GIG REVIEW: The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
- Posted on November 24, 2007 6:03 PM
- 0 comments
The Victorian English Gentlemans Club
(Supporting Sons and Daughters)
Islington Academy. Wednesday 21st Nov.
Review By Zarina Raja
Even though I was at the Islington Academy to see Sons and Daughters, I found myself wanting to write about the Victorian English Gentlemens Club more. Sons and Daughters were good too though; lots of strong girl vocals, glitzy dresses and a lead-singer cooler than Lovefoxxx of CSS. They stormed the Islington Academy with a funky set of jumpy guitars, sexy slurring vocals and some Glaswegian glamour. They fall between bands such as CSS and Howling Bells, sprinkling some more glittering girls into the music scene. But the Victorian English Gentlmen’s Club, they were something else.
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club are a three piece band with Adam Taylor on guitars and vocals, Louise Mason on bass and vocals and Emma Daman on drums and vocals. Their set included a lot of foot-stamping and drum-banging, with bass-thick songs covered in singing-screamy vocals that cut their music with an old-school yet unique sound. I don’t know what it was about them but The Victorian English Gentlemens club made me stop and stare.
Some of the songs almost sounded out of tune but still managed to stir the air in Islington. I’m not sure how many others thought that TVEGC were good, but I certainly did. They are definitely a band that needs to be appreciated live; if you just listen to their MySpace, you will miss the vital ingredient – what that ingredient is, I’m not sure. I think it is the raw air that lingers around them whilst they play.
Visually, they look cool too; with a bassist resembling Hole’s Melissa Auf De Mer and a drummer, dressed in a velvet dress with a bright pink sash, who had an air as mysterious as Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan. Throughout the gig, she stood up over her drums as if sitting down was boring; she certainly didn't fade in to the background as a lot of drummers do. She smashed her kit with feisty thumps, slamming her foot on the stage as she did, making sure that everyone knew she was no ordinary drummer . Adam Taylor, the guitarist, looked like he had been holed up in his bedroom since he was fifteen with only a guitar for company and still had not had the chance to get a haircut. Despite this, as the token boy in the band, he rocked that geeky-boy with guitar look.
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club played outside of the mainstream musical boundaries. Possibly an acquired taste, but definitely a band worth seeing live; a band you will either love or hate.
www.thevictorianenglishgentlemensclub.co.uk/
www.sonsanddaughtersloveyou.com/
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