Last Week In London
- Posted on February 4, 2008 10:02 AM
- 0 comments
French Fields, Spitalfields and Smithfield
By Peter Coulston
Hello and welcome to the live music scene here in the capital; this is where it was all happening. As promised, the emphasis has been on bands and the action started early; midday on Sunday to be precise, which is very unusual for this, and most other reviewers. The place was The Barfly at Chalk Farm and the occasion was the first of three Camden concerts in one day by Simple Plan, a rock/pop band from Montreal. I could not resist this gig, even at such an ungodly hour on a Sunday, as the band hails from one of my favourite cities, the magnificent capital of La Belle Provence de Quebec in Canada. Montreal is a cross between New York and Paris and can boast the best of both in that the food is superb and the city never sleeps. Montreal does not find 24 hour drinking to be a problem, mes amis, so why do we?
This band is a credit to that fine city and consists of Pierre Bouvier on vocals, Chuck Comeau on drums, David Desrostiers on bass and vocals, Sebastian Lefebre on guitar and Jeff Stinco on lead guitar; all good Quebecois boys who know a strong melody and a tight harmony when they write one. They are also absolute masters at playing an audience with their argumentative banter and ongoing gags such as David Desrostiers’ obsession with statistics. They had the audience eating out of their hands by playing all the old favourites, despite having a new album to promote. All their songs have great hooks and lyrics and the opener, 'I’d Do Anything' set the pace for things to come. The dedicated audience seemed to know every word of 'I Wanna Go Home', 'You Don’t Mean Anything To Me' and 'My Alien', and most of them had tickets to the other two gigs as well. It was certainly a great way to spend a Sunday lunchtime and start the week and I would like to catch these guys again and hear their new album, 'Still Not Getting Any' out on Lava/Warner Records and available on myspace/simpleplan. Merci beaucoup et bon chance, mes amis; it was a good one.
After such a busy and invigorating weekend, I rested up until Wednesday, when I navigated a route to Shoreditch, just east of the City of London to visit Industry, a modern bar on Curtain Street, which is close to Liverpool Street Station. This bar has live music downstairs and was featuring a programme of three bands promoted by Plum Promotions. The venue itself is also very modern in the style of a hotel cocktail bar; in fact, the barman on duty that night was obviously skilled in that area, although I did not avail myself.
The problem was the sound, which did no favours to any of the bands who all deserved better. This is apparently an ongoing problem at this gig and needs to be addressed. The show opened with The Steeples, a very young and energetic bunch from Ormskirk who moved effortlessly between rock, jug band, ska and the music hall style songs that are part of the repertoire for most northern bands and very popular on certain radio stations. They sounded at times like Lovin’ Spoonfull and the lead singer, Andy Culshaw, bore an uncanny resemblance to John Sebastian, glasses and all.
Good songs and melodies from a versatile young band, too bad we couldn’t hear all the lyrics. They have a myspace and are on Easy Money Records.
Helzuki are from Bedford, and suffered the same problem with the vocals. This alternative melodramatic pop band are fronted by Leah Kardas on vocals and keys and Kristian Purcell on vocals and guitar and are very good at what they do, equipment allowing. Problems with their own sound check didn’t help, but there is certainly a good band in there with strong vocals and good songs which we were not able to fully appreciate. 'Intimacy' and 'Never Leave The Ground' stood out and Kristian is a devil with his feedback. A good looking band that I will check out again. They also are on myspace.
The band that suffered the most with the sound were the Dutch pop/electronic prog. outfit, Foundlings, who rely heavily on a good sound mix for the two guitars and the audience being able to hear the almost spoken vocals. Influenced by such diverse directions as My Bloody Valentine, Art Blakey and Joni Mitchell, I really felt for this band, who left the stage very dissatisfied with their performance, which was not really their fault. In the right surroundings, they, like those before them, could have given the audience a great show, as the musicianship and dedication was clearly there. They are on myspace and I recommend them, as well as the other two bands. Maybe the venue is better suited to acoustic.
On Thursday night I was back in a mostly acoustic groove at a gig set up by the same promoters at that most endearing of pubs, the Betsy Trotwood. Located on Farringdon Road, just north of Farringdon Tube Station, it is a cosy, welcoming establishment with good food sourced from nearby Smithfield Meat Market and a fine selection of whiskies for those who enjoy a tipple. The club in the basement is recently refurbished but still very intimate with great acoustics. The first to appear was Elijah Wolf, an acoustic/ alternative singer songwriter currently based in Dorset where he is working on his debut album. He is influenced by the great singer/songwriters of years gone by and has a great voice and guitar style to present his excellent songs. 'Nothing Stopping You' and 'Camouflage' were well crafted ballads, and his soon to be released single 'Queen Of England' is darker and quite commercial. A good set heard by too few people at this early slot in the evening.
Mark Alder and The Baudelaires are an indie/jazz group who dabble in what I call bordello pop, with a gypsy sound and something of the night about it. They also do country and rock and are influenced by Dresden Dolls, Feist and Michael Newman among others. Mark has a good voice and the material is pretty good but not memorable. Given the right song, this band could go places. They are on myspace and Randomcolour Records.
The actual reason for being at this charming establishment on Thursday was the official launch of 'Allow It To Come On', the debut album by Jack Cheshire. I heard and reviewed this album already, and enjoyed it immensely after each listen. Jack’s performance on Thursday was spot on, with each song benefiting from the good acoustics and relaxed vibe of the club to compliment Jack’s strong vocals and guitar. He did all my favourites, including 'Little Moon', 'Fireworks' and 'Memory Gland' as well as the title track and the audience loved all of it. I have said before that this guy grows on you, and I have no reason to change my opinion. Check his myspace, buy the album and go to his gigs; he’ll grow on you too. Here we are, at the end of another week and I, at this point, haven’t a clue what I will be covering next week, although it is a Zarathustra night at the 12 Bar on Thursday. So, visit me again in about seven days when all will be revealed, and in the meantime, stay safe and well and keep gigging.
Related links:
Simple Plan Electric Ballroom review.
Interview with The Steeples frontman Andy Culshaw.
Album review - Jack Cheshire.
More weekly gig round-ups by Peter Coulston.
Concert tickets and listings on Seatwave.
Tags
Last Week In London Blake, peter coulston
Post a comment
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.seatwaveblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2606
