11 bands in one night - 25th Sept 2009
This one nighter was put together by the people that normally run Evol club nights at Korova in Liverpool. Evol have got a pretty decent history of getting the right up-and-coming bands and this mini-festival looked pretty ambitious with an eventual lineup of eleven bands. The venue was Liverpool Academy, which has got a bigger stage upstairs (for tonight, Room 1) and something resembling a bunker downstairs. They don't sell it as Academy 1 and 2 - I've not seen them running both rooms at the same time before. For years I'd only ever been downstairs, believing that's all there was there. It was only recently that I went to see Animal Collective, went in the usual entrance and emerged inside into somewhere completely different. Talk about disoriented, it felt like a sci-fi movie. From previous experience the sound quality is great in that downstairs bunker, one of the best in the North West. There was one last-minute substitution - we lost Indica Ritual but gained Balloons, more of that later.
Organiser Revo Ziganda (actually I suspect that might be a made up name, despite Facebook's rules about that sort of thing) had cunningly arranged the running times so that if you madly ran up and down stairs, you could theoretically see a bit of every single band. In the event I actually saw ten out of the eleven. And improved my running fitness.
The way they had entry to the place set up, it was like a labyrinth. To get downstairs, you had to first climb up stairs like a cliff face to the top of the building then find another set of stairs to descend once more into the bowels. I got lost, found myself wandering backstage, with security thinking I was just blagging it for a laugh.
Upstairs first then, I saw one number by Lightsgoblue. Despite it only being 7.25pm, this thrashy would-be Klaxons two-piece were playing to an already packed crowd of overhyped teenagers with Day-glo wristbands. Forgive me for only staying for one number, they were loud, enthusiastic but not memorable enough to keep me.
Downstairs to room 2. Wow, almost nobody had found downstairs yet, perhaps they were all lost in the backstage breeze block corridors. In comparison to upstairs, there were only a few people, no ADHD teenagers, and my first impression was - this is the arty room. The band already on were Picture Book and they were much more interesting than the two thrashy lads upstairs.
Picture Book are (so they say) Lady Aya, Master ToKo and Lord highOwl. Actually Her Ladyship is aka Greta Svabo Bech and she really is from the Faroe Islands.
Their own Myspace blurb says enough. "Last summer, bored musicians Master ToKo and Lord highOwl decided to embark upon a voyage across Scandinavia in search of something new and exciting! One morning whilst out searching for firewood, they encountered a frail, angelic creature clutching an enchanted book. Silently she showed them the mystical images within, rendering Master ToKo and Lord highOwl instantly under her spell. They named the girl Aya 'The Goddess of the Forest'. She followed them for 3 days and 3 nights, communicating only through song in a language unknown to them. Finding this the most beautiful sound they'd ever witnessed, they agreed to return to their former occupations as music makers and accompany her voice with their creations"
They were completely and utterly fabulous, Aya in some sort of home-made garb, laying dreamy vocals over serious dancey synths and some right pounding percussion, two lots of drums going together at times. Get the violin in there as well interspersed with something that sounds like it comes from the Copacabana - I loved it. Why are we strangers?
I stayed downstairs. In between bands there was a slight invasion into the bar alongside the music space - wandering herds of kids in Hadouken tee-shirts. I got the feeling it might be messy in parts, and referring to my little printout schedule, wrote a note on my hand 'Golden Filter 9.30'. God, I'm organised. You say OCD like it's a bad thing?
Next up were another local band - Hallo I Love You. Thanks for the half price list guys. I've seen them before, at Korova.
That was a very early gig for them and that time around they were full of apologies for some technical issues which, to be honest I had hardly noticed. I felt for them tonight. Everyone that had been in the auditorium for the first band had wandered into the bar area off to one side, so the band were setting up to a completely empty room. Unnerving, I wouldn't have liked it. Anyway they got going and, fair dos, their happy noise dragged people back, pretty quickly conjuring a decent sized crowd out of nothing. There was some sort of philosophical moment when lead singer Robert asked from the stage "What does it mean?" Other more prosaic comments included "Has anyone got a tambourine?" (genuinely, they had forgotten theirs) and "Can you just improvise?" while they had some very slight technical hitch on keyboards. Not that I was making notes or anything. Check them out on MySpace:
Hallo...I Love You! on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
There you will find them sounding all nursery rhyme. Trust me - live they are a lot more rock 'n' roll. They've still got a cheesy organ thing going on sounding at times like the Blackpool Tower ballroom. It's not quite show tunes - maybe house music done on a Wurlitzer might come close? They are pretty aware of this, introducing 'To The Moon And Back' as "possibly the twee-est bit of music you will ever hear in your life". By the time they got to closing number 'Walk Me To The Sea' it was all coming together pretty damn nicely. They've had some decent live experience in the past couple of months and that was showing. I'll certainly check them out again.
9pm, upstairs, Cassette Jam, the rave continues. So many kids with their hands in the air. Still not grabbing me, so back once more into the depths. Room two appears to be my spiritual home for the evening.
Balloons were up next, starting off with the wondrously titled 'I'd Trade It All In For A Hawk'. These were the replacements for Indica Ritual, and whilst they were apparently not that band in disguise, curiously I noted that they were using Indica's keyboards. Balloons keep themselves all mysterious on the interweb, identities hidden as BBC 1 - BBC 2 - ITV - CHANNEL 4 - CHANNEL 5 with T-shirts to match in case they forget their, err, names. They were somewhere between Rolo Tomassi, free-form jazz and good old-fashioned Oi! (No, I'm not just basing that on the haircuts). I wasn't that impressed, and having listened again since, I'm still not.
Just in time to dash back up the stairs, on first name terms now with the security staff. I burst out into the upstairs room to find The Golden Filter in full flow. Yeah! Immediate knock-out. I've had these listed on MySpace for a while but had somehow lost them in amongst the Golden Animals, Golden Silvers, Silver Jews et al. Anyway I've got to tell you that MySpace samples just do not do them justice. There were just two of them on stage, Penelope and Stephen. At least that's what I thought, I eventually spotted a drummer working there as well. Penelope has got huge stage presence. I'm not making comparisons, but if you love the Go!Team and CSS, then there's a good chance that you will get these as well, especially.
The crowd were ripping for them, although half these 14 year-olds with painted faces might have been up for more or less anything. I loved Golden Filter. Penelope's got some sort of magic treacly breathy sound coming out of her and Stephen is, with all due respect, the stage gimp he needs to be for this moment of nu-rave excellence. I watched them till the end of their set and headed back down. The security crew invited me to join their tea kitty, as they were seeing so much of me.
In the downstairs space we now had Screaming Lights. They had some lovely 60s reverb coming off the guitar. I am normally bored pretty quickly by indie-lad vocals but lead singer Jay has an impassioned, engaging delivery, halfway to falsetto at times.
I liked them for the same reason I like Kyte, that same interest in the voice. Unlike Kyte though, these were pretty driving rock music. Definitely one of the best bands of the night, totally arresting onstage.
Which made it all the more of an anti-climax when I yet again climbed the stairs to what was now clearly the rave room. Kissy Sell Out, ever heard of them? I'll tell you all you need to know. Two guys, one playing a key-tar (yes really) and producing some bastard child of Rave and Bounce. Ouch.
They also put me in mind of some German poodle pop 80s thing. I had actually been pretty keen to see them and had wormed my way up to the front. I lasted about 30 seconds, then went and stood near the mixing desk for a couple of songs. I hated them. Unlike this great crowd of kids, some of whom looked maybe 11 or 12, and who were having a whale of a time. Oh well.
Back down the stairs. This time Security invited me to their Christmas do. Headliners for room 2 were Wave Machines. I've only just discovered them before this, and I have liked what I have heard.
Tonight they were good enough, maybe 80%. I might have just been getting jaundiced by now but with the Funk cowbell thing going on, the paper face masks with pictures of their own faces(!), the falsetto as well, I'm afraid they were only just the right side of novelty act. The sound was probably post-ironic, but was actually a bit like a lot of 80s chart bands.
One more band, that being Hadouken. These were pretty damn decent, but seeing as they were headlining the rave formerly known as Academy One, I just had to accept they were not the right band in the right place for me tonight, despite the insane brilliance of M.A.D. I'll gladly and willingly try them again.
Okay so this wasn't a battle of the bands, but I inevitably made comparisons. Complete and utter band of the night for me were The Golden Filter, out of New York and on their first trip to Liverpool. The other big discovery was local band Picture Book (local if you include a girl from the Faroes, but I think Liverpool University might be some sort of connection). These really have got enough going on to maintain more than a passing interest. I think it's called talent. And an honourable mention as well for Hallo I Love You, if only I could stop my other half spending all day singing their signature tune, funnily enough called 'Hallo I Love You'. It sounds all school-choir-chorus and I'm humming that damn twee song of theirs, to the point of distraction. Once again with feeling - 'To The Moon And Back'. I don't know whether to buy your records or give you a kicking, damn you!
Themes of the night? Having two drummers and made up names. What's that? Of course Catshoe is my real name! A huge well done to Revo and the Evol team for getting this together. Some of it I hated, some of it I loved. Some of that which I loved, I had never heard before. That's kind of the point of it. Cheers guys.
Organiser Revo Ziganda (actually I suspect that might be a made up name, despite Facebook's rules about that sort of thing) had cunningly arranged the running times so that if you madly ran up and down stairs, you could theoretically see a bit of every single band. In the event I actually saw ten out of the eleven. And improved my running fitness.
The way they had entry to the place set up, it was like a labyrinth. To get downstairs, you had to first climb up stairs like a cliff face to the top of the building then find another set of stairs to descend once more into the bowels. I got lost, found myself wandering backstage, with security thinking I was just blagging it for a laugh.
Upstairs first then, I saw one number by Lightsgoblue. Despite it only being 7.25pm, this thrashy would-be Klaxons two-piece were playing to an already packed crowd of overhyped teenagers with Day-glo wristbands. Forgive me for only staying for one number, they were loud, enthusiastic but not memorable enough to keep me.
Downstairs to room 2. Wow, almost nobody had found downstairs yet, perhaps they were all lost in the backstage breeze block corridors. In comparison to upstairs, there were only a few people, no ADHD teenagers, and my first impression was - this is the arty room. The band already on were Picture Book and they were much more interesting than the two thrashy lads upstairs.
Picture Book are (so they say) Lady Aya, Master ToKo and Lord highOwl. Actually Her Ladyship is aka Greta Svabo Bech and she really is from the Faroe Islands.
Their own Myspace blurb says enough. "Last summer, bored musicians Master ToKo and Lord highOwl decided to embark upon a voyage across Scandinavia in search of something new and exciting! One morning whilst out searching for firewood, they encountered a frail, angelic creature clutching an enchanted book. Silently she showed them the mystical images within, rendering Master ToKo and Lord highOwl instantly under her spell. They named the girl Aya 'The Goddess of the Forest'. She followed them for 3 days and 3 nights, communicating only through song in a language unknown to them. Finding this the most beautiful sound they'd ever witnessed, they agreed to return to their former occupations as music makers and accompany her voice with their creations"
They were completely and utterly fabulous, Aya in some sort of home-made garb, laying dreamy vocals over serious dancey synths and some right pounding percussion, two lots of drums going together at times. Get the violin in there as well interspersed with something that sounds like it comes from the Copacabana - I loved it. Why are we strangers?
I stayed downstairs. In between bands there was a slight invasion into the bar alongside the music space - wandering herds of kids in Hadouken tee-shirts. I got the feeling it might be messy in parts, and referring to my little printout schedule, wrote a note on my hand 'Golden Filter 9.30'. God, I'm organised. You say OCD like it's a bad thing?
Next up were another local band - Hallo I Love You. Thanks for the half price list guys. I've seen them before, at Korova.
That was a very early gig for them and that time around they were full of apologies for some technical issues which, to be honest I had hardly noticed. I felt for them tonight. Everyone that had been in the auditorium for the first band had wandered into the bar area off to one side, so the band were setting up to a completely empty room. Unnerving, I wouldn't have liked it. Anyway they got going and, fair dos, their happy noise dragged people back, pretty quickly conjuring a decent sized crowd out of nothing. There was some sort of philosophical moment when lead singer Robert asked from the stage "What does it mean?" Other more prosaic comments included "Has anyone got a tambourine?" (genuinely, they had forgotten theirs) and "Can you just improvise?" while they had some very slight technical hitch on keyboards. Not that I was making notes or anything. Check them out on MySpace:
Hallo...I Love You! on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
There you will find them sounding all nursery rhyme. Trust me - live they are a lot more rock 'n' roll. They've still got a cheesy organ thing going on sounding at times like the Blackpool Tower ballroom. It's not quite show tunes - maybe house music done on a Wurlitzer might come close? They are pretty aware of this, introducing 'To The Moon And Back' as "possibly the twee-est bit of music you will ever hear in your life". By the time they got to closing number 'Walk Me To The Sea' it was all coming together pretty damn nicely. They've had some decent live experience in the past couple of months and that was showing. I'll certainly check them out again.
9pm, upstairs, Cassette Jam, the rave continues. So many kids with their hands in the air. Still not grabbing me, so back once more into the depths. Room two appears to be my spiritual home for the evening.
Balloons were up next, starting off with the wondrously titled 'I'd Trade It All In For A Hawk'. These were the replacements for Indica Ritual, and whilst they were apparently not that band in disguise, curiously I noted that they were using Indica's keyboards. Balloons keep themselves all mysterious on the interweb, identities hidden as BBC 1 - BBC 2 - ITV - CHANNEL 4 - CHANNEL 5 with T-shirts to match in case they forget their, err, names. They were somewhere between Rolo Tomassi, free-form jazz and good old-fashioned Oi! (No, I'm not just basing that on the haircuts). I wasn't that impressed, and having listened again since, I'm still not.
Just in time to dash back up the stairs, on first name terms now with the security staff. I burst out into the upstairs room to find The Golden Filter in full flow. Yeah! Immediate knock-out. I've had these listed on MySpace for a while but had somehow lost them in amongst the Golden Animals, Golden Silvers, Silver Jews et al. Anyway I've got to tell you that MySpace samples just do not do them justice. There were just two of them on stage, Penelope and Stephen. At least that's what I thought, I eventually spotted a drummer working there as well. Penelope has got huge stage presence. I'm not making comparisons, but if you love the Go!Team and CSS, then there's a good chance that you will get these as well, especially.
The crowd were ripping for them, although half these 14 year-olds with painted faces might have been up for more or less anything. I loved Golden Filter. Penelope's got some sort of magic treacly breathy sound coming out of her and Stephen is, with all due respect, the stage gimp he needs to be for this moment of nu-rave excellence. I watched them till the end of their set and headed back down. The security crew invited me to join their tea kitty, as they were seeing so much of me.
In the downstairs space we now had Screaming Lights. They had some lovely 60s reverb coming off the guitar. I am normally bored pretty quickly by indie-lad vocals but lead singer Jay has an impassioned, engaging delivery, halfway to falsetto at times.
I liked them for the same reason I like Kyte, that same interest in the voice. Unlike Kyte though, these were pretty driving rock music. Definitely one of the best bands of the night, totally arresting onstage.
Which made it all the more of an anti-climax when I yet again climbed the stairs to what was now clearly the rave room. Kissy Sell Out, ever heard of them? I'll tell you all you need to know. Two guys, one playing a key-tar (yes really) and producing some bastard child of Rave and Bounce. Ouch.
They also put me in mind of some German poodle pop 80s thing. I had actually been pretty keen to see them and had wormed my way up to the front. I lasted about 30 seconds, then went and stood near the mixing desk for a couple of songs. I hated them. Unlike this great crowd of kids, some of whom looked maybe 11 or 12, and who were having a whale of a time. Oh well.
Back down the stairs. This time Security invited me to their Christmas do. Headliners for room 2 were Wave Machines. I've only just discovered them before this, and I have liked what I have heard.
Tonight they were good enough, maybe 80%. I might have just been getting jaundiced by now but with the Funk cowbell thing going on, the paper face masks with pictures of their own faces(!), the falsetto as well, I'm afraid they were only just the right side of novelty act. The sound was probably post-ironic, but was actually a bit like a lot of 80s chart bands.One more band, that being Hadouken. These were pretty damn decent, but seeing as they were headlining the rave formerly known as Academy One, I just had to accept they were not the right band in the right place for me tonight, despite the insane brilliance of M.A.D. I'll gladly and willingly try them again.
Okay so this wasn't a battle of the bands, but I inevitably made comparisons. Complete and utter band of the night for me were The Golden Filter, out of New York and on their first trip to Liverpool. The other big discovery was local band Picture Book (local if you include a girl from the Faroes, but I think Liverpool University might be some sort of connection). These really have got enough going on to maintain more than a passing interest. I think it's called talent. And an honourable mention as well for Hallo I Love You, if only I could stop my other half spending all day singing their signature tune, funnily enough called 'Hallo I Love You'. It sounds all school-choir-chorus and I'm humming that damn twee song of theirs, to the point of distraction. Once again with feeling - 'To The Moon And Back'. I don't know whether to buy your records or give you a kicking, damn you!
Themes of the night? Having two drummers and made up names. What's that? Of course Catshoe is my real name! A huge well done to Revo and the Evol team for getting this together. Some of it I hated, some of it I loved. Some of that which I loved, I had never heard before. That's kind of the point of it. Cheers guys.
