My aim this year is to get to more new bands. I’d listened online to a number of bands playing the HMV and NME 2012 shows. My pick were Alabama Shakes. Unfortunately their gig clashed with the Jezabels gig and I’d already purchased the tickets. So I put them on the back burner. I hadn’t realised that they were also doing two extra dates at the Boston Arms. Luckily I managed to catch a late release of tickets for the middle gig of their three night stint and I’m so glad I did.
The Alabama Shakes are not trying to do anything new. In fact their only aim appears to be to do things the way they used to be done, and to do it very well. They’re a five piece from Athens, Alabama playing blues, rock and soul music the way it used to be in the 60s and 70s.
In the lead singer Brittany Howard they have a lady with one hell of a good set of pipes. Think Janis Joplin, full-on gravelly soulful voice. This woman is the real deal. Voices like this don’t come along every day. Off course, without a good band around her, the voice wouldn’t work. Luckily, the band are good, bloody good. They’re as tight as tight can be.
These guys deserve to be big. Unfortunately, I think their sound is too retro, so I suspect they won’t be. But they now have one very big fan in me. Brilliant new band.
The Jezabels played Koko tonight for one of the NME’s Award shows with Dry the River, Kai Fish and Hey Sholay. Three excellent bands and Kai Fish (more on this later).
The first band up were Hey Sholay. A band from Sheffield. The band were excellent and the relatively big early crowd appreciated their energy. According to the lead singer, the band had signed their first record deal that day and it clearly fired them up leading to an enjoyable engaging set. Hopefully this won’t be the last time I see them.
Hey Sholay
Next up was ‘Kai Fish’. A google of his name after the gig revealed he is the bassist in the Mystery Jets. They’re not a band I have really listened to, so I had no preconceived ideas. What I heard was frankly awful. One of the worst support sets ever. The songs were insipid. I wasn’t even sure if the singer was trying some kind of ‘Spinal Tap’ spoof. He’d clearly modelled his appearance on ‘Trevor and Simon’ from ‘Live and Kicking’. When he put his guitar down and then started to ‘dad dance’ his way through his set, I was even more convinced that he was having a joke at our expense. But despite this, there appeared to be a section of the crowd clearly enjoying his set. Me, it left me thinking that Steve Coogan does this type of comedy so much better.
Kai Fish
After the blip, it was back to the good stuff. I think Dry the River will be big this year. I didn’t think I’d seen them before. It turned out, I’d seen them twice last year, once supporting Bombay Bicycle Club and I think I caught them at SXSW. They’re in the ‘folk indie’, maybe not as firmly as the Mumford and Sons and Noah and the Whale, as they do have heavier more mainstream indie as part of the armoury. But they are very good.
Dry The River
Tonight’s headline were the Jezabels, a band I’d really enjoyed at SXSW catching their set at the Sonicbids party and later that day catching the end of their set at the Australia party. I’ve since caught them at XOYO and Heaven. They’re a four piece indie band from Australia. I really like the lead singer, Hayley’s voice. She has a powerful voice that can soar and drive a song forward. Arguably their material isn’t that strong. But Hayley’s voice as she manically moves round the stage lifts them above the merely standard. Tonight’s set had some new material that I think needs some bedding-in, but overall the set was up to their excellent standards.
The Jezabels
Howler have received a lot of positive press recently. They’ve just finished supporting the (over-hyped) Vaccines and there’s some similarities between their sound and the Vaccines. They’ve got that old fashioned ‘surfy’ poppy indie sound. Similar to the Vaccines, they’re over-hyped, but that’s not to say they aren’t good. You’ve heard their sound before. But live they’re full of energy and in a similar way to the Drums try to balance ‘indie’ with ‘poppyness’ and they do a pretty good job for walking that fine line.
My first proper gig of 2012. A trip down to Madame JoJo’s in Soho, a new venue for me. Madame JoJo’s is a cabaret club during the rest of the week and every Tuesday it hosts a weekly indie night. The major surprise with the sound quality in the club. The sound had a ‘lo-fi”ness. This isn’t meant to be derogatory. The sound had a ‘valve’ sound and a character that really suited the club and benefitted the music.Tonight Race Horses were playing. I’d seen Race Horses at British Sea Power’s mini festival at Tan Hill Inn and enjoyed their poppy 70s sound. Support was from ‘The Cast of Cheers’.
Cast of Cheers
Race Horses
Race Horses
