(c) Dr Paul Kinsler. [Acknowledgements & Feedback]
Fad Gadget/ Greenhaus/ Psychophile; Einsteifen/ Ghost of Lemora/ Action Directe/ Misnomer; Jesus Fix/ Ghost of Lemora/ Libitina/ Muffpunch; Swarf/ Psychophile/ Deathboy/ Ariel+Flames; Passion Play/ Belisha/ Descendants of Cain; Waterglass; Kiss the Frog/ Lesur Hive/ Forcis(?)/ Camira(?); Apoptygma Berserk/ Sheep on Drugs/ Sulpher/ Angels and Agony/ Greenhaus/ Chaos Engine/ Needleye; Descendants of Cain; Komputer/ Barry Andrews/ Neck Doppler/ Drop/ Ed Baxter/ Wayward Grace; Sigue Sigue Sputnik/ Goteki/ Mechanical Cabaret/ Complicity;
Index; Last year: 2001; Next year: 2003;
Psychophile: I arrived a bit late and missed the beginning of the set. Being eary, the crowd was thinnnish but they got a good response for their usual excellent performance. The sound seemed much better than I've heard before, too.
Greenhaus: I'd wanted to see these guy again for a while, as although they and their blokes-bent-over-machines line-up were seemed dull, they also were kind of interesting,. I enjoyed most of the set, with their material consisting of samples of (it seemed) just about the entire planet blending together and shifting enough to keep it alive. But I have to say that by their last couple of tracks the good impression had palled somewhat, and I was happy when they stopped. Good stuff, but it does start to drag in a gig setting.
Fad Gadget: never heard of him myself, but probably he's been around for ages. He does a sort of dynamic wiry 80's rock soloist thing, with lyrical string material and a strong stage presence. It did nothing for me, though, but I guess I have to admit it wasn't helped by ending up standing near some pretty irritating members of the audience. When I escaped them I enjoyed it more, but despite this I couldn't get into it as much as the large proportion of the rest of the audience. At the end the crowd wanted at least another several encores, but they weren't going to get them -- I think the venue needed the money from the punters arriving for the club thing which followed the gig.
I arrive at the Hope and Anchor sufficiently early, and kill some time reading the paper and try to guess from the floor vibration whether the bands have started yet. Soundcheck? Set? Soundcheck? Set? ... I wander downstairs and discover I'm too early. Methinks Mr Neon should put a sign on the upstairs door when ready, as it's not always obvious what's going on.
Misnomer: drums/vocals, guitar/vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards; hmm, and some bleeps. Are they Goth? There's no particular evidence of it, but while I'd be happy describing their sound as goth-rock with sort of melodic tendencies, I wouldn't describe them as "rock with sort of melodic tendencies". They're not bad at all, throwing in a bit of variety -- guitar bits, frenzied drumming bits, and the seemingly obligatory drum'n'bass thingy for bands less than a certain age. At least from where I was standing, I could hardly hear either of the (female) vocalists, and indeed maybe the mix wasn't really doing their sound too much justice. Worth a look, their material seemed to have promise, but they need a bit more on-stage organisation or presense.
Action Directe: two blokes, missing one other bloke, they tell us. I wonder what he did, beside stay up in Leeds. The two who were there were guitar/vocals and a keyboards, and a box of bleeps somewhere about. They have a high-impact approach to erformance, clear vocals, but not quite clear enough to tell whether they're as political as you might think. They carry it off quite well... they make a better impression than Misnomer, I'd say, but there's less going on musically: especially that second to last (I think) track where they seem to have lost the plot entirely. But perhaps it was supposed to sound like that.
Ghost of Lemora: guitar, bass, keybroad, bleeps, chunky boots, singer with fluffy hair and pvc trousers; add some echo and a few chiming noises and ... yep, I think you can guess what they sound like by now. Musically they go straight down a well trodden line, but there is enough going on to keep them interesting ... and whilst not likely to surprise anybody they are, overall, pretty impressive. If their lyrics happen to get their hooks into you, or perhaps if you fancy the singer bloke (or whoever) you'd most likely think they were great.
Einsteifen: seven members (count 'em) -- enough beards to be Dutch, but they aren't. Fat bloke on drums, keybeardist, two guitar beards, bass player (sans beard, fortunately for her), dancer/vocalist, and tall thin scary bald bloke in pvc dress. They don't fit on the stage, which is not surprising give that downstairs at the H&A is rather cupboard-like... so, well, they don't fit on the shelf. But bloody hell they don't half have an attack on 'em. The dancer is appropriately frenzied. They have a bit of jaunty swagger, a bit of growling, guitars, a shade or two of Queen Adreena... ah, if only I could remember any of their material in any detail. Still, who cares, a brilliant set, except perhaps the last number which maybe went on a bit. I think they got carried away and tried to see how many band members wanted to shout into microphones. You might be surprised they didn't try to recruit the audience as well. I expect the dancer/vocalist was glad at the end, the dancing had slowed down considerably by then. It seems to me that they came across rather like a bunch of old hands who'd decided to throw a band together, even if they weren't necessarily that old. Anyway, go see them.
The whole gig finished a bit late, about 11:45pm or so, which I guess is not unexpected given the promoter ... but I'd have to say full marks for the line up,and the performances. Hats off to Mr Neon for this one.
Doors 8pm says the flyer, and they open at 8:10, some sort of record for Neon, in my experience.
Muffpunch: noise experimentalists meet performance artists without a performance... we've got some electronic gizmo's, something that sounds like a kazoo, a metal sheet and some metal bars for hitting the sheet, and a file. My initial impression is that they are a tedious load of cack, but to be fair eventually their resampled industrial soundscape material did seem to be less random and make some sort of sense, and all in all I though they were ok. Probably just as well, as if they had been completely talentless the two blokes in their sequinned balaclava's would have just looked silly. They get polite applause from the assembled punters.
Libitina: well you could probably look at my last review of them, I don't think they've changed much -- but then it wasn't that long ago anyway. I think I'd like them more if their drum machine/ backing bleeps were a bit sparser, I find it fill in their sound too much and leaves everything sounding rather cluttered and messy.
Ghost of Lemora: pretty good really, they can go from metal to ballads convincingly, the crowd liked them, the singer had an effective twisted little boi sort image thing going, which works well. It was also his birthday, so we were exhorted to call him a cunt (Barkeep! A cunt for the singer!), which seemed a little unfair, and so to compensate some people attacked him with shaving cream. But enough of that, they do their variable genre goth rock thing, and do it well. I guess though that despite their many good features, I can't really remember much about them musically.
Jesus Fix: a hard driving metal band. Not a lot of variety here, but a good solid performance and a generally impressive metal-like noise. I think the line up was, er, well, there were four of them including vocals, drums, guitars and a keyboard.
A good gig all up, with a bit of range (noise/goth/goth/metal) but not too much, good performances all round, an appreciate audience, and I didn't miss the last southbound tube from Camden Town.
Headliners were Freudstein, actually, but I had to leave early. I get there early enough to get one of the freebee Wasp Factory bags, neatly foiling my plan to be unencumbered at the gig by leaving my satchel at work.
Ariel+Flames: A sort of dancing and singing female cabaret act, with extra twisted seediness, with backing tape. I think there's mileage in the concept, but for me this performance failed to gel, and the backing sounded rather too pre-recorded. Worth a look though, and maybe the act will improve with practise.
Deathboy: a shouty vocalist, guitar, bass, drums, and, er, another guitar? I forget, it's taken me a week to get around writing this review. They strike me initially as a sort of failed Chaos Engine, but from where I was standing I don't think the sound was helping them much. They suffer from the common problem of so much happening with the guitars and what have you that any tune (or musical structure) disappears in a backwash of clutter. Mid set, they break into some "light jazz", for comedy value -- quite amusing, really, but I'm sure it was just a tape and the drummer[1]. If you're going to try that sort of thing, at least play your own instruments. The singer does a good job as frontman, but with the exception of about one track I don't find them very interesting -- however they did seem to have a rather vocal cadre of fans in the audience.
Deathboy also had some guy wandering through the audience handing out free CD's -- listening to it later, I liked them rather better, although oddly their best song live was unimpressive the CD -- but this was not the fault of the song, I think.
[1] apparently the "jazz" was all live, but done with drum machine trickery; and it was their first-ever gig, so performance-wise they didn't do so badly -- it didn't look like a first ever to me (whatever that might look like).
Psychophile: OK, so I'm a fan of theirs so I was impressed. Well, kind of, I thought to start with there was something very odd about the sound, which wasn't due to the new guitarist; but in hindsight was probably due to where I was standing and maybe the PA set up worked better for those standing further back. There was some new material in the set -- one song, "Vice Girl" was dedicated by singer Lucy to someone or other for the loan of some undergarments. Well, that's really helped keep our minds on the music, eh. The new guitarist does a good job, although I found some of his vocals lacked bite.
Swarf: bleep, bleep, bleep, with floaty female vocals. I tried to like them, but failed. I was very probably in a minority, but I'm constantly baffled by otherwise well received bands who can't be bothered to try something interesting while going bleep. How hard can it be? I'm not expecting to like it, just to think they are doing something a bit different. As I drift way towards the back, preparing to leave, the sound seems to improve. Hmm.
Descendants of Cain start playing shortly after I get through the doors, and I'm impressed. I've seen them a number of times, and sort of liked their canvernous, atmosphereic take on guitar goth, but never though that much of them. Here, though, the singer has a spot on gesturing stage manner, the guitar bloke looks bloke-like, and the keyboard player plays at the back in a sort of decorative keyboard stand. There is quiote a bit of smoke and lights adding to the visual impact. OK, so what might not be quite right? Well, I suppose that you might say they're a little dull, in the sense that they lack sufficient variety in pace or mood. I think that's nearly true, but for myself I found that even though the music might have perhaps dragged a little in places, the rest of it was polished and impressive enough to more than compensate. I don't recallever seeing an opening band get such a good response from an audience.
Belisha, the band named after a Minister of Transport[1] -- is this the new trend? Anyway, the four of them (vocals, guitar, bass, drums) arrive on stage like they'd been practising a long time and were trying a bit too hard. They look the part, in the american sitcom sense of being a little too well turned out in a combat pants, sunglasses, and offensive t-shirt way. I think they expected us to be impressed, and indeed some of the audience clearly were, but I thought that didn't seem true of the whole.
Belisha have many things going for them -- good music, stage presence, a professional attitude, but they seemed to exude an expectation that I was going to think they were great. I guess it boils down to this -- I think it is all very well for a band to cavort about like the audience is climbing the walls from excitement, but if most of the audience _isn't_, it looks, to my eye, a bit odd. Why not relax a bit, and try encouraging the audience up to fever pitch, instead of just _assuming_ they'll want to tag along? And, if the singer is going to sip sheepishly from a carton of Ribena (or whatever) during the set, he should either disguise it as something dangerously alcoholic or just drink the stuff and not look furtive. "Life out there is tough", he announces (paraphrased) at one point, takes another sneaky sip, and launches into "Hope of Pills". Hmm -- imagine this: "Life out there is tough", he announces (paraphrased) at one point, takes a handful of pills, and launches into "Hope of Fruit Juice".
What do they sound like? A rock band, basically, with a bit of punk attitude. I don't think they're the future of anything, more a sort of continuation of the past. I'm not sure their music does much for me -- I must have been hearing it intermittently at Malice, but despite half listening out for them I never recall anything particularly memorable. It's a shame that they're not just a little bit wierder in a musical sense, I'd be more forgiving if they did something rather more unexpected.
This all sounds a bit negative, but this is partly because of the expectations built up before this, their first ever gig. I should emphasise, though, there is nothing at all really wrong with them, and it is certainly worth looking them up. No doubt they'll find a solid following -- which might even include me if I see them a few more times, and got used to whatever it is about them I don't get yet.
Passion Play: If I remember right, the same sort of line up as Belisha; and apparently the drummer is new. PP are more your standard sort of goth rock band, and they amble on stage and play in a low key but solid way -- none of the exortative hysteria of Belisha. Of course the lack of that dynamism might count against them a little, but it suits their musical style, and I think overall it was a better integrated performance. The singer talks to the crowd in a more natural, but still "band-like"" way, which sits with the crowd quite well. A broken guitar string holds up the set just before the end, and puts paid to any encore, which is a shame.
Band of the evening: Descendants of Cain
[1] OK, so actually they aren't
Hmm, I never got around to writing this up in time, so I don't remember much. The set was well delivered, and one nice feature was some improvised jamming whilst a guitar string (or somesuch) was being fixed mid-set. Ah, and the drummer started off hidden behind a screen, to dampen the volume, I guess, but later managed to convince the rest of the band to remove it -- without much in the way of ill effects.
Cameera (or Camira) 3 enthusiastic guys guitar, bass, drums. they claim their audience is mostly stuck due to a minibus breakdown. they`re pretty straight foward.no innovation here - just a rock band. But actually they are damn good in an almost evangelical way.
Forcis(?) -- the standard four piece, but with a keyboard player added for the first song - but what do they sound like? D.U.S.T. withovt tle stage presebce, perhaps, a generic 70's rock. They seem to have a lot of fans, all of whom missed out by being too late for Cameera. I can see why this lot mighthave a following, but they .just seemed _dire_ to me.
Leisur:Hive - the new line-up - if I recall correctly the bass player is new, and indeed there is a much stronger bass line to some of the tracks.
Kiss the frog -- 3 guys, drums, guitar, bass - hey, and a theramin! It starts off chaotic, but in an interesting way, almost each with their own tune, until suddenly the drums kick up a notch and it all coalesces into a whole. Impressive, actually. The second song is in the same vein, but without the coalescence - a complex chaos winding about a rather traditional "Grateful Zeppellin" style - featuring the theramin - with a co-opted Uncle Nemesis theremizing for the last third or so. Then they pause for a chat, blah, arrived from Berlin, blah, California, ..., and throw in some politics, Bush is crap, ho hum,... well,I can think about politics too, so l do... and eventually the band get around to playing again, but this politics is a catching business. After a bit of this I wonder why I'm listening to this second rate 70's nonsense - I seem to have lost the thread. I try to get back into it but fail, and I'm a bit narked. I stick it for a while, but check my watch, and head for the Tube.
Had a great journey home, even given the Jubilee line engineering works.
Band of the evening: Leisur:hive, but I'm tempted by Cameera, I have to say.
I missed the opening band, Neurophoria; Needleye were a good solid metal band, with a touch of the death metal growl -- they seemed kind of familiar -- perhaps they were the mystery metal band I saw opening for the Rev. Horton Heat last year?
Chaos Engine had their new lineup -- an extra guitar and a new bassist. However, maybe there was something funny going on with the sound, because they sounded oddly distant. I amused myself by inventing novelty titles for their opening track: "This Custard Cream's for Angus" anyone? Nothing wrong with the on-stage appearance though, except they're rather less decorative than they used to be, so another top outing from CE. Except for the funny sound thing.
Greenhaus seemed a bit bleepier and less atmospheric than usual, and a bit less interesting as a result; Angels and Agony were very very bleepy, and about as interesting as a 30 minute remix of "once in a lifetime" -- true, the crowd liked them, and I can sort of see why -- for a track or two -- but the whole set? Someone ought to tell them that a set of non-stop bleepy anthems is as boring as fuck -- oh, but hang on, they seemed to be popular. Oh well.
Sulpher were solidly back in the metal/industrial camp, and a welcome relief after AAA; Sheep on Drugs were a sort of bleeped up PIL, more trad than Greenhaus, but somehow with enough of a edge to not be boring. The vocalist looked scarily young, but did a good job. Apoptygma Berserk -- the headliners, so the crowd went wild -- with more enthusiasm and better justification than for AAA, since they had a wider range of bleep, but still APB are something of a one-and-a-half trick pony. I tried to get into the atmosphere, but failed; they were OK but it was convenient to leave just before the end of the set to get an earlier tube home. You want damning with faint praise -- I forgot until writing thes review over a week later that I'd seen APB already. Hmm, actually I don't think that is praise, faint or not.
The usual great set from these guys, but as the set passed without incident, and I've reveived similar sets from them before, I'll leave it at that.
The venue: well, in the live music bit -- tiny stage, tiny floorspace, and a gallery! My guess is one corner of the floor knocked through to make space for a stage halfway up the cellar wall. Starting off we have the promoter (Richard Sanderson) warming the audience up by singing to himself on the accordion ... tolerable, but a bit maudlin. Ask me again in a decade, I might like it more...
Wayward Grace: 3x female vocalists, no backing. As powerful as the unadorned voice usually is, and whilst I enjoyed the set (a random selection of folk songs, I guess), it didn't really grab me - mostly because the lyrics were still in whatever original language. One thing though, they opened on a 'calling song' in Finnish, and suddenly the beginning of a rather dull Finnish film I saw on TV some 15 or so years ago made more sense -- abliet as less of a calling some and more of a "it's cold" song -- still, it was set in the Finnsh winter.
Next was some guy called Ed Baxter, with a story, some sort of family history thing. I missed the beginning, being at the bar, but it gained some sort of hold anyway. The guy was more of a writer than a speaker, but delivered the sentences intelligibly, if lacking in intonation.
So next the bloke who runs Baggage Reclaim has partly re-assembled his old punk band (Drop) from the late 70's; and accordingly they run through the old set. They sound OK actually, if a little lacking in the angry department; but the drummer gives the drums a good thrashing.
Neck Doppler - some Scottish blokewith a dynamic and gymnastic stage presence. Quite talented, but although his songs had strong ideas and/or concepts, there wasn't much development - after the first 30 seconds you had the whole idea, the rest was just repetition. Quite a bit of writhing about and falling off the stage to compensate, though.
Barry Andrews - man singing at a piano - but with lyrics firmly in the Shriekback style, rather in the softer 'Jam Science' vein. He did 'This big hush' and (ended on) 'Faded flowers', which would have kept the Shriekback fabs in the audience happy. He did a good job, a being bit relaxed and acoustic without losing his edge (or is that twist) and turning into schmaltz.
Komputer - bleep, bleep, bleep, and not very interesting, if I recall, so I head off home.
Complicity - Two keyboards and a guitarist/singer. Every track started out full on bleepy, but then the guitar cuts in strongly, so both sides of that equation get a workout. The result sound impressive about half the time, but a bit shakey the rest - but maybe they'll settle in after a few more gigs (not that I know how many they've done). As a comparison, I'd say that in terms of their shared guitar/techno style, Complicity were much more trad, maybe even a touch metal, compared to Psychophile .
Mechanical Cabaret - well they started out with some tech probs, and (presumably as a result - let's be charitable) only sounded good occaisionally. They seem to have grown an extra keyboard from last time I saw them, and also they look much more structured and professional. I'm surprised, though, that they didn't come across better - I admit to being largely unimpressed they first time I saw them, but had subsequently been somewhat won over, so I expected more. Ah well.
Goteki - looked & sounded good, but a little pointless live - though I'd happily buy the CD. They finished on the old SBM classic 'Boneshaker', which came across really well - it seems that although their material has not shifted in style _that_ much, somehow it doesn't work as well live (IMO).Sigue Sigue Sputnik - looked & sounded good too (is this a theme?), with both Hair and Clothes. A hard driving back-line, some guitar-hero work on the, er, guitars; a modicum of song variety... They left me cold though, despite their many good features. They would have made a good band for your works party - seemed especially true when they went a bit Slade (or even Gary Glitter). I thought the singer got a bit tired half way through, losing his animation, after which I rapidly got (more) bored. Sod this, I thought, and left.
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Date=20030202 0411 0821 0811 0803 20020321 Author=P.Kinsler Created=20020112
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