1,157 THYLA, Ocean Ruins, Aphra Taylor, Oxford Jericho Tavern, Wednesday 16th October 2019

It does warm the cockles of this cynical old muso’s heart, I have to say, when a band takes the step up from intriguing support to fully fledged headliners in their own right. I’d caught Brighton’s young 4-piece Thyla a couple of times before; firstly when their personality (particularly that of vivacious vocalist Millie) shone through a murky mix as support to the late, lamented Inheaven (gig 1,070), then a more coherent and very promising set with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever last October (gig 1,107), so they were about primed to jump on my Dance Card in their own right. Their sonic template falls into various rooms in my wheelhouse; dreamy ethereal shoegaze, more early Ride-ish wall-of-sound, some Pixies proto-grunge stomp, all overlaid with hooky memorable harmony-driven choruses. Another band to join the likes of Desperate Journalist, Basement Revolver et al in taking that post-punk guitar-led sound and putting their own spin on it, could they cut it as headliners in their own right?

I grabbed a ticket for this Autumn tour quite early, revelling in the opportunity for a rare return to one of my 80’s/ 90’s fave haunts, the Jericho Tavern. After a false start to drop Logan’s Diabetes scanner off at his evening club, I however remembered that Oxford Jericho Tavern has one big drawback, being that it’s in Oxford! Stuck behind a lorry for most of my journey there, I then found “Road Closed” signs into Walton Street, picking through tiny side-streets to the venue. Then, the usual parking-mare ensued, and I exasperatedly dumped the motor down a not-so-nearby side-street, thereby missing all but the last half number of hushed folky opener Aphra Taylor, who finished earlier than her scheduled 8.30. Bah! However, next up were locals Ocean Ruins, in front of a score of early punters. Openers at that Inheaven Reading gig, they’ve come a long way since that passable but hesitant performance; a lazy droney opener with hints of Galaxie 500 gave way to some more upbeat and spooky, moody material, with some angular backbeat drums from an impressive sticksman (a new guy, apparently) and some driving choruses. The female vocalist this time sounded more confident, her slightly nasally warbling voice more to the fore, and I enjoyed the likes of “Broken Toys” with its’ quiet/loud grungy vibe and big chorus, and the driving rockers of set closers “Tokyo To Mexico” and “Love Drunk”. Overall, a quantum improvement since my previous viewing, and now a band I’d certainly check out again, a point I made to them afterwards.

Chatted with Thyla’s bassist, who remembered our Pixies-centred chat after the RBCF gig, before he set up with his bandmates. Shortly after 9.30, Thyla took the stage to little fanfare, in front of a bigger and more engaged crowd, opener “Only Ever” bathing us in washes of shimmering guitar sound before dropping into a dreamy mid-paced number with “Dreams Burn Down”-esque haunting guitar licks. “Blame”, next up, was a more driving and dynamic rocker, with a lengthy note impressively held by pocket dynamo vocalist Millie, smiling and buoyant throughout the set. “Candy” featured a strident and bratty choral hook, building to a grungy and noisy crescendo with swathes of Bob Mould/ MBV noise, but new single “Lenox Hill” was for me the set highlight, a well-constructed and streetwise slice of Belly-esque dreampop, and a likely shoe-in for my “Best Of 2019” CD… if I get it downloaded in time! A later “Biting” was a moody Pixies-ish death march, and as the quickfire 45 minute set drew to a close, “Blue” featured a fine growling intro and excellent backbeat drumming. Throughout the set, though, Millie was the main focus; bouncy and enthusiastic, despite her huge boots (!); this girl can not only sing, but has onstage charisma to throw away, and I repeatedly found my thoughts drifting back to another similarly charismatic blonde who I saw perform 4 times on that very stage, namely Fiona of The Parachute Men… My only quibble was that her voice wasn’t as far up in the mix as I’d have liked, leaving us a little bereft during her frequent off-mic excursions. But hey, this was a cracking little gem of a set from a band who’ve come on in leaps and bounds, and firmly grasped the nettle of headliner status. OK, the influences may be easy to spot, but they’re mixing them up and making something of their own. Nice work!

A quick chat and pics with the band afterwards before a much easier egress out of the city. Splendid set from Thyla, though, a young band well and truly – and deservedly so – on the up!

1,107 ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER, Thyla, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, Wednesday 24th October 2018

This quick jaunt down to the South Coast - first time in Portsmouth since an ersatz Lemonheads line-up featuring old Boston buddy Dean Parsons played this venue some 7 years back (November 2011, to be exact; gig no. 834) - was my only opportunity to see this promising young Antipodean indie-power band on their current UK tour... their Oxford gig, the following night, clashed with the first night of a family holiday in Turkey, and next week's London date, where my mate and Aussie rock uber-fan Rich May was headed, falls while I'm due to still be on a Turkish sunbed! Hence, to Pompey I go...

Packed for my holiday the night before so I could get a flyer down South tonight... good thing too, as, after a reasonably quick drive down, it then took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot. Bah! Not quite Cowley Road, but close... So I hit the venue and got my bearings just before openers Thyla, on at 8.15. They've evolved their sound from the Nirvana-esque quiet-loud dynamics of their Inheaven support slot, earlier this year, opening with an almost wistful, dreampop opener, before new single "Blue" upped the tempo with some tumbling drumbeats, shimmering, Horrors-like guitar licks and a big ol' chorus. Nice! The rest of their set owed a noticeable debt to the Pixies, with some flesh-creepingly spooky bass and tough-sounding resonant riffery, and some impressive, strident primal screams from our resident pocket dynamo vocalist, again resplendent in iridescent floaty dress and pale stompy boots. However, they impressed overall with their youthful verve and enthusiasm, the Stereolab-rhythmic closer "Blame" proving a fine punctuation to a good set, from a band to watch.

Chats with a fellow front-row punter (who recalled seeing The Clash in 1977!) and a quick word with Thyla vocalist Millie bumped us up to showtime, the cumbersomely-named 5-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (henceforth RBCF) taking the dry-ice drenched and disco-ball backlit stage at 9.15. Thrashy guitar opener "The Hammer" set the tone immediately; this lot are all about the jangly guitar, a trio of vocalist-guitarists strumming away furiously, swapping vocal chores (often in the same song!), charging around the stage like prowling honeybadgers, propelling their predominantly upbeat, galloping material with intertwining riffery, coming across one minute like an early Wedding Present or even "Boo Boo"-era Big Dipper, the next jangling away like The Byrds or Real Estate at 78rpm. Or like an Olympic sprinter with a pocket full of marbles...

"Thanks for showing up - it's our first time here!" announced Fran Keaney, one of the vocalist/guitarist trio, before going on to compliment Portsmouth seafront castle ("we don't get castles in Australia!") and pier ("much more beautiful than Brighton!"). That aside, their frantic indie-college-pop spoke for them; the excellent "Talking Straight" was an early highlight, "Sisters Jeans" slower and more laconic, Tom Russo's more conversational vocal style coming across like a young Lou Reed or Jonathan Richman, and a later "Mainland" evoked a late Summer evening beach campfire vibe. A splendid, dynamically delivered set; if I have one criticism, it might be that on occasion the frantic jangle seemed somewhat relentless, a slight lack of variation in the material not allowing for much light and shade, but I'm being picky. I really like what they do, and how they do it.

"Can I remind you it's a full moon!" warned Tom before set closer "French Press", which saw an extensive wall-of-jangle interlude to finish. Quite appropriate really. A couple of equally frenetic encores saw this short-ish (just over the hour mark) and snappy set to a close, after which I grabbed a list and got signatures from the band, bassist Joe Russo taking my list backstage for his brother Tom to sign - apparently he was poorly, which didn't show as he'd put in a good shift tonight, leaving it all onstage. Fair play!

A chat outside with a couple of the Thyla lads about The Pixies as well, before a swift drive home (1 hour 20!). A long midweek jaunt to Portsmouth, sure, but well worth the pre-holiday faff for a couple of very promising guitar bands in Thyla and RBCF!

1,070 INHEAVEN, Thyla, Ocean Ruins, Reading Face Bar, Tuesday 6th February 2018

A frantic five-gig February is getting off to a frosty start with tonight’s Inheaven gig; threats of snow showers might have seen this one struck off my Spring (ha!) Dance Card, but luckily they were only threats, so I once again had the opportunity to catch up with the “live” shenanigans of a Very Promising Indeed young troupe, who produced last year’s best debut album with their eponymous effort, proving Desperate Journalist’s nearest rivals for best overall CD and most significant musical discovery of 2017 in the process. A crush collision of sleazy amped-up, punked-up rock’n’roll, elements of shoegaze and dreampop, subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle!) nods to the post-punk 80’s sonic landscape, plus great rosebush-festooned stage sets and flowery shirts. What’s not to like?

I didn’t like the journey to this one, though; no weather hold-ups, true, but red lights all the way out of Swindon and horrible roadworks stretching for miles on the M4 before Reading, saw me pitching up at the handily-placed but expensive car park around the corner from the venue, at 10 past 8 after a 1 hour 10 journey! To Reading! Yikes! So I arrived at this new venue, a scuzzy black-painted WMC-style room in an industrial unit (?!), halfway through the opening band’s set. Local lot Ocean Ruins (for t’was they) were shuffling through a set of passable grungy slacker rock, including one number entitled “Love Drunk” which prompted the willowy female vocalist’s dad, stood behind me, to comment, “not dad drunk… sorry Kate!” to his onstage offspring. Their final number, “Slow Drive” was their best by far; a slower, more layered dreampop/ shoegaze vibe which hinted at greater potential, albeit with much more practice needed, if only to iron out the vocalist’s occasional flat notes. Good luck to ‘em, anyway. Up in short order afterwards at 9 were tour support Thyla, a 4-piece led by a full-of-beans petite blonde bombshell in an iridescent short dress and Docs (nice!), and who seemed to have two distinct styles; loud-quiet-loud grungy thrash, or a pacier, more dynamic 90’s indie-pop driving groove with spooky pseudo-goth inflections, recalling Marion or Annie Christian. Unfortunately, the mix did the vocalist’s voice no favours, regularly submerging it under the growling guitar thrash, which was a shame as there was definitely some decent stuff under there. Their penultimate number, “Tell Each Other Lies” was their best for me, a groovy and more insistent number with a yelpalong chorus which I enjoyed from the back of the hall, searching for the sonic sweet spot!

I took a spot down the front, stage right, and at the appointed hour of 10, Inheaven came on to juddering feedback from the backing track. Despite their obvious enthusiasm, the gig took a couple of numbers to bed in, from both a sound perspective (soaring, tubthumping opener “Bitter Town” and the subsequent “Stupid Things” both sounding a little thin) and general atmosphere. However, by the incendiary direct driving drama of “Vultures”, the sound was fuller and more balanced, and the kids responded to vocalist James Taylor’s request for a circle pit during the Stooges proto-punk strut of “World On Fire”, a mosh continuing thereafter. It wasn’t all thrash and bash, however; a slower “Dream Of Me” saw a sway-along pit, “Drift” overlaid its’ bluesy scuzz with a haunting dreampop choral hook, and “Velvet” featured a dreamy melody with the dual male/female vocals from James and bassist, Swindon’s own Chloe Little, drifting hazily over like an eerie sea mist.

A riff-tastic “Treats” roared the mosh back into pulsating life, with Chloe’s combative verse rap leading to a roaring, American Hi-Fi-like chorus, and all too soon set finale “Regeneration” arrived, a terrace-chant flag waver looking for a stadium to fill, which saw James plus guitar launch into the frantic mosh, almost taking a couple of panels out of the low ceiling in the process! A fitting end to another splendid set, Inheaven continuing to walk the walk “live” with another powerful, committed and often incendiary performance.

A quick hug and chat with Chloe afterwards, who remembered me from previous gigs, as we continued our Bristol conversation about this very promising but clearly ambitious band looking to take the step up to bigger venues soon. “This time next year,” she promised, my departing remark being, “put me on the guest list then!” to her affirmative response. I’ll hold you to that, girl! Quick greetings with James on the way out, before I hit the chilly road to get home before it got too treacherous underfoot (or under wheel, as it were). No matter, it might have been chilly outside, but tonight Inheaven certainly brought the heat!