Gigathon Part One

So the next few weeks sees us here at Easynoiz seeing lots of gigs. There are student loans to be spent on tickets and merch, free shows a plenty and a whole host of sweet bands hitting London town. Here are reviews of the first two of these gigs from this week. There will be a lot more in the days to come

Self Loathing/Battle For Paris/Goodtime Boys

There is something awkward about when a band gives it their all and gets nothing back from the crowd. Yet that was, sadly, the vibe filling the basement at the Star of Kings last Wednesday when Goodtime Boys came to town at the start of their European tour.

With Witch Cult pulling out of the show at the last moment (having split up) Battle For Paris were drafted in to fill the second support slot, but first up were Essex screamers Self Loathing. Blending hardcore and power-violence with a reckless abandon may have resulted in some cosmic riffs thoroughly worth a good head bang but it also seemed to piss off the venue sound man who, as a result, refused to make any vocals audible. As a result the mic seemed to make no difference at all and the set fell a bit flat. Possibly the best sound check I’ve ever seen mind you…

Battle For Paris got off to a good start by having vocals and things only got better from there. Playing material from their upcoming debut LP and sounding like a slightly less mental Rolo Tomassi (minus the female vocalist and with marginally less complex rhythms) they behaved like a toddler who’s just drunk Red Bull for the first time. Jerking around the stage, swinging from the ceiling and generally being live wires they were most excellent., spasmodic rhythms, raw vocals and songs about ‘swimming with bow legged women’ all combined nicely. Next time they’re in town, look them up.

By the time Goodtime Boys hit the stage the crowd was still sparse which for a free show of such high quality was a little odd. The Defeater/Trash Talk show up in Camden was probably the reason why, but the lack of faces didn’t seem to stop the Welsh band from (as ever) giving it their all. A new bass player hasn’t affected their liv show one bit, with a tight rhythm section underlying the squalls of guitar and furious vocals of Alex Pennie. The older tracks were as strong as ever and the new stuff hinted at a bright future, delivered with the promise that it would be released at some point. However the whole thing was overshadowed by the real lack of response. The band hinted at it themselves but it seemed to be that although people appreciated what they were seeming, they still couldn’t be bothered to get involved. I always thought that was part of what made live shows so fun…

Still, a very good show with some excellent bands. Full marks to Pink Mist for putting this on, London dwellers should keep their eyes peeled for more of this stuff.

Patchx

The Wonder Years/Saves The Day/Yellowcard

I would like to transport Eazynoiz readers back to 2007, where a younger me had just exchanged a gift voucher for WH smiths with my mother for £10. Being 14/15 a ten pound note is a lot of money so I immediately headed to HMV to buy a cd. Browsing amongst the aisles I saw a sign saying new releases and saw a band called Yellowcard staring back at me. Having recognized the name from the soundtrack of snowboarding game Amped 2 I bought in on impulse, and since then I've never looked back. Fast-forward to the 2011 and me and Patrick were stood in the queue for what would be our first time seeing Yellowcard.

We got inside paying a fairly reasonable £6 for the cloakroom and waited for support band The Wonder Years to begin playing. I'm a big fan of The Wonder Years' earlier work (get stoked on it) but with the release of the new album their set was mainly new songs, which wasn't too much of a problem as they threw in some songs off The Upsides to keep people happy. Although the band were insanely lively (and surprisingly well sounding considering HMV forum) the crowd seemed a bit dull but nothing could truly prepare us for what was coming next.

Saves The Day are basically the grandfathers of the "emo" sound so clearly a lot of the people who were feverishly waiting to see them were quite old, and with a back-catalogue that spans 16 years they had a lot of material to choose from. Now I'm not a massive Saves The Day fan, but the hour and 13 minutes that I had to endure has sadly put me off for life. It's not that they didn't perform well as the audio was clear and they are certainly a lively bunch on stage when playing their more up-beat songs but the set just seemed to consist of mainly very very very very long songs which were neither here nor there. Their set obviously offered a lot for fans of STD but for someone who hasn't really got an interest in them, they bored me more than the second half of Glassjaw did when i saw them in May.

With Saves The Day draining the life out of me, and Yellowcard running late I was beginning to become agitated, but all my agitation and annoyance immediately left the minute Yellowcard dived onto the stage. Playing a combination of new songs, including one of my favourites "With You Around" and classics from older albums including Lights & Sounds and the much ignored Cut Me, Mick the setlist left no song too out of place and the stage energy was something to be witnessed considering violinist Sean Mackin kept doing backflips off the drum kit. As the set was drawing to a close and the curfew drawing near, vocalist Ryan Key thanked everyone for coming out and supporting YC and encouraging them to keep making music before leaving a dramatic pause and leading everyone on closing track of their set, Ocean Avenue which had everyone from the seated to the standing singing along.

But all this crucial analysis aside, one thing remains certain never underestimate bands that you liked when you were a child, because although their popularity may have decreased as musical trends dictates, when they come on and put on such a lively and thoughtful show, I couldn't help feeling like the 14 year old boy listening to all of Lights And Sound before school, and that's what this gig and hopefully all gigs should be about: remembering the past and creating new memories for the future.

owen
xoxox