Post by markwj on Feb 8, 2008 12:51:43 GMT
The Mephs, Portait of a Lifetime, In Quiet
Speakers Corner, Colwyn Bay
1/2/08
Don’t know what it was about this weekend, perhaps everyone had got the “most depressing day of the year” out of the way and was up for fun again, but it seemed there were gigs galore. So tonight the tossup was between Joop in Bangor, the Litten Tree with added dodgy pole dancers, and my choice. Back to my current favourite local(ish), friendly staff, ever changing artwork, exotic beers (all hail the Golden Pheasant!), and ultimately an always in-yer-face show in the somewhat cramped conditions. Even the local stalker wasn’t hassling tonight.
This small, unintentionally disjointed local tour was put together by Jamie from Portrait and I for one appreciated his intention of bringing new band In Quiet to wider attention. At first I couldn’t get a handle on their angular, convoluted melodies, but then realised it wasn’t necessary to, a wide variety of influences had obviously gone into the mix and reflected in their inventive style. The raw emotion from the front man came across brilliantly, as they all put heart into their show, and dipped into some powerful heavier stuff at times. The intelligent quirkiness of Talking Heads or Jarcrew came to mind and look forward to seeing them again.
POAL go from strength to strength in my opinion and estimation, and as usual their performance is a blast. As ever Jamie is in among the gathered throng, preaching to the largely already converted. His brother Stuart, replacing Neitsche, is on live backing of their keyboard and electronic vibes and there are some huge beats provided. At times they resemble the quality of “Fat of the land” era Prodigy, especially with the guitar stabs and breaks, but there’s so much more besides. What is so pleasing for me is at the same time that they can seem an accessible, dance party friendly band they can swiftly veer to extreme brutality of digital hardcore, riding the knife edge of entertainment and challenge/confrontation at the same time, the same philosophy that sustained Skinflick. At long last pick up a copy of their EP and it’s a good reflection of their quality but live they remain a real experience
The Mephs are putting in a lot of local gigging work and after seeing them with a bit of a poor sound in Bangor around Xmas tonight they came across a lot better. This benefits their galloping metal/rock as there is good melody and interplay between the guitars, but unfortunately Jess’s vocals still are a bit indistinct so there are no real hooks to pick up on. Having heard their ep there’s a lot of style there but they don’t seem to be progressing from their initial good and interesting impression when I first saw them live. My train of thought is on its way home so I leave to the familiar strains of their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera” which is a good one for the road/rail anyway.
Speakers Corner, Colwyn Bay
1/2/08
Don’t know what it was about this weekend, perhaps everyone had got the “most depressing day of the year” out of the way and was up for fun again, but it seemed there were gigs galore. So tonight the tossup was between Joop in Bangor, the Litten Tree with added dodgy pole dancers, and my choice. Back to my current favourite local(ish), friendly staff, ever changing artwork, exotic beers (all hail the Golden Pheasant!), and ultimately an always in-yer-face show in the somewhat cramped conditions. Even the local stalker wasn’t hassling tonight.
This small, unintentionally disjointed local tour was put together by Jamie from Portrait and I for one appreciated his intention of bringing new band In Quiet to wider attention. At first I couldn’t get a handle on their angular, convoluted melodies, but then realised it wasn’t necessary to, a wide variety of influences had obviously gone into the mix and reflected in their inventive style. The raw emotion from the front man came across brilliantly, as they all put heart into their show, and dipped into some powerful heavier stuff at times. The intelligent quirkiness of Talking Heads or Jarcrew came to mind and look forward to seeing them again.
POAL go from strength to strength in my opinion and estimation, and as usual their performance is a blast. As ever Jamie is in among the gathered throng, preaching to the largely already converted. His brother Stuart, replacing Neitsche, is on live backing of their keyboard and electronic vibes and there are some huge beats provided. At times they resemble the quality of “Fat of the land” era Prodigy, especially with the guitar stabs and breaks, but there’s so much more besides. What is so pleasing for me is at the same time that they can seem an accessible, dance party friendly band they can swiftly veer to extreme brutality of digital hardcore, riding the knife edge of entertainment and challenge/confrontation at the same time, the same philosophy that sustained Skinflick. At long last pick up a copy of their EP and it’s a good reflection of their quality but live they remain a real experience
The Mephs are putting in a lot of local gigging work and after seeing them with a bit of a poor sound in Bangor around Xmas tonight they came across a lot better. This benefits their galloping metal/rock as there is good melody and interplay between the guitars, but unfortunately Jess’s vocals still are a bit indistinct so there are no real hooks to pick up on. Having heard their ep there’s a lot of style there but they don’t seem to be progressing from their initial good and interesting impression when I first saw them live. My train of thought is on its way home so I leave to the familiar strains of their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera” which is a good one for the road/rail anyway.