Post by neilcrud on Jun 25, 2007 19:43:51 GMT
TAB-D
G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S
Pure Sound
Star & Garter Manchester
21st June 2007
G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S
Pure Sound
Star & Garter Manchester
21st June 2007
(review n pix by Phil Newall)
Perhaps as it was only hours before Glastonbury that caused the rather sparse audience, but for those that ventured to Manchester’s Star & Garter on a damp Thursday there were pleasures to behold..
My own interest and attendance was guaranteed by the presence of a couple of members of Goldblade appearing tonight in the guise of occasional ‘side-projects’ along with previous members of 80’s legends A Witness and Inca Babies.
First up were Pure Sound, who it has to be said are well and truly rooted in that late 80’s ‘lets sound like Throbbing Gristle’ genre however they lacked the very essence, the danger, the challenge that made Gristle stand out. To be honest it’s was let’s be weird for the sake of it, and even then it seemed that they had to work at it.
After a rather silent interlude (Whatever ever happened to the obligatory dub?) G.O.R.G.O.U.S stepped onto the stage; this is where the Goldblade connection begins - G.O.R.G.O.U.S being fronted by Blade guitarist Pete Brychmore, accompanied by ex colleagues from The Nightingales. I’ve seen Pete many many times stood stock still ‘machine gunning’ the Blade audiences, so it was initially quite odd to see him as a front-man. However it’s a role he admirably carried, a good strong voice to complement what can only be described as pop music, but decent pop music, none of your Cowell/SAW shite - These are well written catchy tunes with intelligent and humorous lyrics; Its being lazy but to draw comparisons I immediately thought of the best bits of Dexys, the pop genius of Shelly’s Children, and all delivered like Carter USM. Stand out songs being ‘Bad Missionary’ with its lyrical reference to Pete’s earlier band The Nightingales. Pete’s vocals are complimented by the softer voice of Karen, together forming a sort of call and refrain set up that worked particularly well on ‘The Prodigal Scum’
Sadly the few people in the audience where on the whole unaccustomed with the materiel, self included – I just got the feeling that seeing G.O.R.G.O.U.S perhaps on home turf with a good crowd would be a rather special occasion. I did however pick up their CD ‘Cursed With Being G.O.R.G.O.U.S’ (Iron Man Records IMB 6005) and a damn fine listen it is too.
Back to the silence before TAB-D clambered onto stage; the second band of the night with the Goldblade connection – This time TAB-D being the side project of Goldblade drummer Rob Haynes accompanied by previous members of Inca Babies, this freedom obviously allowing him to delve into the drumming and song style of some of his own personal favourites. Prior to Goldblade he was a member of semi industrial outfit Houndgod; well he obviously hasn’t lost his fondness for pounding drums, particularly reminiscent of Killing Jokes darker periods. The songs were delivered rapid fire with little time for introduction and were on the whole solid pounding numbers with rasping vocals fairly typical of the genre. The band on their website state “SONGS ABOUT: diseases, madness, mind control, capitalist conspiracies, funny stuff.... life, the universe, everything...” I suppose from that you could surmise they ain’t going to be pop ditties
Apparently TAB-D only perform together perhaps once every 12mths or so, despite this they were certainly tight, pummelling the audience into submission! Well worth a further investigation.
However I was forced to cut short the night missing the final band Gila Monsters
On the whole a good night, and an interesting chance to see what members of my favourite band otherwise get up to.
www.myspace.com/tabde
www.myspace.com/gorgeous
www.ironmanrecords.co.uk