10.11.07
It’s not for the cock, it’s for having a ball
The Bodega Ball
Tonight The Social are celebrating a change into The Bodega Social Club- a change which, incidentally, actually changes nothing but the sign outside the venue. No matter; any excuse for an all night party with a quality line up is a good enough one.
The Answering Machine, formed after meeting at Manchester Uni, at first seem to have all the correct Indie ingredients- the hair, the clothes and the cool guitars. And although, all these things are present, the band are so much more than the standard Indie guitar band.
Clean, pure guitars, yelping- almost desperate- vocals and a new, human drummer (replacing the “Mustapha Beat” drum machine) and his tight beats make up much of The Answering Machine’s sound, yet to it they bring something fresh and urgent which holds them above much of their British, Strokes-esque contemporaries.
The lead singer/guitarist and fellow guitarist are reminiscent of Pete and Carl- bumping into each other, singing together and sharing an obvious friendship and musical understanding. For an unsigned band they ooze confidence and passion, clearly loving being onstage, but without cocky bravado that would only taint their fresh faces. They perform each one of their fast paced, heart felt celebrations of scuzz with smiles, laughs and charisma.
With songs such as “Silent Hotels” and next single “Lightbulbs”, The Answering Machine look set to win over a legion of loyal, radio show taping fans. They’ve also got the ability to storm the mainstream and the charm and passion to deserve it as well.
After the joy and, if we’re honest, surprise, of the spirit raising Answering Machine, it’s time for The Teenagers. The crowd duly fill the upstairs room and eventually the band drape on, looking as if they’d rather be held at Guantanamo Bay than play a gig to a bar packed with students and music fans.
After a couple of songs, it soon becomes clear that, although there are some more enjoyable moments, The Teenagers would in fact be absolutely nothing if you stripped away the novelty that they’re French and the novelty that they are swearing in a French accent. The band don’t even manage to make songs that are great to dance to which happen to have shit lyrics. They play some sort of extremely watered down, bass heavy (but not in a good way) art-”dance” rock that evokes nothing but immense boredom.
Tonight, The Teenager’s stage present and onstage persona is as weak as their songs and unfortunately the only words of exciting connotation that can be connected with the band are “flash” when put into the sentence “flash in the pan”.
Next up are White Stripes in reverse duo, Blood Red Shoes. The band create a great racket of fast, fuzzy guitars, thundering drums and shared vocals. Taking inspiration from the exciting, if short lived, garage rock wave of circa 2002- Blood Red Shoes are raw, energetic and -most of all, straight to the point. The band certainaly don’t mess around- why waste time on on anything as self indulgent as flashy playing when hitting the shit out of their instruments will more than make do?
However, Blood Red Shoes fall slightly short of reaching their full potential tonight. Songs such as “Getting Boring By The Sea” should, by all rights, create scenes of mass hysteria and near riots. Instead, tonight at least, much of the set is not played with enough passion and wild-eyed enthusiasm. unfortunately, singer/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter does not yet carry enough stage presence to make up for the fact that she is the main point of focus onstage and that the band’s songs are pretty simple and repetitive.
Next on are four (fairly) local lads who go by the name Late Of The Pier. This band have been getting a large amount of attention from the music press in recent times- NME single of the week and an Artrocker front cover come to mind - which only amounts to added pressure tonight to prove their worth. For a band yet to be signed, yet headlining the whole affair, this is no mean feat.
Any possibility of the band not living up to the hype (see The Teenagers) is knocked for six the moment they leap onto the stage and launch into their assault of doom drenched, fast paced monsters of noise. The band dance, bump into each other and swap instruments, seemingly on a whim, which creates a great live show and has the crowd instantly eating out of their hands.
“The Bears are Coming” is quite possibly the most weird, adrenaline soaked song of the last 12 months. With utterly primal beats, odd synth sounds, disjointed rhythms and scattered vocals- the song is literally like nothing anyone’s ever heard, or even thought of before. Needless to say, this piece of weird hybrid disco gets the audience going wild in a flurry of smiles, wide eyes and flailing body parts.
What’s great about Late of The Pier is not only their immense, infectious sense of fun, but also their DIY sound and feel. Much of the band’s songs are deliciously trashy, messy, slabs of punky dance. Tonight the gig is as chaotic and mental as the band’s songs. After a particularly raucous work out of the brilliant “Space and the Woods”, the band tease the crowd by telling us they’re about to play a beautiful, dreamy song to calm everyone down a bit. They then start playing “Whitesnake”, the fantastic, utterly mental thrash/electro stomp that makes you feel like you’re having an epiletic fit whilst your heart beats overtime. Basically, everyone goes fucking apeshit and Late of The Pier have converted anyone who was sitting on the fence into ecstatic fans.
Late of The Pier are the most exciting band right now and anyone who’s seen them live will testify that the experience is an addictive, fun filled and wild one. With gigs like this, songs so broad and weird and an increasing amount of admirers, there seems little that will stop Late of the Pier- least of all the small matter of having to live up to all the hype.
Late of the Pier- Lamacq BBC Session
Late of the Pier - Space and the Woods
The Answering Machine- Silent Hotels