1,272 MIKI BERENYI TRIO, Stroud Sub-Rooms, Saturday 25th March 2023

 

Something slightly different, this one, but there’s a musical performance involved, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a gig! I was a huge fan of Miki Berenyi’s former band Lush from the off, falling hard for their immediate potent blend of Throwing Muses jagged rhythms, MBV-style wall-of-sound guitar effects and otherworldly dreaminess, seeing them “live” 4 times in 1989-1990 and declaring their imminent superstardom to all and sundry. Checked out on them a tad as subsequent releases became wispier and more ethereal (defining the “shoegaze” genre in the process), although I loved their final flippant, more upbeat and melody-led album “Lovelife”, and likely would have caught them a few more times “live” had it not been for the shocking suicide of drummer Chris Acland and Lush’s subsequent (and understandable) dissolution. A reunion gig in 2016 (gig 987) was an uneven yet welcome full stop to the Lush story, the band knocking it on the head, likely for good, shortly afterwards, and seemingly returning to their day jobs (a couple of releases from Miki’s subsequent hobby band, Piroshka, notwithstanding). However, Miki then tried something different; she wrote her memoirs! The book, “Fingers Crossed”, is a cracking read, as raw and turbulent yet thrillingly entertaining as the band’s early material, throwing light on a fascinating life and well deserving of its’ plaudits. I’d missed Miki’s book signing in Bristol at the back end of last year, but was up for any subsequent event close by; so, a Saturday matinee one at nearby Stroud? Thanks, I do!

 So, I took a mid-afternoon drive through the winding South Cotswolds, parking up and killing some time in the Sub Rooms café chatting with a couple of gents who’d been to an earlier event, and who were fascinated about my Gig Book No. 1, which I’d brought along to show Miki my setlist from Lush’s March 1990 Reading gig (no. 157, and my 100^th list!). Eventually joined the queue, then took a front row seat in this small side-room space, bathed in pink light and adorned with 90’s memorabilia, as Miki and her 2 back up gents finished setting up the raised stage. Miki then organised seating for the sold-out crowd “like a school mistress!”, before introducing “The Miki Berenyi Trio” and kicking off the performance just after 5. Three guitars, so synth effects and drum machine beats were played through a laptop, the metronomic beat underpinning a haunting opening reading of “Light From A Dead Star”, which, stripped of the shimmering effect-led wall of sound, felt raw and intimate, setting the tone for a relaxed, low-key yet absorbing set.

 

“Leaves Me Cold” from the “Mad Love” EP, was next up, again shorn of the recorded version’s growling guitar menace but giving more emphasis to Miki’s lovely, descending yet mainly high-register lilting vocals. “I left my pedals on the train!” she remarked before the more baroque, almost madrigal feel of the dreampoppy “Covert”. The soft synth pitter patter of a light, summery “Vertigo” followed, before Miki then introduced the more robust “Kiss Chase” tongue-in-cheek as, “[one] about child abuse… always brings the house down”… “Baby Talk” (“a very very old song – “Scar” old… [Camden] Falcon old!” according to Miki) was my set highlight, the most strident number in the set, with an underlying hint of menace emphasised by Miki’s lower, more atonal Sioux-alike vocal, before “Big I Am”, a funky newie (“Because I feel like it!” – and why not?), concluded a thoroughly charming half hour’s performance.

 

Set over (and set-list kindly provided by guitarist Olly – whom I mistook for Miki’s partner Moose; whoops, that was the other guy!), BBC presenter and journalist Samira Ahmed joined Miki onstage, engaging the singer in conversation about her life and times, upbringing and heritage, via the lens of “Fingers Crossed”. This was actually very entertaining and revealing, Miki coming across as self-effacing, honest and as entertainingly deadpan, matter-of-fact and (still!) profane as her absorbing memoir. A brief Q&A followed, and I got to ask about Lush’s treatment by the now-defunct weekly music press and whether we’re missing something with said press no longer existing, which prompted further debate between Miki and Samira.

 

Miki then decamped to the back of the room, signing copies of her book and anything else. I’d gotten the boys to sign my list so Miki completed the “Trio” set, and I showed her the landmark 100^th setlist from my book to her general amusement. I also presented her with a framed photo I took of her and Tanya Donelly at Belly’s first UK gig (November 1992, gig 226!). She was lovely, gregarious and very accommodating to my ramblings, and seemed genuinely pleased with my gift. I eventually hit the road, back home for 7.30 and chip shop chips for tea. So, something slightly different, but something very worthwhile, and so glad to meet Miki again after all this time!