A new gig location for me, this, and a familiar band with possibly a slight departure to their previous sound. Merchandise, last year’s Reading Festival best newcomers and hosts of a fine Jericho Tavern show last Autumn, announced another small venue tour to promote delicious new album “After The End”, a record which, despite retaining their blueprint moody, textured and sample-layered sound, sees them moving away from the freeform structure and stretched Krautrock templates of their previous efforts. There are discernable choruses! Verses! Hooks aplenty! A move to generally more “conventional” song structures, with vocalist Carson Cox having declared in advance of the album, “we’re going to remake ourselves as a pop band,” how would this play out “live”? One way to find out…
So
I hit the road fairly early, expecting lots of Christmas shopping
traffic around Bristol’s Cabot Circus and oddly finding none, therefore
parking up and hitting this central venue around 8. A
small pub side area/room, not much bigger than the Louisiana (so, then…
small!) cordoned off from the main bar with a bit of black material
(but well within earshot of the bar), with steps down to a small
dancefloor, and a wooden-clad corner stage which gave
the impression the bands were playing in someone’s garden shed! Not
enough room onstage for 2 drumkits so local openers Idles played on the
floor. They were terrible; an unrehearsed, half-formed, half-baked mess
of clumsy shouty pseudo-allegedly “punk” bollocks.
The vocalist introduced most numbers with, “this is called [song x],
and it’s about [ subject y]… only joking…” (?), and their only redeeming
feature was some nice Editors-like ringing fretwork from the guitarist,
who could obviously play a bit, so he’s clearly
wasting his time there… Main tour support Shopping, on about 9.30, were
more palatable; seemingly mining the middle ground between The Slits,
early B52s and Talulah Gosh (!), they had a pronounced DIY ethic and a
sound consisting of militaristic drumbeats,
occasionally dubby rhythmic base, intricate mutant single-note guitar
picking and minimal yelping vocals passed liberally around the 3 band
members. Interesting stuff, but I couldn’t eat a whole one…
Between
the 2 supports, I’d stopped a lurking Carson Cox for a quick chat, and
had my ear talked off by this most gregarious and open frontman; he
allegedly remembered me from Oxford, and we chatted
about Florida, the state of rock’n’ roll and his future plans for the
band (“it was only meant as a side-project!” Yeah,
right…). I was subsequently even more up for this one, and took
my place down the front as the band set up for their late-starting set,
about 20 past 10. After locating their drummer (Cox quipping, “anyone
want to play drums for us tonight?”) we were
on our way with big, strident opener “Enemy”, the chiming, driving
rhythm being overlaid by Cox’s deep, deliciously resonant vocals, and
the subsequent “In Nightmare Room”, all louche and languid, prompting me
to shake my ageing booty down the front, and prompting
Cox to remark, “thanks for dancing!” Hell, that was enough to keep me
dancing throughout!
Shorn
of the samples and effects which add depth and texture to their studio
output, Merchandise “live” were a full-on rock’n’roll treat, and Carson
Cox was a brilliant, riveting frontman, mobile
and angular, with oddball, slightly flaky charisma to throw away.
“Little Killer” was an early, superb highlight, the chugging rhythm very
reminiscent of The Smiths’ classic “The Headmaster Ritual”, and the
hook dark and dramatic, then a slower “Beginning”
(“for the disco ball!”) nonetheless morphed into a Doors-like
psych-rock wig-out, and “Green Lady” thereafter was a real treat,
soaring and imperious with a dramatic finale.
But
it was the penultimate “Anxiety’s Door” which was tonight’s highlight;
this lengthy Krautrock workout positively rocked, bristling with venom
and purpose, and Cox’s frontman performance was committed,
riveting and outstanding, jumping in and out of the crowd, teasing,
tempting, loving this moment, not wanting it to end. And neither did we.
Brilliant stuff from a real band with boundless potential.
Guitarist
Dave Vassalotti handed me the setlist (“sure thing!”) and I hung out
afterwards, catching my breath, chatting with the band, getting the list
signed and buying a t-shirt (Merchandise merchandise!)
before eventually heading home with Carson Cox’s thanks and compliments
ringing in my ears, home for 12.30, late for a Bristol gig. Aching
limbs the next day, but Merchandise were totally worth it!
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