half stack and what looked like a Fender twin all set up and I presume he was playing through all three. After an intro of layered droned and frenzied strumming they launched into their first number. Instantly the word "Brilliant" flashed into my head. What a guitar sound, bass, treble and middle all ear crunchingly loud and the drummer wailing into the mic and bashing his kit. The vocals were a bit quiet throughout the entire show but I like that. They're buried within the noise and you have to strain to hear melody (you've no chance hearing words!).
I came to the show tonight despite not being impressed with what I've heard of the band via the mp3 bloggers paradise. Seeing them live was like finding the missing piece of the puzzle and I could hear all the things now that I couldn't before. This was like seeing Dinosaur in their prime. The brutal rawness tangled brilliantly with the merest hint of a pop song. Then when you thought you were getting into a melodic hook they yank it away from you into more noise and wave after wave of scratchy feedback. I nearly bought a T-shirt I was that impressed, but I didn't because I'm tight!! I'll probably pick up some of their records now though, because the gig tonight was a wonderful display of sparse punk driven pop songs. Loved it.
After being heavily touted around this years In The City Festival/Event/Conference (not sure what the hell it is these days. I do know it used to be free and now it's £20 a wristband) I fully expect The Drums to be this years darling band. Strange to see them added to tonights line up with No Age then, but then again not that strange eh??
So I was sort of annoyed with myself right from the start but my know-it-all girlfriend assured me they wouldn't be on until ten. So when we rocked up we'd already missed the first few songs. You could tell the hype had spread as the crowd was spilling out the door. Luckily the aformentioned know-it-all spotted a break in the crowd and we hot footed it onto the Deaf Institute balcony. It's actually the first time I've seen a band from up there and its quite a weird experience, you sort of feel like your sat on the shoulders of the crowd whilst balancing one footed on the stage. First thing I noticed was that The Drums had no bass player yet lots of bass. It took me a nano second to spot from my current vantage point the drummer cueing up a backing track for each song which contained bass, whistling, vocals and keyboards... Which I sort of think is the sort of thing...well...a band should play!!
Their line up is a little off balance too; Singer, drummer, two guitarists (who were both playing very similar things, shirley one could have grabbed a bass?) and two backing singers. I love the idea of backing singers, these two perhaps weren't so much as singing backup as singing along to back up and fake wistling too. I'm well into musical gadgetry myself so I'm not really sure why all this backing track stuff bothers me so much. Maybe because it's easy to put on a 'show' if you don't have to worry about the music!! Singer Jonathan Pierce (yeah I know) looked like he'd come as an extra from a tin tin movie with his stripey top and short long pants maybe he'd just stepped of WHAM's summer yacht. The guitarists swooned around like foppish rascals carefully avoiding eye contact with the audience. Musically...yes it was alright, and "Lets Go Surfing" is a major CHOON and I wouldn't be suprised if the band got major exposure on behalf of that song alone. It was hard to hear anything else in their set that had anything near the same effect. It was all very cool and nicely done but I wonder if comparisons to Vampire Weekend are in the end just wishful thinking.
I have to be honest and say I was glad to see a fair few people fuck off after The Drums had played. The Deaf is a great venue but they don't half have a tendency to over pack it and no matter where you stand your either in the way of the bar, the smoking terrace, the bogs or the door. So yes, it was nice to see a fair few people do one.
Californian Two piece No Age came on stage and started faffing with their gear. I sort of like bands who can be on stage doing nothing and not feel the need to speak or apologise. The guitarist had an Ampeg Bass stack, a Marshall half stack and what looked like a Fender twin all set up and I presume he was playing through all three. After an intro of layered droned and frenzied strumming they launched into their first number. Instantly the word "Brilliant" flashed into my head. What a guitar sound, bass, treble and middle all ear crunchingly loud and the drummer wailing into the mic and bashing his kit. The vocals were a bit quiet throughout the entire show but I like that. They're buried within the noise and you have to strain to hear melody (you've no chance hearing words!).
I came to the show tonight despite not being impressed with what I've heard of the band via the mp3 bloggers paradise. Seeing them live was like finding the missing piece of the puzzle and I could hear all the things now that I couldn't before. This was like seeing Dinosaur in their prime. The brutal rawness tangled brilliantly with the merest hint of a pop song. Then when you thought you were getting into a melodic hook they yank it away from you into more noise and wave after wave of scratchy feedback. I nearly bought a T-shirt I was that impressed, but I didn't because I'm tight!! I'll probably pick up some of their records now though, because the gig tonight was a wonderful display of sparse punk driven pop songs. Loved it.
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