Thursday 6th November: A weekend of standby for me, together with location and general busy-ness for the others meant that it was going to be impossible for all of us to meet up this week. The others were going out on Friday night at least and you can see a review of their trip to the Duchess by clicking the link on my Blog roll. Not wanting to miss out on live music for another weekend I took a late decision to make my own way to the Duchess to see a couple of bands that I already knew I liked.
The evening didn't start well, however, when Dead Rebellion took to the stage. Rock-style drumming with some sort of small keyboard-type thingy and hip-hop lyrics - not my cup of tea at all, to be honest. I lost interest very early in the first song when I realised that the lyrics were shouted, repetitive and completely unintelligible. The latter may not have been the band's fault - the sound (especially the bass) was up so loud that not only were my clothes vibrating but, I suspect, so was my wardrobe back home. Frankly, the thirty minute set felt a lot longer but that was probably just my prejudice against this genre of music.
Second on stage were The Runaway Sons. This is the third time I've seen them and they seem to get better every time. This time they only had a thirty minute set and, unlike Dead Rebellion, that wasn't long enough. Most of the set was familiar songs although, towards the end, I thought they played one or two new ones (or, at least, new to me). As usual, the playing was excellent - these guys have a really good stage presence - and this time they seemed to be a bit more comfortable talking to the audience between songs. Most noticeable, however, was the fact that Jim Gipson has had his hair cut and is no longer a Suzi Quatro look-a-like.
Finally, tonight's "head"-line act - the appropriately named The Hair. Last time we saw these guys, they were supporting Hope&Social at Fibbers. Since, then, they have been propelled to the big time by supporting the Kaiser Chiefs on their recent tour. Again, a lot of their infectious pop/rock/alternative tunes were familiar from the last time but, being a longer set, they also played new ones and there wasn't a duff song amongst them. These guys seem to really enjoy performing and are definitely developing their own style. By this time I had met up with another colleague and he admitted that, while he didn't know what to expect from this band, he really enjoyed them. Unfortunately, their forty-five minute set (including two song encore) was over much too soon, ending with each member of the band (except the drummer) in turn eschewing his own instrument in favour of bashing a cymbal. A good end to a really good set. Hopefully they'll be back soon.
Showing posts with label The Hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Hair. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Monday, 9 June 2008
Hoping for a good night out
Friday 6th April: ...and my first musical night out for nearly a month sees us on a visit to Fibbers to see a well-liked band and encounter some new pleasures.
First up was Dan Torres (or on MySpace). Dan is an indie/alt rock (these days, who isn't?) singer/songwriter from New York and was appearing with percussionist Ryan Vaughn, also from New York, who sat on and played what seemed to be a plywood box (along with a single cymbal and an array of other instruments laid out in front of him). His semi-manic style was a complete contrast to Dan's easy-going one and the latter treated us to an excellent acoustic set. With a voice which was vaguely reminiscent of Coldplay's Chris Martin, a good rapport with an admittedly small audience and some terrific vocals during a selection of songs just different from each other to be interesting, this was a very good start to the evening.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we actually turned up halfway through this set. However, what we did see impressed me enough to spend money on Dan's 2006 album, Where I Stand. So far, I've only had a chance to listen to it once (and not very closely) but it is very different from his live act, being recorded with a full band - Dan tells me that coming across from New York wasn't easy with just one extra musician... Hopefully, I will post a full review soon.
Tonight's second act was The Hair, from York. This four-piece played their instruments hard and surprisingly well for such a young band. If I had one criticism it would be that they really need a lyricist. While the vocals were good and the songs catchy, the lyrics were a tad too repetitive for me - along the lines of too little verse and too much chorus. The band had an excellent stage-presence, however, and seemed to enjoy their set, not looking the least bit nervous. Extra points were gained by lead-singer Sam Robson's embarrassing-under-any-other-circumstances Dad-dancing and the use of a skateboard as a shelf above Neil Clark's keyboards.
To say that The Hair were my least favourite act of the night just shows the quality of the other two. I even contemplated a second trip to the merchandise desk until I found out that the CD on sale was just a single.
Finally, the band we had paid our money to see, sort of...
Four Day Hombre have changed their name to Hope&Social, to mark the release of some new material. Being honest, I don't see the point but, then, I'm not part of the band and I don't have a lot of history with them. Part of the reason they give is that their music has a new feel and a new way of playing. Being honest, I was surprised the first time I saw them that they sounded so different live to how they sounded recorded and, from this gig, the new stuff didn't seem too much different to the old stuff. There wasn't much of a new look, either, with Simon Wainwright wearing the same style of cowboy shirt and Rich Huxley wearing, I think, the same shirt as the last time I saw them.
They are still a very polished band who, on the basis of the two gigs I have seen, deserve to be playing bigger and better venues than Fibbers. (With an upcoming gig at York's soon to be opened Duchess, the bigger will definitely be covered. Better is looking good but remains to be proved.) They obviously enjoy playing together, peppering their set with a good dose of humour both between themselves and as banter with the audience (this time culminating with somebody, who shall remain nameless, shouting abuse at Simon after he dissed Leeds United). I don't think I've ever laughed so much at a gig as I have done the two times I have seen this lot.
Tonight the music was little short of brilliant, with special mention to Heaven Falls and Daylight Came, two tracks from the new EP which sounded absolutely stunning live.
To sum up, tonight was an absolutely top-class evening, much better than recent visits to Fibbers and head-and-shoulders above the array of cover bands that we have seen recently.
First up was Dan Torres (or on MySpace). Dan is an indie/alt rock (these days, who isn't?) singer/songwriter from New York and was appearing with percussionist Ryan Vaughn, also from New York, who sat on and played what seemed to be a plywood box (along with a single cymbal and an array of other instruments laid out in front of him). His semi-manic style was a complete contrast to Dan's easy-going one and the latter treated us to an excellent acoustic set. With a voice which was vaguely reminiscent of Coldplay's Chris Martin, a good rapport with an admittedly small audience and some terrific vocals during a selection of songs just different from each other to be interesting, this was a very good start to the evening.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we actually turned up halfway through this set. However, what we did see impressed me enough to spend money on Dan's 2006 album, Where I Stand. So far, I've only had a chance to listen to it once (and not very closely) but it is very different from his live act, being recorded with a full band - Dan tells me that coming across from New York wasn't easy with just one extra musician... Hopefully, I will post a full review soon.
Tonight's second act was The Hair, from York. This four-piece played their instruments hard and surprisingly well for such a young band. If I had one criticism it would be that they really need a lyricist. While the vocals were good and the songs catchy, the lyrics were a tad too repetitive for me - along the lines of too little verse and too much chorus. The band had an excellent stage-presence, however, and seemed to enjoy their set, not looking the least bit nervous. Extra points were gained by lead-singer Sam Robson's embarrassing-under-any-other-circumstances Dad-dancing and the use of a skateboard as a shelf above Neil Clark's keyboards.
To say that The Hair were my least favourite act of the night just shows the quality of the other two. I even contemplated a second trip to the merchandise desk until I found out that the CD on sale was just a single.
Finally, the band we had paid our money to see, sort of...
Four Day Hombre have changed their name to Hope&Social, to mark the release of some new material. Being honest, I don't see the point but, then, I'm not part of the band and I don't have a lot of history with them. Part of the reason they give is that their music has a new feel and a new way of playing. Being honest, I was surprised the first time I saw them that they sounded so different live to how they sounded recorded and, from this gig, the new stuff didn't seem too much different to the old stuff. There wasn't much of a new look, either, with Simon Wainwright wearing the same style of cowboy shirt and Rich Huxley wearing, I think, the same shirt as the last time I saw them.
They are still a very polished band who, on the basis of the two gigs I have seen, deserve to be playing bigger and better venues than Fibbers. (With an upcoming gig at York's soon to be opened Duchess, the bigger will definitely be covered. Better is looking good but remains to be proved.) They obviously enjoy playing together, peppering their set with a good dose of humour both between themselves and as banter with the audience (this time culminating with somebody, who shall remain nameless, shouting abuse at Simon after he dissed Leeds United). I don't think I've ever laughed so much at a gig as I have done the two times I have seen this lot.
Tonight the music was little short of brilliant, with special mention to Heaven Falls and Daylight Came, two tracks from the new EP which sounded absolutely stunning live.
To sum up, tonight was an absolutely top-class evening, much better than recent visits to Fibbers and head-and-shoulders above the array of cover bands that we have seen recently.
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