Well I’m certainly late with this one. The gig I’m about to talk about actually took place ten days ago, and a bunch of reasons have stopped me writing about it until now. First off I was just incredibly tired in the day or two afterwards (who’d have thought driving into London is tiring?), then I waited for some fantastic pictures of the event. This was followed by a busy weekend and finally, I got sidetracked on tuesday night by my team’s spectacular victory at the local pub quiz. Which may seem pathetic, but given we’ve been trying for two years to win the bloody thing, it was quite an achievement.
Anyway, it’s last monday’s gig that we’re here to talk about. Most people who know me know that I’ve always sworn I wouldn’t drive into London. It’s surprising what the oppurtunity to see a fantastic new band will do to you though. Armed with my trusty GPS navigation system (probably the only one in a Daewoo Matiz..), I set off for London and found myself outside the venue around an hour later. The only problem in this is that although I was right outside the venue (Water Rats, Kings Cross area), I couldn’t actually park there until 7pm. Knowing what London traffic wardens are supposed to be like, I quickly picked up Simon via parking in a taxi rank, which I somehow got away with, and then spent the next half hour circling the venue until I could actually park. Which isn’t the most thing to do in a busy part of London, but there doesn’t appear to be much else in the way of options.
Apparently for London gigs, no one actually bothers with the earliest band on the bill, particularly when there are four of them. There were around ten of us in the room for Julian Donkey Boy, the opening act, and yet they turned out to be one of the highlights of the night. I’m not sure whether they are a full band or a solo outlet with a backing group, but they put on a good little show, largely made up of fairly upbeat country-ish numbers, and a couple of slowed down acoustic songs. They were also very cool in that they gave both me and Simon free CDs later on during the night.
MP3 Julian Donkey Boy - From Here To There
Julian Donkey Boy: Website || Myspace
Next up were Royal Treatment Plant, a London band that I wasn’t familiar with before the show. I’m going to be perfectly honest and admit that I didn’t take to them very much at all. Between their first few songs not really grabbing us and the insane heat of the venue, we headed outside for some much needed fresh air, thinking we hadn’t missed very much. This feeling somewhat shifted to regret a couple of days later when I was sent their new single, and it (and their other songs) are pretty damn good. I’ll be featuring them in an individual post in a few days so I won’t talk too much about the single here, but it was certainly a missed oppurtunity, despite the need for air.
MP3 Royal Treatment Plant - You Don’t Need Me
Royal Treatment Plant: Website || Myspace
We wandered back in just in time to see The Hot Puppies starting, who are apparently quite popular these days (I have no idea what the kids are listening to), but once again they didn’t really do very much for us either. Which led to even more standing outside for fresh air, which turned out to be a very smart move given how insanely packed it was going to be for the Los Campesinos! part of the show.
Getting back in just as the band were finishing their set up and it was clear to see exactly what kind of show this was going to be. I don’t get to anywhere near as many gigs as I’d like, but it was obvious that this was no ordinary show. Surrounding us in the back section of the room was a ton of older men in suits, some armed with video cameras to record the event. Yes folks, this was an industry show. Apparently representitives from a ton of important labels were in the audience, kind of proving (without blowing our collective trumpets) the power that a combination of bloggers and the Drowned In Sound message board has over the industry these days.
Ironically enough, it was the opening to Los Campesinos! set that was the weakest part of their set. Opening with the ten minute instrumental prog rock piece ‘Hold On Now Youngster’ may prove that everyone can play their instruments well, but it doesn’t really get an excited crowd going. They were largely expecting upbeat, poppy numbers that could be danced to, instead the mood was kind of killed. Things picked up shortly afterwards though with a rendition of ‘Death To Los Campesinos!’, which although plagued with little technical problems (largely Aleksandra’s mic volume being way too low), was still a hell of a lot of fun. They followed this up with a bunch of ‘new’ songs (highlight being ‘We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives’), all of which proved they have more than the four known songs in them. All of this was slotted between a fair bit of nervous banter between the band and the crowd, amusingly leading to the band declaring that they aren’t really from Cardiff, with each band member rattling off where they were from (Surrey to Russia, and everywhere in between). They powered through their songs, bringing the show to a close with a triple bill of ‘favourites’: ‘You! Me! Dancing!’, ‘It Started With a Mixx’ and ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’, all of which seemed to make the crowd insanely happy.
Overall, the show was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t entirely perfect. The opener didn’t do the band any favours, there were minor technical problems throughout and on a few occasions, someone in the band messed something up. This isn’t meant to be taken as a criticism, this was something like their seventh time playing live (remember they have only existed as a band for a few months) and so this kind of thing is to be expected. I also doubt having half of the music industry breathing down their necks really helped things all that much either. So are Los Campesinos! ready for the big time? Probably not, but they will be soon enough. Let’s just hope this early expectation doesn’t hinder their chances in any way.
Setlist: Hold On Now Youngster // Death To Los Campesinos! // Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(s) // Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats // We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives // No Tetris // You! Me! Dancing! // It Started With A Mixx // Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
MP3 Los Campesinos! - Death To Los Campesinos! (expired)
MP3 Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing! (expired)
MP3 Los Campesinos! - It Started With A Mixx (expired)
MP3 Los Campesinos! - Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks (expired)
Los Campesinos!: Myspace
All Photos: Nick Ross Photography
Much as I try to feature a wide range of music on Another Form of Relief, it’s pretty obvious where my tastes lie. Indie guitar pop makes up the vast majority of what I listen to, and thus it’s what is featured most commonly on here. As such, it may seem pretty unusual for me to feature a French singer-songwriter who makes mellow acoustic songs. But that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
Our second Michigan band is the awesomely titled That’s Him! That’s The Guy! may sound like some large indie twee pop collective, but instead, it’s just two guys with four first names. Joseph Scott and David Martin are “a sort of folk duo”, a vague yet accurate description of what they do.
