PINBACK @ Brudenell, 30th November 2011

I don't know why I've procrastinated on this one. Well, it wasn't really my fault, I've been trying to write a report due in on the 4th and keep getting distracted by things I do/don't really care too much about. Yep.. the typical student "I'm a procrastinator look at me" bullshit. Anyway, I want to tell you about the Pinback gig. I actually really do want to tell you because I can honestly say it was the best show I have ever been too. Now, taking into account that pinback has been one of my favourite bands since i was about 15 or something, you might say that this is one biased-as-fuck review. And in response to that I say YES!! IT IS BIASED AS FUCKKK!! And rightly so, I reckon pinback is totally worthy of a bit of bias because they fucking destroyed the brudenell on the 30th, and if you ask anyone in the audience (besides the guy who complained to me about my dancing) they would most definitely agree with me.

JP inc giving the news report

 

First off, I got there a little late because Sainsbury's sucks at providing accessible money, so I skip in halfway through "JP incorporated”.. ahahahahhahaahha... it was hilarious, partly due to me having just arrived, and partly due to never seeing anything like it before. Picture this; a guy on stage with a fake grey beard doing jerky robot dance moves to cheesy keyboard rock singing TV jingles about such topics as strangers having the best candy, THE INTERNET, the usefulness of Steves and one of my favourites, bowl noodle hot japanese instant noodles. It was like watching a youtube video in real life. Check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIaRb3OJWjU&feature=related, its definitely funnier to see it in person though because you don't know what the fuck is going on, and neither does anybody else.

I met a girl at the front who ended up becoming my pinback buddy for the evening which was rad, I've never been able to closely share a band like pinback with anyone besides my brother, so to meet a normal functioning human being who knew the words to the songs I did was quite exceptional. Too bad she doesn't like stalkers. The first song they played was Tres.. and it was all go from there. The moment those soft undulating piano keys fell on my head my mouth dropped. The emotion I felt from seeing/hearing them in the flesh was overwhelming, my hands cupped over my mouth like a preteen girl getting wet over the Jonas Brothers, my mouth gaping wide in uncontrollable glee. If only Pinback shot their hot white foam over our faces....

"its all right now.. come closer.. talk to me"... those words emanating inside me as the song ends and they continue on into a beautifully organised array of tracks encompassing all eras of their music, from the newest "Autumn of Seraphs" to the oldest "Pinback CD", played in a sporadic order so none of us could guess what to expect next.

 

Sweeeet

 

The girl I was with wanted to hear ‘Penelope’, and Penelope she got. By fuck she got it good. The drumming was a lot more intense, forcing me to dance even harder than I had anticipated, much to the dismay of one guy behind me who explained that my head rocking almost knocked his glasses off twice. Part of me felt bad, but part of me simply wanted to tell him to chill the fuck out. For one thing I was standing jammed at the front, if I had walked a couple of steps forward I would’ve been dry fucking the stage. And secondly, I have wanted to see this band for so long that I honestly didn't want to control myself. I used to look scornfully at those in the audience who seem to be going 'overboard' at shows, but in those moments I was too selfish to realise how music can affect people in ways which don't have explanations or justifications besides the fact that music is a powerful powerful thing. I think it was during one of their newer songs, maybe 'Devil you Know', when I my hair was fluffed angrily by the unhappy musicgoer. So what the fuck was I supposed to do about it? Suppress my feelings of overwhelming joy? Fuck that.

Zack... duh

I have also come to realise how talented Zack, the bassist, really is. Not only does he play extremely tech riffs, off-beat and confusing and fuck, but he manages to sing perfectly in time and pitch as well. Halfway through a song one of his bass strings broke, which I later stuffed in my back pocket. Thanks Zack, my super wall looks alternative now

aww yeeah

It was around two-thirds through the set that I really stopped caring about the people around me and their non-existent judgements, and during the best song of the night: Prog. This was my first Pinback song ever, from one of my favourite skate videos of all time; Transworld's 'In Bloom', which my brother showed me in 2003 or something. Obviously this song held a lot of meaning for me so it made sense to go fucking nuts. From afar the verse and chorus seem so different, but when you put them together in complete song they become so beautifully complementary. The verses acting as one big suspense builder, then the first chorus just a light drop of sugar on the tongue to keep you wanting more before skipping back to the verse. And then, the ultimate chorus of all time. The guitar riff, setting the most positive, uplifting vibe as lead singer Rob's awesomely held notes carry my vocal chords up and up whilst the drums continue getting louder and louder. The state of euphoria was unbelievable, I was on the verge of tears but I just kept jumping up and down, up and down. All the while screaming "keep that loveee, rightt theeeeerrreeeeee".. fucking awesomeeeee! I now know my lyrics are wrong but they sound right when you’re yelling.

Other highlights included Fortress, where Rob simply dropped the guitar, picked up the mic and MC’d whilst Zack started busting out some discoey keyboard rhythms. The few times I glanced around the crowd I got some really happy vibes, everyone was bopping and I felt like they had a real appreciation for the music. Rob fell into the crowd and had a little wonder around to check it out too.

The crowd during Fortress

They ended on a killer encore which included around 3 songs, in particular AFK, one of their more aggressive songs which sent electric jolts down my spine and another hot filthy wave of sweat out of my glands. Considering how long they have been playing for, and all the potential dangers time can have on your vocal chords/enthusiasm, every song sounded as good, if not better than on their studio albums.

I realise this is a really long piece but whatever... I'm just happy to be sharing it. If you go see a band you love in future just go wild and fuck what anyone else thinks, the band could die tomorrow in a horrible bus crash or sink on their ferry to Ireland so you might as well enjoy them to the full while you still can.

Zack me and Rob.. stokeddd!

Listen to some pinback:
Prog
Loro
Concrete Seconds
Good to Sea

Dick Venom & the Terrortones, X Ray Cat Trio and Black Moth @ Milo, 28th October 2011

Reeling from the stench of some girl's privates

Tonight I got drunk and went to see Black Moth play at Milo with my good friend "Chris", if that is his real name. The moment we pulled up at the bar the floor was taken by a group of 4, the lead singer dressed as a bloody bride, his waxed up mohawk cradled by dried beans, the bassist wearing flexy shiney black stretch pants and a guitar that seemed to be made out of futuristic dildos, a lankey guitarist painted up like a monochrome scarecrow and a drummer dressed as a normal person. We couldn't have asked for a better way to start the night. I don't know the name of the band, and I don't think I ever will, but they still killed it. The singer was all over the place, leaning into people, sticking his head up girl's crotches.. he was a real pioneer. The chaotic sloppiness of their sound greatly complimented my level of drunkenness, if not heightening it a little. I just checked the internet; the band was called Dick Venom and the Terrortones. Explains a lot… especially the bass guitar.

Boner vision

Me and "Chris" went around the corner and bought some cheap beers, sat and discussed some shit, then proceeded to check out the second band, evidently called X Ray Cat Trio. Their sound was very rockabilly, and when I noticed the guy going wild on a double bass my enthusiasm exploded. Their sound made me want to get up and hoe down, so thats what I did. For some of their songs anyway. I was buzzing at this point so a fast snare drum and jumping bassline was fuckin perfect, along with some semi-serious sideburns. One thing that came to grow on me about the venue was the closeness between the audience and band, we were on exactly the same level, and the space was so cramped that they were literally playing/singing in our faces. They played a cover of a sam barrett song which went down so well, it fit the vibe well, and it was awesome to sing that particular song at the running pace set by the drums and bass. I was busting to piss by the last song, apparently it was amazing and included a ridiculous bass solo but I missed it as I was too busy releasing urine from my bladder.

XRCT et al., 2011

I have to mention, during XRCT’s set a cop van pulled up outside to cart away a crazed shirtless dude who according to a friend is a local to many rock shows here in leeds and is often one to get in insane fights, so to pass the time whilst Black Moth set up I imagined how fucked up I would get were I to pick a fight with him. It was pretty one-sided, and picturing the image of his over-tensed neck tendons, intimidating tattoos and bulging eyeballs kind of scared me into submission from the beginning. It wasn’t that great of a daydream to be honest. Part of the fun of that night was watching him approach girls, first grabbing their asses and then when they turn around simply staring at them with his tongue lolling out. That guy's got serious guts! I bet when he does pull a girl its like WWE wrestling but naked, and with better intro music.

Black Moth came on with that song I've heard them play before which always gets me in the mood; the chorus is so intense, the bass and guitar fall down down down downnn, and her singing catches it delicately and then flings it back down again, deep into the chasm of mothy darkness. Black Moth girl was seductive as usual, and judging by the guys at the front checking her out I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt this way. I was bummed about the speaker setup though as I couldn't hear her singing very well over the instruments. The solos and riffs were all on point as usual, really dark and menacing. These guys always kill it in the instrumental department, I just fucking wish I could've jumped around as much as in Santiago's a while back...

This is what English girls look like without fake-tan

Despite the distortion of her voice I still got the gist of every song, and they still managed to get me moving a decent amount. All I wanted was to sway around and get people shoving and jumping, maybe feel the refreshing swash of beer down my neck as I bump into the unsuspecting girlfriend of a bystander, but the venue wasn't right for it. The band space was right at the door, so people were constantly passing back and forth, and it was quite a narrow space to move around in. But then again, I was being a bit of a pussy that night so that’s mainly to blame. On the plus side, I did get a nice old tap on the shoulder and a condescending warning not to move around too much so all in all I would consider it a success.

But she's still hot

"Hallow be thy ween"

Chris's Corner: Emmy the Great @ The Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 9th October 2011.

Here we go shitheads! Probably one of the best show reviews I've ever read: adding a master of a piece to his growing collection, homie Chris recollects a "nice" night out at the Brudenell featuring Emmy The Great:

We were sat in the cafe at the end of our street listening to avante garde jazz played by fantastic musicians in white turtlenecks when we decided to go and see Emmy the Great. Rachna had been umming and ahhing because she wanted to go and see another gig next week and couldn’t afford both, but she decided to come with me. We put the chess sets and dominoes away and slinked out as best we could, trying not to catch anyone on the waiting staffs eye due to guilt about having sat there for an hour without ordering anything. Ben and Serbia headed into town, and Rachna and I started off for the Brudenell, discussing whether we’d rather be stabbed multiple times by a smelly old man and then pissed upon till we croaked, or die peacefully asleep in bed one sunny Sunday morn but live five years fewer. It was a real philosophical debate I can tell you and it kept us occupied with hypotheticals and pontifications all the way there.
 

I had sort of wanted to see Emmy the Great play since I saw she was coming to Leeds a few weeks ago, but I had harboured a small doubt that she might be disappointing, and that £12.50 was a little too much to gamble in order to find out. I mean, if she was a horse, the odds wouldn’t be favourable. I’d put two pounds each way maybe. Anyway, the girl at the entrance asked for £15. Fuck! I looked at Rachna and I think I muttered something about it being ‘rather expensive’ that made me sound like an old man, but we paid our money and went inside. I had to buy a beer to get over the damage to my wallet. I had given the girl twenty quid and she hadn’t even had the decency to pay me back a fiver, just five heavy pound coins, each one sitting in my pocket and weighing me down, having a good time at my expense. 

Then we went and found a place to stand by the edge of the stage. There was quite a lot of people to be honest: ranked out of all the times I’ve been to the Brudenell it was up there in a category I call ‘fairly busy’. There was a bit of sound-checking, and then Emmy stepped on stage, by herself. I knew she was good looking before but wow, if I was from London then I would describe her as ‘buff ting’ or ‘peng’ or something appropriate like that. She was pretty much beautiful. She looked around the room a bit, finger picked a C chord for a few seconds on a large glittery hollow-body electric, fiddled with a few knobs and then began. She has a great voice and I know she writes lyrics which are shockingly good at times, but I couldn’t really connect with this first song. Halfway through, in a break in the singing she looked around the crowd and definitely looked at me for about three quarters of a second, maybe more! The look she gave me was probably more disdain than desire, but it set my imagination of down a chain of events where she comes back to my place and has a threesome with me and my guitar. I didn’t even realise the first song was over, I was too busy inspecting her flawless jaw line and wondering how much further forward I might have to shuffle in order to get a glimpse up her skirt.

 In all seriousness the lyrics were a little too distant for me to relate to in that first song. Something about shivah, and an elephants head got mentioned too. Then her band came onstage, and they played about eight or nine songs, the majority of which were off her second album which I haven’t heard. To be honest, it was all a bit nice and poppy-folky. The drum beat and bass gave a great rhythm to the songs that led to me finding myself just nodding my head and not paying much attention to the words that were being sung. It was easy listening, and it always sounded good, but it was just a bit bland and lacking in edge for me. The lyrics and solo acoustic guitar work were what I had really wanted to hear. 

Then the guitarist and drummer left the stage and they announced the last song which involved Emmy singing while accompanied by emotional keyboard and a bit of sporadic bass. It was nice but it meant nothing to me. Then they left, and after a few shouts for encore Emmy came back on and started taking requests. This was by far the best bit of the evening. We got to hear four more songs, among them ‘Canopies and Drapes’ featuring lyrics like:

 Later on me and a bottle will hook up to have some fun
Then I'll call your house at twelve to let you know that I'm drunk
Say I'm sorry Mr C, I was just looking for your son
How are you, incidentally, do you know if he's out alone?
There is this book he lent to me something like seven months ago
I'm gonna burn it in the street be so kind as let him know

So overall, it was nice, but I think that words sums it up entirely. It was only nice and not much else. It was like having a chocolate hobnob and a cup of tea whilst checking your emails and putting on your favourite pair of socks; nice, yet plainly lacking.

Brudenell take heed: I feel that instead of £15, £7 would be a fair price to pay if I was to consider attending another of her gigs and eye fucking her again.

Blacklisters @ Nation, 1st October 2011

So I can safely say I finally experienced a pit at a Blacklisters show. Well… yeah fuck it, I would call it a pit. And to top it off I actually initiated it. Ignore any hints of self-centeredness in that sentence because I did it out of pure frustration. Normally I prefer to dance my own way and hope someone else has the balls to make that big jump into the mass to create the spark which lights up the pit for the rest of the show, but this time it wasn’t going to happen, and I just couldn't hack being surrounded by mannequins unwilling to lose a drop of their 3/4 full pints of beer. Although Billy (BL singer) did slop his way into the crowd a couple times whilst on his usual possessed ramblings, it didn't seem to be enough to get people REALLY moving, and as soon as he moved back onto the stage the shoving stopped. 

Talons presenting some crazy violin moshing

It was around 3 or 4 songs in, I think during OK47, when I decided to jump on the guy in the middle wearing a BL t-shirt - I figured he of all people would be most understanding of my actions. And fortunately, he was! The running basslines built the tension so fucking well, and when the screaming garbles of nothing are thrown on top it mixed with ejaculations of cymbal and screeching guitars it stirs something uncontrollable within me. At one stage there were about 4 of us tangled in a swaying bunch, tripping over the guitar pedals, smashing glasses and knocking shit over. It felt good, really really good. I was so sick of keeping things bottled in, I wanted to let it the fuck out and the music was so right for it. When we all fell on the ground I hit my head pretty hard but it didn't phase me, I kind of wanted more, so on the way home I picked fights with anyone who looked at me, especially girls in mini-skirts and stilettos (THEY LAV A GOOD FOIGHT!) and then I downed a couple of WKD’s and smashed the bottle over my eyeballs.  

It’s a shame BL doesn't get on the hardcore/punk circuit, I'd kill to see the band playing to an entire audience going ballistic, as I'm sure the band would too. I know for a fact that fans of BL really love the music, I just get the impression they are just too afraid to express it physically. Take what you will from that, but when I'm hearing Billy scream combined with those evil, twisted guitar/bass riffs and pounding drums I can't control myself anymore. And there's no way in fuck that I'm the only one there who feels that. No way. I think it’s mostly to do with the locations and nights they play at, take the Brudenell for example, most times I’ve seen them there the audience isn’t really a heavy, loud crowd so a pit never materialises. To be honest if I hadn't jumped into the front line like I did I don't think much else would have happened, call me egoistic but I know from past experiences it would've been tame as fuck. The only times people went uncontrollable were when I flung myself into them, there were even a couple of moments when I had the entire front space to myself. But despite my bitching I loved every moment of that show; the energy was there although it did need a little coaxing, and a certain few people really let some shit out. But hey, maybe I'm wrong and no-one out there wants to start a pit. If that’s the case, then all the more reason for BL to give the Leeds grind/hardcore/punk scene a shot. If you're unsure of what I'm talking about check out collective zine http://www.collective-zine.co.uk/cboard/.

And so they ended their set on trickfuck, always a good way to end it. Everyone at the front became one big sweaty orgy of yells, sweat and t-shirts, and my ears were still ringing 24 hours later.

Yes, you are just a trick fuck

The two other bands that played that night were really good too, normally I would write more but I've already written a load and can't really be fucked.. Check out their myspaces though: 

David's Lyre:

http://www.myspace.com/thisisdavidslyre

They were a nice and warm group with some solid drum beats and well blended guitar/synth riffs. The singer had a pretty resonating voice, and I had a pretty comfortable chair so I was loving it.

Talons:

http://www.myspace.com/gotalons

A group of what I assume to be students played some insanely theatrical instrumental madness, which at times reminded me of stuff like Children of Bodom, just less carcinogenic. The two violins were a really good addition, without them it wouldn't have sounded as impressive, and the fact that you could hear them through the ridiculously fast drumming and guitars was awesome. More props to the drummer, that guy was a serious machine. Haven't seen drumming that intense since the wildlife fest.

We destroyed that glass

And then the guitarist got mad at us and went home

Oh, and here's a link to some BL music: http://soundcloud.com/blacklisters/sets

HYPE! Pinback @ Brudenell on 30th of November!!

I've been waiting for this day for a longgg time....

 Tickets are 11 dollarydoos from those record stores in town. go go go!

Tera Melos, Tangled Hair & Iveree @ The Cooler, Bristol. 8th June 2011

I've been a pretty strong supporter of Tera Melos for a while, but having said that it feels like quite an overstatement as I have only really listened to 1 of 8 releases, that being the Drugs to the Dear Youth EP which I had on repeat for about two weeks after downloading acquiring it. Listening to 'A spoonful of slurry' and '40 rods to the hogs head' would send me into fits in my chair, my fingers would get tense as if I was being tazed, I couldn't picture how nuts I would go if I got to see them live.

Me and my friend Martin (who was putting me up for the week) got to the venue a little early so after a street beer we came back in to find a young band by the name of Iveree playing surrounded by a shitload of hot girls. It was so confusing; I didn't know hot girls were into math-rock! Fuck yeah!

The band, to be honest, sounded mediocre. I think in time they would improve but at the moment their sound is still a little under-developed. They played mostly indie music, with some pretty cool tapping riffs every so often. There were moments when the harmonies between instruments really shone, however the singing was lacking in presence. His voice was often hard to understand over the instruments and I feel like he sounded too over-emphatic at times. Combining that with a posh English twang turns me off, reminding me too much of the singer from the Kooks. That being said they weren't a terrible band; I think the singer just needs to try a little less.

We went and grabbed another beer afterwards and came back in to find less hot girls and a band called Tangled Hair on the stage. It all started making sense to me... but at the same time it didn't, why would they pay 8 pounds to see the opener and leave? Whatever… I could tell from the start that the band was something special. Their sound was quite indie but with some really tasty interspersed mathy instrumentals, and the drummer was full of random anecdotes and words to fill the museum silence between songs. The singer/drummer had a really unique voice, quite soft but he could hit some really high notes. More about the instrumental sections: fuck they were awesome, it was a perfect relationship between the drums and guitars as they rose and fell in alternating patterns, adding a post-rocky vibe to some songs. Listen to “Campfires” on their bandcamp and you’ll know what I mean. Though I didn’t know any of their songs they were really easy to dance to. I'm quite disappointed we only got to see the last half of their set, but as they're an up-and-coming band I'm sure they'll come up to Leeds at some point. I fuckin hope they do anyway.

One more street beer later we were back in the Cooler for Tera fuckin Melos. My excitement was reaching tipping point by now; the moment of ecstasy was finally going to arrive…

As it turned out they only played one song that I knew (more about that later), delving more into their new album and tracks which included singing; something quite unfamiliar to my knowledge of TM, but it really worked for some songs. One in particular was ‘The Surf Skin’, the vocals and guitar riffs played together nicely and the song kept coming back to me several weeks after the show despite never having heard the song before. I guess in TM’s case they use their voices as instruments more than word-producing holes, as I didn’t grasp a single word the entire set.

A lot of their songs were of really epic proportions, almost too epic for the sound system as at times the noises became a jumbled mess of CHRRRRRRRAARRRRR which was so overwhelming; all I could do was stand there and take it in. When I could hear the notes hit though, fuck it felt gooood.

Having reminisced more about that night I’ve come to realise that they were unbelievable, and I’m referring to the whole set here - the fact that they managed to last so long in that stuffy venue and maintain the stamina to pull off every song with such force, velocity and accuracy. There was a period when the guitarist was so absorbed by his crazy-ass riffs that he started jolting up and down as if nuts were hooked up to a car battery, his sweat shooting off his fringe like a water sprinkler.

The highlight of the night for me was when they played their final song, off the Drugs to Dear Youth EP. When he mentioned the word ‘old’ my heart jumped. I had been waiting for this moment for so long, I was caught unawares and had to spring my legs into action. After one of the members left the stage the shred began to commence. The guitar tapped its way in and that bass pedal hit just when I expected. It wasn’t… it couldn’t be… YES, it was!!! 40 RODS TO THE HOGSHEAD MOTHERFUCKER!!! I was so happy, I started running on the spot, I don’t even know what the fuck I was doing but it felt so good, the drummer was rolling all over his tom-toms, the guitarist was dipping his feet in and out and the bass continued to twirl its way around and around tying the chaotic mess up in a neat little ball. I really couldn’t contain myself. There is one part of the song that really kills me (around 5.30 minutes), it feels like I'm standing under a waterfall, fuck the poetic meanings, it really feels like a waterfall over me. The whole song builds up to this overwhelming wash of pure golden sound, and then all of a sudden it cuts back to sprinting pace. Just like that. Fuck.. It was one of the most blissful 30 seconds of my life. I felt like a douche afterwards for only going mental when they played a song I could recognise but fuck it. It was so good.

The night was an overall success, for sure. Even Martin enjoyed it which is cool considering he’s not really into that kind of music, and to see TM is like going from zero to 60. The only downside for me was that they didn’t play a lot of their old songs, but when he mentioned that they made those songs about 8 years ago I sympathised a little more, no matter how awesome the song it would get pretty stale having to play it continuously for 8 years. I’m pretty sure everyone who came crashed the fuck out the moment they got home, it was so exhausting. I just want to thank them for playing a song off the drugs to dear youth, it totally rekindled my joy of music-induced epilepsy.

Check out their online music listening platformorators:

Tangled Hair: http://tangledhair.bandcamp.com/

Iveree: http://www.myspace.com/ivereeuk 

Tera Melos: http://teramelos.bandcamp.com/

Pale Man Made, The Union Choir and Blood Oranges @ Packhorse, 14th May

Went to the Packhorse for a show on the 14th, tried calling some people up but thankfully no-one responded so I went on my own. I wasn't really feeling like hanging out with people I know, I wanted to simply be alone and listen to some music, so it's quite contradictory for me to have called people up but it was more like a polite thing to do so if anyone got upset I could at least say "yeah but I called you up"... real sneaky. I've noticed how there seems to be a stigma regarding going to shows alone - as if it were a waste of time or just a strange thing for a person to do, but some of the best shows I've seen were when I was alone. Take Birthmark or example. No unneccessary need to start conversations, no uneasiness about whether or not your friends are having a good time, just simply enjoying the music and doing whatever you feel like doing... Don't take me wrong, its awesome to see a band with friends, but sometimes it's nice to have the band all to yourself.

The bands were fuckin sick that night. The lineup included 2 bands from Newcastle (Pale Man Made, The Union Choir) and a band of local students (Blood Oranges).
Pale Man Made was probably my favourite performance of the evening, I showed up around halfway through their set. Their sound was kind of indie mixed with some lo-fi elements, so at times it was upbeat and at others quite emotional. Their sound actually at times reminded me of my ex-girlfriend. Not really a particular memory as such, but just a really strong feeling - you know what I mean? Don't mean to sound depressing, thats just how I felt at the time. They had a really experienced sound, I could tell they'd been playing for a while, and the bassists fingers were so damn stretchy.. I bet she could palm a basketball as if it were an apple. Pretty much every song was amazing, it just sucked I didn't know any of the words because they would've been so fun to sing along to. I pictured being on a big 60s dancefloor with everyone just swaying and spinning around. But I was at a live show so I had to be content just bouncing around a bit. The guy and girl singing took turns, the girl sounded really mellow and warm, the guy was more edgy and loud, so they blended together nicely. I ended up buying their old album - check it out if you get the chance, its pretty sick. Quite melancholy, their set seemed quite lively in comparison, I think they were playing a lot of their newer stuff.

I met a dude named Aaron after that set, real funny guy just gettin drunk and yelling stupid shit at the bands and gettin them hyped. Shows need more people like him, it definitely eases any awkward tension.

Union choir came on next, Aaron made a pretty accurate judgement about the band after the first 30 seconds, that all the additional instruments (the cello, the violin and sax) were there just for show. For the first 3 songs that was definitely the case, with most of the emphasis being put on the guitar, bass and keyboard, but as their set progressed their songs gradually improved and each instrument played more of a noticebale role.. Except for the cello - which kinda sucked to be honest. A nice deep cello note would have been perfect for some songs. I think her pick ups weren't working great that night. The band was more melodical than Pale Man, and the singers voice seemed a bit exaggerated at times. Overall it was alright. There were a couple of moments where the harmony between instruments really hit me deep, but overall Pale Man was more for me.

Blood oranges came on last, they all got on stage and from the moment the lead singer/peter griffin lookalike started speaking I just felt so happy. They all radiated really positive energy and it came through in their music. It was the funnest set of the night, if not the funnest I've had since seeing Reverend Peyton or The Afternoon Gents. They came on wearing pictures of the dudes from BLU around their necks, in honor of their glorious performance at the eurovision contest, and the lead singer was funny as fuck. Their sound was of indie-pop bordering pop-punk, really upbeat, quite fast paced and to do with love, relationships and stuff like that. The girl on keyboard had a cool voice, cutesy but not sickly, it complemented the guy's voice really well. The fact that the singing was shared between genders gave a much deeper meaning to each song, like a story being told from either perspective of an ending relationship. The bassist was pretty cool, stuck to simple riffs which was perfect for their music - I respect bassists that can do that, whenever I play I often get really bored and try to get all technical and just end up fucking it up. She was also pretty sexy. The drumming was intense, reallllly fast and really on time, like pop punk with 2 extra beats per second. Towards the end they handed round some fruity champagne to comemorate their boys BLU, that was pretty awesome.. I was pretty dehydrated so it went to my head pretty quick.

Awesome show, I was getting stir-crazy from revising and sick of watching porn out of boredom so seeing these bands was exactly what I needed... Pale man and Blood oranges do shows quite often so check them out if you get the chance!

Myspaces
Pale Man Made
The Union Choir
Blood Oranges