Live review: Guillemots

Guillemots
Nottingham Rock City, 3rd June
Support: Royworld (zzzzzzz)

For better or for worse, no pics for this one. Sorry! (Above pic is from some other show - hence Fyfe’s long flowing locks, rather than the messy Dylan-esque mop he sports nowadays)

The Guillemots have been famed for their weird and wacky live shows - improvising songs based off topics suggested by the audience, running through the crowd banging dust bins etc. Tonight, as the foursome play in support of new(ish) album Red, there is none of the quirky theatrics - just a tight, well-played set.

Before I get ahead of myself, I should probably talk about the support act, Royworld.

…

Do I really have to?

I guess so.

Okay. Royworld are very dull. They are, to paraphrase a Monty Python sketch, extremely dull. An appallingly dull band, unimaginative, timid, lacking in initiative, spineless, easily dominated, no sense of humour, tedious company and irrepressibly drab and awful. The singer looks like Elbow’s Guy Garvey, with none of the songwriting talent, wit or distinctive voice; the band itself sounds like a second-rate Coldplay-knock-off; the kind of inoffensive rubbish that gets played on Radio 2 (them again) and mobile phone adverts.

Christ, they even look dull

All the songs slowly seemed to dissolve into one - a fact not helped by the lack of any in-between song banter, charming or otherwise (which is rather essential when you’re a support act - especially one with such turgid music) - the supposedly “epic” and the “ballads” all sounding the same. I drifted off for a bit - luckily, I was sitting down at this point - and instead started to compile a mix CD for a girl who was at the gig with me, whom I didn’t really know - although I quickly found she had a pretty bad, and limited, taste in music (no, she didn’t like Royworld - although that would have tied in nicely - but she expressed interest in both Genesis and Travis).

Eventually, after what seemed like a lifetime (that’s an exagerration, but not by much), the boring foursome (I assume) got bored of themselves too, and sodded off backstage.

Download “Man in the Machine” (if you need proof of how boring they are)
Buy their album (if you’re having trouble sleeping)
Royworld on MySpace

After the roadies spend the better part of half an hour setting everything up (want a fun way to pass the time at this part of the gig? Assign one of the roadies a name, and then give them a varied and interesting backstory, including bands they’ve worked with, and roadie-based awards they’ve won - although this may only be “fun” if you’re as easily amused as my friends and I).

Fyfe and co take to the stage with Mr Dangerfield (please, Lord, let that be his real name) accompanying himself with slightly-pants cheap-ass Casio keyboard on “Made-up Lovesong #43″ (only for a couple of verses, then the full band came in), and the band went through some sterling renditions of *deep breath* “Clarion”, “Through the Windowpane”, “Falling out of Reach”, “Last Kiss”, “Standing on the Last Star”, “Words”,
“Don’t Look Down”, “If The World Ends” - a few slow ballads in the middle here threaten to make the set sag, until a positivley dance-able version of “Annie, Let’s Not Wait” (although the pretty muted crowd didn’t actually, err, dance) makes an appearance.

It was around the time that the group launched into a punk-rocky version of single “Get Over It” - Fyfe replete in Hoxton-tosspot style glasses - that I realised why Guillemots were a different band live than any other I’ve seen - they’re a proper band. Drummer Greig Stewart and (double) bassist Aristazabal Hawkes‘ murky jazz pasts have gave them the ability to play, and improvise, fairly flawlessly; guitarist MC Lord Magrão (even less likely to be a real name)’s interest in noise-rock and experimental music (such as Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers) has left him similarly skilled in good playing (or at least, okay playing masked by lots of distortion) and improvising; finally, singer Fyfe Dangerfield has composed classical pieces, and has perfect freakin’ pitch.

No wonder they’re so Goddamn flawless throughout. These guys are proper musicians.

The group end their set with “We’re Here” and “Kriss Kross”, bringing things full circle with the lead-off track from the new album. And what a song it is, as Magrão pounds the keyboard and the crowd actually start to dance. A little.

After a quick break, the band return for the encore - starting with a little jam (Fyfe playing drums, lots of people dancing and shouting - including the aformentioned character-developed roadies - and drummer Grieg waving a town crier’s bell about), and moving onto a wonderful version of debut album Through The Windowpane’s “Trains To Brazil” (Hawkes’ vocal “doot-doot-doodoodoodoo-doo”s just-about succesfully filling in for the trumpets) - a song which Fyfe afterwards admits to nearly cracking up in, due to looking at the face crudely drawn on his drummer’s large, topless torso - complete with nipples as pupils. I forgot to mention - along with the songs, the muso chops and general originality, Guillemots can also handle stage banter - take that, whats-yer-names (Royworld - Ed)!

It all culminates with “São Paulo”, which is pretty long but, thankfully, didn’t run on for the 11 minutes it does on record - just as well, as my little wussy legs were starting to hurt (thank God Royworld were so dull I sat down, and nobody danced during Guillemots, then). But overall? Despite a pants support band, a-ok.

Download “Kriss Kross”
Buy Red
Guillemots on MySpace

Live review: Richard Hawley

Richard Hawley
Assembly Rooms (Darwin Suite), Derby, 19th May
Support: Pete Molinari

Derby’s music “scene” keeps getting better and better; lose a record shop, gain a great new band, a new venue (where the Mystery Jets play), and then get Richard Hawley.

Supporting the Sheffield man is Pete Molinari, who explains that while he is a solo artist, he “usually has a full band” and it’s “strange to be playing a solo acoustic show”, but he soldiers on rather admirably.

The fact that Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” play over the PA immediatly before Molinari comes on is rather fitting; his style of country-ish strumming, as well as his unusually high voice, are reminiscent of that late 60s/early 70s Crosby Stills and Nash sound, his voice oftentimes recalling Neil Young.

While it goes along nicely, nothing particularly stands out in ol’ Pete’s set - the fact that one of his songs was recently featured on a Mojo magazine CD says it all. Not bad, but not brilliant either (although Señor Hawley would disagree; apparently he’s been listening to Molinari’s latest, Virtual Landslide, in his car for the past to weeks - “I don’t drive, I just listen to music in it”).

Download Pete Molinari - “Virtual Landslide” (The title track, not the album)
Buy A Virtual Landslide @ Play.com
Pete Molinari on MySpace

After a stirling start, which is odd to say about a series of ballads (“Hotel Room”, “Born Under A Bad Sign”, “Lady Solitude”), the main act and troupe leave the stage for “a quick fag”, which allows the techies to sort out the rather-awful PA; it’s Hawley himself that notices, just as the band are about to launch into the joyous “Tonight The Streets Are Ours”.

Luckily, it doesn’t take too long for the technical difficulties to be sorted, and we’re back to “Tonight…”, the band playing well for the more up-tempo, often rockabilly songs (such as “Serious”, and the mid-to-low-tempo ballad (like the titular-track double whammy of “Coles Corner” and “Lady’s Bridge”).

Throughout, as you’ve probably seen in quotes dotted throughout this post (it’s easier to steal jokes than come up with your own; ask Dane Cook), Richard Hawley is a funny man; he keeps a cheeky, and rude (well, to the over-50s) demeanour in his between-song banter, several times answering to wolf-whistles and cat calls with “Thanks mum.” As my mum, who has also seen Mr Hawley live (yes, my mum likes him…she likes The Killers and Black Kids too, so lay off), this is probably to show he’s still as Sheffield “blokey-bloke”, which his tender, lover-lorn songs might not suggest.

Unfortunatley, as the band start possibly my favourite Hawley original, the three chocolate muffins, four jam doughnuts and bottle of knock-off orange Tango I had consumed earlier in the day finally decided to pounce, so I was relegated to the outside of the Darwin Suite, an offshoot of the “proper” Assembly Rooms just across the way, slumped on a chair for the majority of “Just Like The Rain” (my aformentioned fave), “Tonight”, “Oh My Love”, and set-closer “I’m Looking for Someone” which, therefore, I cannot comment on! Makes my job easier, anyway.

I was back in action for the encore, anyway, which saw the 50s-throwback (in the best possible way) himself take on both Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town” and Hank Williams‘ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, both to sterling effect - although that might have been the sugar talking.

Download Richard Hawley - “Serious”
Buy Lady’s Bridge @ Play.com
Richard Hawley on MySpace

Once again, my God-awful camera phone-taken pics from the show (don’t worry, there’s less of them this time)

Live review: Mystery Jets

Mystery Jets
The Royal, Derby, 10th May
Support: Esser

The Royal is the newest (and, er, only) live music venue to open up in my almost-home town of Derby, and it’s got off to a good start - Eel Pie Island’s very own Mystery Jets played there in it’s second week, as part of their tour in support of new album 21.

And in support of the, er, main band, was Esser, who I have never heard of before or since. Apparently it’s one guy, although it looks like four people on stage. Maybe this lack of recognition is why the keyboard player looks slightly annoyed throughout.

Anyway, while the first couple of songs were a bit, well, rubbish, things picked up with a song about ladies and satisfaction (but didn’t sound anything like “Satisfaction”, and more like a reggae-tinged dancehall theme), and went on to do a nice, danceable song that sampeled Pac-Man sound effects. Which was nice.

A note about Esser “himself” - the dude has amazing hair. Really. It doesn’t start til the top of his head, and it makes him look a little bit like a mushroom. And it wobbles like a jelly when he dances around, which was frequently. It was rather hypnotic.

Anyway, after Esser’s bass-player leaves his instrument next to his amp, causing some horrible, sub-Sonic Youth feedback for a while, before being cut out, and then waiting until everyome can hear again, it’s time for the Mystery Jets!

With a little fog machin-ing and wailing sirens, the now-four-piece launch into 21’s lead-off track, “Hideaway!, which has a bit of the Klaxons about it, with it’s…sirens, and harmonised, falsetto vocals.

They tear (I say tear - more like jovially hop, skip and jump) through a set of both old and new tracks, including “Alas Agnes”, which gets a big sing along by the four drunken indie kids in front of me, single “Young Love” (which guitarist Will takes lead vocals on; his personalised tie-dye t-shirts were on sale at the merch table), and future single “Two Doors Down”, the intro to which I just realised reminds me of that old Afrika Bambaataa Nike advert, and the also-very-good “Half In Love With Elizabeth”, which is also sung along (and badly danced to) by the drunk hipsters.

Other than those guys (one of which whom stole singer Blaine’s tambourine during the encore), and a thirty-something man (who attempted to crowd surf towards the end) and his hip wife, the crowd’s response is somewhat muted - a problem I’ve found at other gigs I’ve been to in Derby (not that I expect people to mosh to the Magic Numbers but….y’know). Luckily, everyone starts to at least shuffle their feet and holler along a little during the encore which, of course, features the group’s first hit, “You Can’t Fool Me Dennis”, along with “The Boy Who Ran Away” and “Zootime”, which probably had the best response of the night, despite being a slightly obscure album track from Making Dens, the group’s first album.

Overall, despite the rather rubbishy crowd, a good time was had by most - all the band seemed to be a little dissapointed at us all (they rather nicely apologised on our behalf, assuming it was because of the heat that day - and it was, to be fair, bloody boiling). Hopefully, once people get accustomed to the new venue (which is very good, and you should go to it), they’ll start getting into it a bit more.

Also: older couples - please, if you’re just gonna stand still and once, don’t stand at the very front of the stage, m’kay? Go live out your nostalgia of being young by watching Thundercats, or something. Cheers.

The Royal
My God-awful camera phone-taken pics from the show

Mystery Jets on MySpace
Esser on MySpace

Buy 21 @ Play.com
Download Mystery Jets - “Two Doors Down”
Download Esser - “Satisfied” (Demo)