Oh No Not Stereo [Live] @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London

  

29th January 2009 - supporting All-American Rejects

The first thing I notice about Oh No Not Stereo is that they are a mixed bag of eccentricity and oddity, five musicians are on stage, each one a practical polar opposite of the last. Despite being hailed as a two piece (drummer and lead singer, who write all the music and record), they are convincing as a quintet and it would be hard to spot the second "official" member had you not known beforehand. Front man Skyler Nielsen bursts on stage in a velvet/corduroy blazer two sizes too small, frazzled shoulder length hair, all elbows and knees in hipster boot cut skinny jeans bearing a striking resemblence to our beloved brit Russell Brand. Drummer Mykal Lee looks like a grittier version of your typical yank pretty boy drummer in a pop-punk band with hair sweeping across his face in a wholesome but "rawk" manner. From first impressions, they were unusual but likable.

First song of the set is "All You", a good opener that was a surefire way to draw the young eager crowd in. Having the difficult spot of being the first support act to play of the night, performing arguably their most accessible song first was clearly a good move which lead to a very promising start. This was followed by "Brothers" and then the shouty, "Let's get it started" to the slightly darker, doomier "Hurricane". The band were tight, had great stage presence with their unique aesthetics, and mostly they appeared with full gusto to throw everything they had into the performance; hair falling around in strands of sweat and repetitive crowd interaction proving that were indeed passionate and appreciative.

After the obligatory introduction in honor of "crazy ex's" (yep, every band has a song about it), "Miss Hard Times" was next up and highly entertaining particularly for the random screams the song offered in the vocals; always being partial to a random short, sharp, piercing scream mid song (I’m not talking your dumb ass metal type growl here), I was liking it.

Despite not having heard much of Oh No Not Stereos' music before, the set was flying by and the crowd were still very receptive despite the music taking a decidedly less accessible route for your average All-American Reject fan. They were doing well, and there was even a little mini mosh pit going on amongst the youths on the main floor.

They started to close up their seven song set with "I Can't Say", which was followed by my personal high light and the final song of the night for them, "This Friday Night", to pretty damn good applause bearing in mind they WERE the first support act on, and in comparison to how the floor pracitically emptied when the main support band, The Upwelling, were on, you definately knew who the winners of the night were. Good on the boys, they did well and most certainly gained a few extra fans along the way.

Oh No Not Stereos' set list -