Post by neilcrud on Sept 11, 2008 20:15:45 GMT
DELAYED PROMISE
SOMETHING PERSONAL
RALPH LATHAM
Zu Bar, Rhyl 10.09.08
SOMETHING PERSONAL
RALPH LATHAM
Zu Bar, Rhyl 10.09.08
(review n pix by neil crud)
My hopeful thoughts prior to tonight's opening gig at Rhyl's latest venue were of something similar to Liverpool's season; it'd start off slow, and by christmas it would really burst into life and go from strength to strength.
The set up is good, a house PA and hopefully (that word again) a management who will realise that a Wednesday night in his club without the bands would mean he got the night off, as everywhere else in town is dead, and people only come out on a school night if there's something worth coming for. His secret is to ensure Zu Bar doesn't lose any money hosting these nights and our (as in everyone) priority is to ensure we tell our friends that Wednesday nights are back and we're having a good time.
In fairness the turnout was better than I expected for an opening night at the start of hurricane season and talking of hurricanes, in stormed Llanrug's Something Personal (top pic) with bags of energy and lashings of songs. I was hesistant about seeing their set, I had caught them on S4C's Bandit a few years ago and had them listed under 'Poor Welsh Language Rubbish' - nothing wrong with the Welsh language, it was just they were playing mediocre ballad-pop songs in the hope that Sain Records would snap them up for an all important Principality deal and then they could forever play the Welsh circuit and Young Farmer's Clubs. That's not a bad thing, you get played on the radio, get to be on TV, you get adulation from knicker wetting teenage fans (some of them female!) and you feel like a superstar. Sounds great doesn't it.... And it is until you realise you're never going to make any money on the Welsh circuit. A lesson from Y Cyrff and Ffa Coffi Pawb will teach you that it's all well and good playing to 100 people in Machynlleth, but by the 14th time you've been there, both you and your audience are getting a little too familar and you'll have to spawn into Catatonia and the Super Furry Animals and head over the border.
That said, no band, Welsh, bi-lingual or otherwise has any God given right to be big simply for the fact they've left the mother-country to seek fame and fortune. Many have tried, many have failed, but Something Personal do possess certain qualities that may bode them well on the road ahead. Charisma by the bucketful, the energy of a Force 10 and sheer rock'n'roll puts them on a higher plain already.
They also probably take more drugs than a touring funk band and from an explosive opening on stage they came across like a punked up Alarm. That description would probably be the death knell for any band, and yet that's how The Alarm won their audiences over in London all those years ago - through 100mph driven stage shows.
Something Personal do it far better live than in the studio; nothing wrong with the songs, but on stage it's cranked up and belted out, so maybe a live recording would be the perfect demo to accompany such a great live set.
Singer Johnno cracks out, 'Nothing makes sense no more,' with his Starsailor / Pocket Venus persona while the rest of the band are playing some strung out blues in a Keith Richards' death rattle stylee. Brilliant.
Ralph Latham (pic above), a dab hand at impromtu acoustic sets, did just that to open proceedings and compensate the fact that his band Junebug had to pull out as their drummer was imminently about to become a father. Although they they could've incorporated the birth into the set they opted for the more polite approach the wheeled Mr Sunshine himself (Ralph) on instead.
With the graveyard slot going to Manchester's Delayed Promise (pic above) you do fear the worst as Rhyl don't seem to do headliners. But opening with the new track Suggestion, it (excuse the pun) suggested they weren't here to simply make up the numbers. Being no strangers to Rhyl, they can also boast about being the English band who've played the most in this one horse town. And like Something Personal, there was leaps and bounds of improvement from the band I saw two or three years ago in Bar Blu again with lots of energy and enthusiasm and good tunes.
Nice one - see you (and your friends) next week.