Another
late addition to my Spring Dance Card, and another one courtesy of my old gig
buddy “Beef”, who last Friday casually mentioned I should check this lot out,
whilst texting about our Mercury Rev tix. So I did, via a couple of YouTube
videos (how on earth did I ever find new bands before YouTube?? Oh, the (now
non-existent) music press, that’s right…), and he was right again; here was
another band right in my musical wheelhouse, with some intriguingly haunting post-punk
rockist guitar-led sonics, overlaid by some strident and purposeful female
vocals. Picked up the new album (released that day!) and grabbed tix for this
one before it sold out, and another journey of discovery was on the cards…
Beef
picked us up early, to compensate for the painstaking circumnavigation of the building
site that central Bristol has suddenly morphed into, and we parked in the
Thekla car park, walking over the temporary bridge and hitting the venue just
before doors. The rope came down and we wandered upstairs for the first act of
a packed evening, introduced by the impossibly long legged vocalist as, “we’re
Towers and this is our last gig!” Such was the case, the guitarist apparently going
off travelling, so the 3 girl, one hefty drummer bloke combo were onstage for
the final time. Their songs were intriguing, challenging and very proficiently
delivered, invariably easing in, all pretty and pastoral, before gaining teeth,
diverting into more angular and strident math-rock or heavy funkier interludes,
topped with some impressive choral harmonies from the girls. And vocalist Jay Parker
was quite the star – relaxed and charismatic onstage with no little humour
(referring to her top’s ridiculously plunging neckline with, “really sorry if a
tit pops out, I didn’t think this outfit through…” and later commenting, “this
is the part where we usually plug, but we’ve got nothing… so how was your day?”),
she also possessed an excellent voice, covering strident/powerful and
coquettishly demure equally proficiently. Penultimate number “Restart” had a
harsh, melancholy edge, whilst closer “Follow” was their most conventional
indie-pop number. I’ve seen much worse vocalists in much bigger venues, so it
would be a shame if Jay were lost to music, but if this is it, they certainly
went out in style.
Fossette,
next up in short order as the front filled up, were a very Welsh and very confident,
almost flippant 4-piece with high buttoned-up shirts and a decent line in initially
fast paced indie jangle with Summery choruses, overlaid later with some knockabout
and jaunty Britpop. Massive Kurt Cobain fans, apparently, although I heard no
trace of the Nirvana frontman’s influence in their music, and clearly their own
biggest fans at this stage, they were entertaining but flimsy, and much less
original than the openers, with Arctic Monkeys/ Miles Kane influences blaring
out like belisha beacons. Ironic too, that a comment about Donald Trump
(vocalist: “can we get a middle finger for Donald Trump?”; wag in the audience:
“at least he’s bringing people together to hate somebody!”) got the best
reaction in their set…
Proper
rammed and uncomfortably hot by now, but we secured our spots near the front
and chatted to fellow punters – oddly enough mainly older chaps like Beef and
myself! – while Desperate Journalist set up, vocalist and apprentice ice queen
Jo Bevan passing time by lying on the stage floor... All done, then just a
quick, “hi,” from Jo and they were off, straight into opener “I Try Not To”, a
powerful, potent rocker with Jo’s strident, dynamic yet reined-in vocals to the
fore, driving the song to its climax. Great opener, and “Happening” kept apace
whilst subtly changing mood into more eerie, gloomy proto Goth territory, and a
haunting “Hollow” continued this, with some excellent guitar work underpinning
a massive chorus.
Riding
on the coattails of similar post-punk, black-clad female fronted bands this lot
may be (Savages and Wolf Alice spring to mind here), but there’s a lot more layers
to the Desperate Journalist sound. A haunting and shimmering Belltower-like
riff here, some Chameleons or Bunnymen atmosphere there, some X-Mal Deutschland
strident Goth elsewhere… even some Smiths-esque song construction (particularly
in “Why Are You So Boring?”). And Jo herself is a riveting “live” presence; slightly
built, cropped of hair and top, and with at least 50% of her face taken up by
her eyes, she resembles Deena Pilgrim from the “Powers” comic books, but projects
herself like a young Morrissey, doubling over her mic-stand, balancing a
powerful, passionate and yearning delivery with the right amount of detached
insouciance. Very impressive.
The
anthemic “Lacking In Your Love” ceded to an epic, widescreen “Be Kind”, before
a balls-out, pedal to the metal rocker “Cristina”, then the lengthy denouement
of closer “All Over” rounded out a breathless and breathtaking set as good as I’ve
seen from a new band in… ooh, ages! They squeezed offstage through the
impressed throng, returning for a more plaintive “Radiating”, delivered by Jo
and guitarist Rob; then Jo announced, “if you can tolerate more, we have more…”
before a joyful, looped-riff powered “Resolution”, probably my highlight of the
night, and finale “Organ”, featuring some startling primal screaming from Jo,
closed an astounding and outstanding set. Much more powerful and overtly dynamic
than on record (where they’re pretty hot socks there too!), this set was a clear
and serious statement of intent from a powerful and important new voice and
band.
Caught
our breath, then went around grabbing signatures for my list and spraying
compliments around to all and sundry. Mentioned my thoughts on the Morrissey
comparison to Jo, who replied, “now you’re going to make me cry a bit… I’m a
little bit obsessed with The Smiths…” Good spot there then! Hit the road for
some not-as-painful-as-feared M32 roadworks diversions and a midnight arrival
home, eulogising about Desperate Journalist with Beef. One thing’s for sure, we
won’t see them in a venue that small again… I can’t see anything holding them
back!
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