Happy World Goth Day! And, after a turbulent day today, I was in need of the healing power of some brooding, Goth-adjacent post-punk rock’n’roll from recent find Ist Ist. I’d picked up on their 4th album “Light A Bigger Fire” last year and caught a splendid rousing performance at Bristol Exchange last October (gig 1,352), which also included a lengthy post-gig chat with knowledgeable bassist and then-birthday boy Andy Keating. So that was enough in itself to shoehorn them onto my gig radar for future tours, especially if any such tours include a gig at likely my favourite current venue, Southampton’s Joiner’s Arms!
So,, a solo shlep down the M4/ A34 on this sunny Thursday evening got me road-parked up a stone’s throw from the venue about 20 to 8, and in a slightly different house left spot in this evocative old pub back room. I’d been feeling a little, erm, uncomfortable on the drive down, maybe as a result of the day, so I thought a house left spot in easier reach of the, erm, facilities, would be prudent, and so it transpired… Anyhoops, I was in place for opener Oliver Marson at 8. A solo vocalist/ guitarist with a computer full of backing tracks flashing out a very 80’s radio-friendly AOR synth-poppy sound which, when decent, recalled the likes of Tears For Fears, Talk Talk’s chart singles and, most obviously OMD (his “Past Life” being very “Electricity”), only actually not as good as that sounds. The material itself was a bit dodgy and haphazard – odd chord changes providing a bumpy transition between verses and choruses, for example – which rather wasted a rather decent Glenn Gregory-esque baritone voice and Andy McClusky-like dancing.
A necessary comfort break still saw me keep my front-row spot, extreme house left, as the place filled to capacity. Quite the sausage-fest too, black-clad balding/greying old muso chaps proliferating… so, my people…! The similarly black-clad Ist Ist were ushered onstage by security, vocalist Adam leading the band into the growling intro and pounding dynamic punk-rock drumbeat of opener “Stamp You Out”, followed by the more metronomic Interpol-esque “Lost My Shadow” and slower, stately and haunting marble statue synth of “Something Else”. The taut low-slung bass-led Joy Division-isms of oldie “Silence” followed, after which the leather jacket and Ray-Ban clad impossibly cool bassist Andy remarked, “there’s fucking loads of you! I’m as hot as I’ve ever been in my life… but as a professional, I’m going to persevere with the leather…!”
Fair play to him, so he did, the glasses coming off a couple of numbers before the end but the jacket remaining in situ throughout. And this commitment to insouciant rock’n’roll cool was underlined by his and his bandmate’s performance tonight… simply put, Ist Ist were ace! Okay, their dark, dramatic and brooding Goth-tinged post-punk material is slap bang in the middle of my wheelhouse, evoking the 80’s likes of Joy Division, Echo And The Bunnymen and The Chameleons, so would work for me in any format, but “live” it takes on added widescreen power and dynamism and, well, just makes more sense, particularly in a tight, sweaty and evocative venue such as The Joiners. The New Order synth flourish of the tremendous “I Can’t Wait For You” rounded off a brilliant opening 5-spot, but honestly there was no discernible drop-off in either song quality or commitment of delivery thereafter. “Something Has To Give” featured an abrupt gearshift from moody and slow-burn to fast and frantic; newie “Burning” had an almost swampy blues feel in its’ guitar riffery, a slight departure from their usual post-punk template; and “Dreams Aren’t Enough” was proper Bunny-esque in its’ stately sense of space. A robotic “Makes No Difference” was my favourite of the 3 newies on show, Adam thanking us for paying attention to them (“I know they’re often a convenient piss break!”), then “Hope To Love Again” was the poppiest number on show, evoking late period White Lies. Compliments from the band then preceded a final “Slowly We Escape”, the synth-led and elegiac opening bursting into thrilling punk rock life before accelerating to a thunderous finish, rounding off a marvellous set.
The front row lists went early, of course, and the drummer’s list was handed to a stage-side chap, seemingly destined for someone else, despite my entreatments to said gent. Fair enough, I thought, no harm in asking anyway… However, a couple of days later, the self-same bloke (the Joiners’ manager, as it happens!) posted on the Ist Ist facebook page seeking out “the bloke from Southampton who was desperate for a list!”, so I got in touch and was promised a spare through the post, which I received a week later. As if I needed another reason to love the Joiner’s any more…! So, easily sloughing off the dead skin of a crappy day, Ist Ist were the perfect antidote and excellent hosts for a World Goth Day Celebration!
