Another
gig, after Brand New Friend earlier this year, that I'm in it just for the
support! And, like Brand New Friend, I have the good offices of "Louder
Than War" magazine to thank for this discovery... Jon Robb's esteemed
periodical gave an intriguing review to Manchester female trio Liines' debut CD
"Stop-Start" and I picked it up as a result, finding a band totally
in my wheelhouse; short, snappy vignettes of sparse, moody and taut post-punk,
single note guitar and bass riffs as precise as pin-pricks, clipped,
militaristic yet driven drums and a strident, commanding voice somewhere
between Siouxsie and Patti Smith. If Savages had been obsessed with Wire or
Comsat Angels rather than Joy Division, perhaps, but either way thrilling
stuff. My copy of said album actually came courtesy of the band itself; I
refuse to use PayPal after being buggered about by them one time, but luckily
Leila from Liines offered me an alternative, sending me a copy directly
herself!
A
subsequent brief correspondence revealed the band were yet to venture down this
end of the country, but a support tour with Sleaford Mods gave an opportunity
to catch them "live". Don't like the headliners; although I agree with much of their socialist politics, to me they sound
somewhere between poor Happy Mondays and PWEI rip-offs, plus, growing up as a
teenage punk in the late 70’s, I had more than my fair share of run-ins with
parka-clad blokes at school, so I happily admit to a strong aversion to anything with the
word "mods" in the name! However, if this was my best "in"
to catch this very promising band "live", so be it...
Unsure
as to tonight’s timing (Saturday O2 gigs sometimes having a 10pm curfew) I left
at 5.30, following the setting sun to Bristol, then mooching around up Park
Street before hitting the O2 Priority queue and getting in at 7 doors, snagging
a house right barrier spot and enjoying some vintage punk over the PA (Crass,
Killing Joke and Magazine) and some chat with a fellow punter (hi James!). Less
enjoyable was the opener John Paul; a Guinness swigging scally rapper with a
laddier John Cooper Clarke style of delivery, barking out cut-n-paste rap (lots
of punk lyric references etc.) over chunky beats provided by an accompanying
DJ. So not my thing, so I hit the loo; on my return the vinyl was skipping, so
ultimately JP finished acapella. Laudable, but still for me a set more to be
endured than enjoyed... at least at 20 minutes it was short!
So
from the ridiculous to the sublime; at 8.15 and under cover of darkness the
3-piece, black-clad Liines took the stage.
Unfortunately, as they were plugging in, bassist Tamsin, onstage directly
in front of me, was subjected to some unpleasant and misogynistic remarks from
a few knuckle-dragging twats near me. If she had heard it (and comments
from her bandmates afterwards suggested she had), she had the perfect response,
rising above it and, along with her bandmates, playing an utter blinder. From
the outset Liines were dynamic, taut, tight and itchily insistent, building a
dark, sinister atmosphere with Leila's structured and economic drums
dovetailing with Tamsin's growling, often mighty bass, providing the perfect
base for Zoe's precise fretwork and commanding yet expressive and yearning vocals.
And as with the excellent Desperate Journalist, this lot are much more than the
sum of their parts, a band who really come alive onstage, with that same combination
of moody intensity and haughty insouciance. You like us? Great. If not, well
then fuck you, cos we know we're
good...!
"Find
Something" was underpinned with some mighty, Hooky-like bass from Tamsin;
"Never Wanted This" was deliciously bleak, emotive and plaintive; and
whilst the excellent "Shallow" needed a couple of attempts due to Zoe
playing more chords than required (the vocalist
remarking, "we had that one out as a single without the false start!"), the preceding, angular and claustrophobic
"Blackout" was great, my set highlight, Leila abandoning her usual disciplined,
metronomic style to bash gleefully away like Animal from the Muppets, fringe
swirling away, maelstrom-like. "Never There" rounded off a triumphant
set, dynamic and vibrant as you like, waaaay better than I anticipated (and I
was expecting good things...!). And this was a half-hour slot in front of
someone else's crowd? Impressive. Wonder what this would’ve been like in front
of their own crowd, in, say, a Thekla or Joiners… or even Vic… (well, one can
but dream…!)
Anyway,
I decamped to the back bar after Leila had slung a set-list my way, and chilled
there awhile as the bar emptied for the headliners. As for them; well, from my
vantage point I found them as aggressively ranting, potty-mouthed and monotonous as I'd feared, their "music" (i.e. backing tapes) juddering and unlistenable, so I paid them little heed. Luckily, I was eventually joined by
Leila and Zoe for pics, thanks, signatures and some extensive rock chat,
finding them as friendly and gregarious as they were obviously talented, and
later by Tamsin, to whom I took the opportunity to apologise on behalf of those
moronic punters. Before long it was chucking out time, so I bade farewell to
the ladies, suffering a long diversion onto the M5 on the way home as the top
of the M32 was shut. Bollocks! Still, worth it to see Liines play such a
belting set; my hopes were high but were still comfortably exceeded. Ladies,
you totally smashed it tonight, and one thing's for sure, on this form you
won't be the support band for long...!
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