1,133 MARTHA, THE WOAHNOWS, Nervus Rex, Bristol Exchange, Friday 26th April 2019

Alumni of my heady post-redundancy rush of new band discoveries of 2016, and now regulars on any Dance Card of mine, Pity Me's hooligan bunch of self-confessed gender warrior punx Martha announced a tour in support of new album "Love Keeps Kicking", so I booked for the Bristol Exchange date promptly before it sold out! Said new album is another little firecracker of energetic guitar-propelled tuneage, the flippant 3-pronged vocal attack never straying far from the usual Martha subject matter of the awkwardness of relationships in the 2000s, so this gig promised to be a little corker as well.

I was joined by Martha addicts Andy and Stuart, plus Andy's mate Mandie, heading off early to secure decent parking, but parking up easily on our new Exchange spot after a swift drive down. Before doors too, so had a drink in the pub next door (well, they did... nowt for the designated driver, thanks!) before hitting the venue about 7.45. A quick squint in Specialist Subject Records, a small shop above the venue, before popping in for openers Nervus Rex. Clearly fans of dinosaurs judging by their matching masks, but not of rehearsals, if their "songs" and "performance" (and I use both words in their loosest sense) were anything to go by. Folks, I get the home-made DIY vibe, I do, but playing as if you'd not only just been introduced to each other 5 minutes before going onstage, but only just picked up your instruments for the first time ever (!) at that time as well isn't "cute" or "charming", it's frankly an insult to your audience. Luckily, I wasn't one of them for long, bailing out to the bar after suffering a couple of their horribly amateurish 5th form dirge-like numbers.

Back in for The Woahnows, though; this 3-piece had intrigued last time out at this venue with some frantic MC4/ Senseless Things strumalong pop, so I was expecting more of the same... initially this was the case, with opener "World Explodes" a brisk, earnest emo-core opener in a Modern Baseball style, but it was "No One Else", next up, that was the real surprise. Slower, tougher and punchier, this was a big robust powerpop tune with a soaring chorus reminiscent of The Posies or Redd Kross, and totally hooked me and reeled me in. The subsequent set was very varied but all fine quality; a couple of other chunky powerpop numbers (the harmonic "Hippy Shit" recalling the excellent "I'd Rather Be" by Myracle Brah), some light-touch slow moments to break up buoyant indie jangle, and a final "angry pop punk song" in "Cold", which also impressed last time out. Between numbers, long-haired and slightly androgynous vocalist Tim was an engaging presence, throwing the headliners some back-handed compliments ("thanks to Martha for bringing so many people to see them that they have to see us!" and "[Martha] are lovely; there's 4 of them and there's at least 3 lovely people!") before admitting, "they've got so many bangers in their set." A fair few in this short, snappy and increasingly impressive Woahnows set now too!

Grabbed a list from Tim and promised to grab a copy of their debut CD afterwards, then Stu and I did a loo-break relay (well, that's a necessity in a sold-out venue with no proper "gents", just a urinal-free "gender-neutral" toilet... hmm...) to keep our front row spots for Martha. After a fiddly soundcheck, they took the stage at 10, busting into newie "Wrestlemania VIII" with vim and vigour, guitarist Daniel leading the charge with his high-pitched, yearning vocal style. As before, lead vocal-swapping was a feature of the set, other guitarist Jonathan taking a more nuanced though no less passionate lead for the singalong "Chekhov's Hangnail", and diminutive bassist Naomi lending her aitch-shredding, "t"-dropping Minnie Mouse on helium style for "Supermarket Song", a sterling effort in spite of her clearly suffering with sinus trouble and making increasing recourse to a tissue box, secreted onstage, throughout.

This was again a damn fine set of Martha's brisk, guitar-heavy, C86-influenced Buzzcocks-like lovelorn punk pop, the band this time cutting out much of the between-song banter and politicking in favour of delivering the rock. Newie "Sight For Sore Eyes" followed a couple of onstage band meetings "at the same time!", "Curly And Raquel" was a tight, punchy mid-set highlight, and "Do Nothing" a slower-burn, Pixies-ish grungy workout building to a noisy climax. By comparison, new CD title track "Love Keeps Kicking" felt almost 60's-ish melodic Merseybeat-like pop, but again my fave was "Goldman's Detective Agency", the bouncy and racy descending refrain and 3-part harmonies a feature of this, IMHO Martha's best song. Great stuff!

An hour's set was topped with an encore featuring (very!) oldie "Sycamore" and frantic terrace-chant closer "Christine". I'd been bopping near the front throughout, and reached over past the ubiquitous Jeff (who'd been resting his ulcerated foot, instead using his usual front-row spot to sketch Naomi) to grab a list, getting it signed by the Martha folks before making good on my promise, picking up The Woahnows CD from a merch stand-bound Tim and leaving him some powerpop recommendations for his Spotify playlist. A swift, footy-trivia propelled drive home saw me dropping folks off and hitting home just after midnight, following another splendid Martha gig!.

1,132 IDLEWILD, Blackaby, Bristol University Anson Rooms, Saturday 20th April 2019

 

 

Always happy to tack on a late addition to the Spring Dance Card, especially given that this one was the return - after a 4-year absence, which itself followed a near-7 year hiatus! - of live faves Idlewild! Odd to consider, then, that this would be only the 3rd time in 11 years that I would be availing myself of their widescreen, windswept and cerebral REM-like indie pop, given that Rach and I had seen them on multiple occasions (13 for me, maybe more for my dear lady wife and avid Woomble-fan), including 3 times on our 2005 California honeymoon! When these dates were announced, as late as mid-Feb, it was also very much a case of "tix first, logistics later", as not only was our closest gig at the horrible-to-park-at Anson Rooms, but it also fell on a busy Easter Weekend, when Rach was already out in Bristol on Friday... and Saturday afternoon!

So I set off, shorts-clad on an unseasonably hot Easter Saturday, Rach having stayed overnight in Bath with our friend Kate after Friday’s PWEI/Neds double-header at the O2, then having travelled back down to Bristol earlier today to meet up with friends Laura and Lizzie for an afternoon show and pre-gig food and beverages. Leaving early meant a decent parking spot just along the main road from the venue, a short wait for doors at 7, then an opportunity to catch up with a svelte and affable Idlewild drummer Colin, on the merch stand early doors, reminiscing about previous encounters and particularly their final, frenzied and drunken LA show and their support that night Mutilated Mannequins, easily the worst band I've ever - ever! - seen! Grabbed a space in the barrier in the very quiet hall, chatting to some fellow front-rowers, including Julian, whom I've bumped into at Nada Surf gigs. Some muso chat with this fellow veteran rock aficionado passed the time until Rach arrived, electing to watch the support with the girls from their bar table, resting up after 2 moshpits last night. That's my girl! Support Blackaby were on for 8, a 3 piece with a Carlos Santana lookalike bassist and a tousled vocalist with a reedy, lilting voice somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Dean Wareham. They weren't bad, their varied-tempo material having some good melodic choruses and a hazy, early 70’s California soft rock feel, but much of it was either unremarkable or a little discordant, off-key even, particularly during their earlier numbers. Their last 2 songs - a cover of something I didn't recognise, and a Sparks-ish closer which also nicked the descending verse refrain from the Gigolo Aunts' " Weird Sister" - were their most upbeat and best, and they at least got through their short set without any equipment failures - unlike last night, apparently!

Rach joined us on the barriers as the place filled up; nowhere near a sell-out, though, and plenty of space down the front to dance throughout. OK, I get that students are off for Easter, but it still felt a poor turnout. C'mon Bristol, sort it out! Still, it didn't seem to bother Idlewild, as from the outset, these Scottish veterans were on it; new number "Dream Variations" was a robust glam stomp opener with some lovely 3 part harmonies and some effective mirror-ball lighting, adding to its' twinkling feel, then an extended "Roseability" was utterly superb, lengthy guitar intros and outros adding to its' drama and power, and giving guitarist Rod Jones scope to jump about energetically and Zebedee-like (as he was to do throughout). Vocalist Roddy Woomble, be-suited and clean-shaven and shorn, looked annoyingly young, harking back to that skinny gauche young boy of 1998, impervious to the ravages of time, and often delivered his conversational vocals standing sideways-on to the audience, thence retreating to the wings, content to watch his bandmates take the limelight and deliver the rock. And they duly did, the set beautifully chosen (partly the consequence of an Instagram poll, according to a fellow punter) and representing their entire canon, and played with crisp, economical yet punchy style and substance, and the relaxed insouciance of experience.

Roddy was also in relaxed fooling, commenting that upbeat newie "There's A Place For Everything" was, "about how no-one likes to do the washing(!)" and introducing "Readers And Writers" as being from the oft-overlooked "Post Electric Blues" album, then, following audience cheers, deadpanning, "popular in Bristol but nowhere else!" The candyfloss fairground melody of "Same Things Twice" was a mid-set highlight, before they brought out the really big guns; "American English" was a rousing and soaring sing-along, almost matched by "Love Steals Us From Loneliness" for its’ epic, widescreen feel, the splendid "When I Argue I See Shapes" featured a lovely looped acapella break, and "El Capitan" was probably my highlight of the night, stark and towering as the mountain itself. Some oldies for the encore too, a by-now jacketless Roddy (displaying a jazzy patterned shirt and quipping, "we need to wear snazzy shirts - we're at that age!") introducing a frantic, garbled "Everyone Thinks That You're So Fragile" as "late 90's punk rock", then profusely thanking all and sundry before the rampant closer "Modern Way Of Letting Go".

So great stuff overall, from a band who may be a couple of albums past their absolute finest recorded output but who still know how to put on a superb "live" performance. Set-list, farewells then gathered the girls (including a now wiped-out Rach, 3 moshpits in a shade over 24 hours!) for an unimpeded drive home. A late addition maybe, but always welcome and a lucky - and rather superb - 13 from Idlewild!

1,131 INDOOR PETS, Animal House, Bath Moles Club, Tuesday 9th April 2019

A return to a serious old haunt tonight; Bath Moles, a pokey old hole in the wall (literally!) that was a staple on my gig venue list in the 80's and 90's, hosting the likes of Silver Sun, Tongue, even Del Amitri and The Woodentops! This time it's the location for the opening night of Indoor Pets' album tour - yup, that said "album tour", as the dirty pop ruffians and former Get Inuit boys have only gone and finally recorded one! A mere 5 years in the making, "Be Content" encapsulates the spunky summery indiepop thrills of their "live" gigs with a smattering of old faves, whilst also revealing a more mature, even harder-edged and grungier side with some strident, anthemic new material. And just to top it off, yours truly gets a "thanks" mention in the liner notes for "supporting independent music to the death". I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy etc...!

I wasn't about to miss this tour, then, so headed off early, parking up along the A4 around the corner from the venue, after a drive around a nearby park! My first Moles gig since May 2002 (Jack Drag, gig 558!) and it's changed quite a lot in nearly 17 (!) years; access through upstairs, and a whole new top bar, but the same old dingy low-ceilinged downstairs room, feeling if anything even smaller! I'd missed a very early opening band, but main support Animal House were on at 8.10. Variously from Australia, London and Shoreham, apparently, their opener was a polite and innocuous C86ish strumalong indiepop number, and whilst some subsequent numbers were a bit tougher (their second nicked the opening drum pattern from The Hold Steady's "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You" and had a bit of XTC-like angular new wave, f'rinstance), this was their main modus operandi. The vocalist had some similar inflections to The Vaccines Justin Young, and I also heard increasing Vaccines musical influences as the set progressed. Not bad, and certainly making a connection with this extremely young early crowd, but lacking a bit for me.

Had a chat with the soundguy, who spotted my Liines tshirt and mentioned he did the sound at the O2 at their gig on Saturday! Apparently, they asked for no reverb, no echo, just raw, basic sound. Nice work girls! Found a corner spot down the front, extreme house left, just in front of Rob setting up; gave him a nod and left him to get on with it! Just before 9, Indoor Pets' rather extensive walk-on music kicked off; a medley of numbers with references to vocalist Jamie's "large hand" (referring to a foam hand for sale on the merch stand) superimposed! I liked "Gigantic" - "a big big hand" - and the Fountains Of Wayne cheesy classic "Stacy's Mom", which was turned into "Jamie's Hand" for the night! A bit self-consciously wacky for me, but the buoyant young crowd were into it, prompting cheers when the boys took the stage.

Far from there being any sense of first night nerves, they were "on it" from the outset; a short, snappy instrumental led directly into a thrashy, all-energy "Cutie Pie", Rob's kinetic onstage antics and Jamie's gabbling vocals an early feature. And next was the surprise; "Hi", a little understated and slow-burn on CD, morphed into a huge, manic jump-fest from an already-large mosh, all anthemic, toughened up and grunge-tastic. This really set the tone; older, faster material such as the utterly ace "All My Friends", a chaotic "Teriyaki" and a brilliantly helium "Mean Heart" were, as expected, amped-up, hyped-up and Silver Sun-esque thrill-rides, but the newer, more considered and mature (hah!) album numbers such as a Pixies-ish "Heavy Thoughts" and the plaintive, confessional "breather" song "Dandruff" nevertheless really took flight, becoming overall arms-aloft, irresistibly hooky and joyous anthems, sung back by da kids - with gusto! And by this old guy, who was rocking out in the moshpit throughout, keeping the kids at bay in my corner. Splendid stuff, and great to see an extra, harder-edged dimension to Indoor Pets' effervescent crunchy guitar-propelled indie pop.

"Barbiturates" was a superb roaring anthem, and at its conclusion I grabbed Rob's list (with his permission, I might add!) and filmed frenzied finale "Pro Procrastinator" on my phone for my kids, who had been playing its YouTube video on repeat of late. Breathless stuff to end a rampant, rattling-good 1 hour set. Collected my thoughts awhile afterwards, then brief congrats with the boys at the merch stand afterwards. Bassist Olly reckoned it was a "weird one" and took a while for the band to warm to it - not from where I was standing, mate! Bade farewells -plus profuse thanks for my CD namecheck - then changed my soggy shirt (full Cleo! Yay!) back at the car before an odd drive home - a roadworks diversion along the A4 which actually proved quicker and got me home for 11! All in all, thanks to the excellent Indoor Pets, a triumphant return to Moles!

1,130 LIINES, Supp. Sleaford Mods, John Paul, Bristol O2 Academy, Saturday 6 April 2019

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...!