Saturday, August 23, 2008

Untitled Musical Project / Your Biggest Fanclub / Sabotage Left / Theatre of The Absurd @ The Rainbow, Friday 22nd August 2008


Rain. The Credit Crunch. Georgia invading Russia invading Georgia. Plane crashes. Rain. Misery. Global warming. Gary Glitter (or, to give him his proper name 'disgracedformerpopstargaryglitterrealnamepaulgadd')...yes, it's a rum old world at the moment ain't it? Thankfully we have Theatre of The Absurd to cheer us all up. Oh. Check out 'Winter Of My Discontent', a glorious piece of self abuse (not like that...perverts), half sung, half spat out. In another world you'd have Morrissey covering that and getting to number one. But sadly we live in a different universe. Perhaps 'disgracedformerpopstargaryglitterrealnamepaulgadd' could record it as his big comeback single? Passionate, bullshit free, witty and pithy...we're lucky to have Theatre of The Absurd in our midst. A one man kick against the pricks.

Next up Sabotage Left...the only band on tonight's bill that I'd not seen before (I am becoming a local music whore now aren't I?). Probably the most polished of all the bands tonight, they've clearly paid their gigging dues and are reaping the rewards with positive reviews a plenty and a track on a recent Radio One podcast no less. Alternating between the chiming guitars of bands like Editors and the full on thrash of someone like At The Drive In, tracks like 'Sleeping Nicotene' nail that anthemic feel perfectly. Special mention must go to the drummer, Damon, too, who almost drummed to the centre of the earth. He must have muscles the size of beer barrels. Good work dude.

Okay, time for Your Biggest Fanclub. Through the thick, heavy fog that passes for my memory, I recall being well impresssed with their performance last time. This time? Well, slap my thighs and call me Uncle (nope, I have no idea what I'm on about either) they've gone and got even better. I have high hopes for this lot. First of all they have the good sense to use one of my photo's on their MySpace page (Rankin? David Bailey? Man Ray? Pah...mere amateurs) but secondly (and arguably more importantly) they're impoving by the second, absorbing all kinds of good shit, mashing it up and making it their own. Imagine Two Gallants collaborating with Foals and The Clash and...er...you probably won't get any idea of what they sound like (The Good Time Jones sounds like that to me though...and this is my review so ya boo and sucks to you). Who knows, perhaps by this morning they'll have changed again into a disco three piece (check out the DJC Business remix...perhaps they already have). The point I'm trying to get to is that Your Biggest Fanclub one of the most exciting prospects for local music that I've seen for a while. And they have a Stylophone. Bowie used a Stylophone...and Rolf. 'Nuff said.

Finally, the three piece carnage factory that is Untitled Musical Project. Sounding (and looking tonight) like three chaps having a blazing row in a local musical equipment emporium they make the kind of noise that goes on inside my head whenever I have the misfortune to go down Broad Street on a Saturday night. It's loud, shouty, angry, sweaty, punky and lots of other words ending in a y. Except the word 'why' itself. It is what it is. An untitled, unidentifiable, unclassifiable punch in the guts. And it's all quite brilliant. This is what live music is all about. Unpredictable, messy and guaranteed to give you a bad head in the morning. After knocking down amps, drums and mics during the show vocalists Andrew and Kieren ended up wrestling each other to the floor in a howl of feedback. So it seems only fitting to end this review in the same way...ready...aghabydbuehej*jchhbz^xxsdg+ydeghb!!dfjutorlemsnsgwgwbdud!!!

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