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.