05.19.08
It’s not for the cock, it’s for being red hot
Hot Club de Paris @ Bodega Social 18/5/08
Tonight, The Bodega is empty. Walking into the bar, you suddenly feel a bit self conscious about how much noise you might be making. It’s pretty bad. Luckily, the reason for this seems to be that everyone is up stairs for the gig.
Nottingham youngsters Dog is Dead kick off proceedings with a lively and energetic set. They have more than enough bizarre backing vocals, intricate guitar lines and tight twists and turns to their music to keep things interesting. Although they sometimes digress into ska tinged lite indie , they clearly have plenty of fans, confidence and, most importantly, tunes.
Next on is Birmingham trio, Sunset Cinema Club. The band fuse together happy-go-lucky pop flare with something a bit harder and grittier to create a fast and enjoyable sound. It has the feeling of not quite being the finished article yet, but if they can grow on what they already have, the future looks bright for Sunset Cinema Club.
With as little rock ‘n’ roll pretension as can be managed (one minute they’re outside for a fag, next they’re sauntering up the stairs and onto the stage) it’s time for the main act. Hot Club instantly start attacking our precious earlobes with their loud, aggressive yet intricate sound. The band’s music is like a complex, weaving brainstorm or crazy paving; insanely fast, fluid bass lines; jerking, spazzy guitar riffs; hard, rolling drums; and over the top, all three members singing, shouting, making pirate noises or doing a capella together.
It’s like a musical minefield that almost doesn’t make sense. With the time shifts and ridiculously complicated song structures, it’s amazing they manage to keep it together. That they do, though, to a glorious result. With the sheer amount going on in Hot Club de Paris’ music, they snatch a heart wrenching melody or the catchiest of hooks from the chaos and hurl it towards the audience.
As is expected by anyone who has seen the band before, the level of onstage banter is always at a high at a Hot Club gig. Providing genuine laughter and actual smiles, the three band members talk about having the Grange Hill theme tune at your funeral and how Skins seems to represent a different generation of youth culture than the one they remember- “I just remember being bullied and having spots…everyone’s dead cool now…is it still cool to say cool?”
The fantastic “Snitches Get Stitches” is played at twice the speed as the recorded version and sparks one of the fist real crowd reactions of the set. Tonight, Hot Club play a nice blend of new and old material, ending on the bloody brilliant “Hey! Housebrick” which takes a melody and chorus with “feel good hit of forever” written all over it and spits more witticisms and fizzy guitars all over it. It’s the perfect ending to a great night of live music and surely Hot Club de Paris will stay firmly in the hearts of anyone who witnesses them live.
www.myspace.com/hotclubdeparis