Review by Catshoe - Photos by Cristina M

"What DID just happen there?"
"We danced a little bit!"

Two giggling lads of about 20, chattering loudly and excitedly in the corridor outside the toilets. They have beautifully gelled hair, just the right super cool clothes, and have been quite happy to let it all hang out, have fun and not give a toss about keeping up image. That's the kind of effect that Flamboyant Bella have had tonight, at least later on when things have got properly warmed up and rowdy. The fact that the band shorten the name to Flambo says a lot, they give the impression that they despise and spit on airs and graces. Their accents are pure Herts heartland. Hitchin to be precise, although tonight they are upstairs at the Garage in Highbury.

The small venue suits them, being up close and personal with THEIR people. I'm not going to surmise too much about who THEIR people are, despite my preconceptions. While I was waiting outside for my partner in crime, I was quite surprised at the age mix going in. I didn't even suffer the indignity of being the oldest there. What I did suffer was confusion. You see I'd made the mistake of listening to their recorded output on MySpace, most of which I pretty damn liked and admired. So there I was, expecting some bastard offspring of Los Campesinos and Kate Nash. What we got, rather than my expected nu-folk with a touch of twee, was a full-on onslaught in the spirit of home-made disco pop looking for a night out in the nearest maxi twin nightclub. You'll know the one I mean, on the shopping precinct by Frankie and Benny's, with the laser pointed to the sky.

In fact, take back everything I said about what I was expecting, and I'll use them as their own comparator. Recorded they range from the twee-ness of "Abbi" to that raucous paean to teenage drunkeness "Absolutely Wankered," the latter sounding exactly like it must with that name. They span so wide, it sounds like two completely different bands, and in fairness, that's not such a bad thing. If you're going to see Flambo live, be more prepared than me and expect the starting point somewhere round the delivery style of "Wankered," and for it to get more and more, err, wankered in pretty short order. If this makes sense and won't get me punched, it was a Vauxhall Nova, custom paint, alloys and a Kenwood sticker. Loud and clattery with it, I'm not knocking it, great stuff in its own way, and proud of itself.

Despite the fairly mixed audience, it was the first three rows, yup, that's where the teenage boys and girls were, getting a decent bit of mosh going. But still being nice kids, y'know? Politely letting Miss M grub through to the front with the camera and not, like, slam dancing or doing anything too dangerous or preposterous. Well, not yet anyway.

Flo, front-woman resplendent in a spray on stripy disco minidress, stopped at one point to tell us that they'd been looking forward to this gig for just so long. Then when it came to it, she'd been under the weather just when she didn't need it, sore throat and all that. But here and now, she'd decided "fuck it, let's just go for it, let's destroy it." And being brutally honest, that's sort of indicative of how the gig went. Good enough up to that point, enjoyable but not brilliant, then from there on in, it just stepped up. By the time we got to the end, we had a one woman stage invasion, who having got there didn't look too sure. She half got down off the stage, back up again, and then stood between Flo and James enjoying her moment in the limelight till the end. The rest of the front of the audience also got quite wild for this Monday night venue, kids on each others back, hollering and whooping till it finished.

No encore, Flo declaring that was just too pretentious and poncy.

They are nothing if not genuine, and that was shown by the way they behaved when they put down their instruments, straight off stage and into the audience, chatting, having photos taken, selling 'the world's first frisbee single' and just being there

I've made them come off sounding just a bit ... not tame ... fundamentally nice. That's so English? I'd love to see Flambo pull a much bigger audience, maybe grab a support slot for someone like Blood Red Shoes, and see just how wild they can get with a big crowd. I've got the feeling they could make it lairy. And that would be real fun, to see that critical mass building


The band are James McBreen (vocals, guitars, synths), Flo Kirton (vocals, guitar), Mitch Rose (bass), "Doreen" Rose (drums)

Flamboyant Bella on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads