Scene Report: Bristol, December 2007
By: Sian Norris
Welcome to the first Rockfeedback round up of what is going on in the premier (only?) musical city in the South West, covering music events from dub step and hip hop to indie, and a good amount of electro in between.
October drew to a nice close with Cosies' monthly Girl Wonder night, run by Dutty Girl's DissMiss and Bristol scene veteran Queen Bee putting on the ever exciting and innovative female four piece Octopussy (pictured). DissMiss set the evening up nicely with her mixing of reggae, dancehall and hip hop, featuring tracks from, among others, Beenie Man, a staunch Cosies favourite. DissMiss has an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things hip hop, making her djing always a treat, and she reads the crowd perfectly, bringing the beats up from smooth reggae to some heavier hip hop as the tiny dance floor in Cosies gets ever more crammed.
Octopussy were on fine form, Lizzie and Sophie on the decks playing dark and dirty bass lines with Yolanda MC-ing over the top. The girls interact really well together, with Yolanda having a real sense of what is happening with the music, picking up on Sophie's and Lizzie's beats, so that the whole performance is smooth and polished, whilst the great improvisation means it maintains its edge, making it exciting and fun to see and hear.
Our next trip out was to see Countryside (pictured) play the Cooler, supporting Secret Shine, who sounded like a cross between My Bloody Valentine and the Smashing Pumpkins, but sadly weren't as good as either. I caught up with Countryside after the gig to find out a bit more about their history, their sound and their song writing.
The band comprise of JP on drums, Stephen on keyboards and vocals, Dan on bass and John "Carvery" on guitar. Steve, John and JP met in Bridgewater where they had been in college together, before moving to Bristol after uni, and advertising for a bassist to join them.
"We started off practising quite sporadically, and practising in a cowshed," Steve reminisces, before they got their first gig in Bridgewater, quickly followed by a gig in well known Bristol venue, the Louisiana.
"We'd seen loads of bands there that we really liked," they explain excitedly. "So when they wanted us to play there, it felt like, this is it, this is the big time! Six months later, we'd played there loads of times."
Countryside's success lies in their excellent song writing skills and their solid appreciation of all kinds of music. The tracks cruise along smoothly, well crafted indie/rock/pop tunes that make excellent use of their instruments, mixing the guitar/bass/drum formula with interesting use of keyboards and, of course, Steve's unique vocal style harmonising with John's deeper tones.
"We learned to play by doing gigs. We played anywhere for no money for about a year, each gig teaching us something new."
"We've seen everyone progress," Dan explains.
The band's strength lies a lot in the excellent connections the boys have with one another, and with what is going on around them. They've been friends for years, and this comes out effectively when they play live - an instinctual understanding of one another's style and how the songs should sound when they are played out together.
Countryside see their time in Bristol so far as being a learning curve which they are still on; "it feels like we're just starting now," admits Steve.
"Seeing the other bands in Bristol at the moment makes you appreciate how much hard work it takes to get places in music. Bands like Fortune Drive who are signed, you realise what you have to do to get to a certain level, so being in Bristol is always pushing us to try hard. When you play a gig, you think a lot about how people are reacting, so you work harder. At the same time, being in a city with such a strong music scene makes you develop your own style and your own sound."
"We've got lots of friends who are in bands and in Bristol there is a real sense of a musical community. It isn't competitive, but it does push you to want to get better - if the bands around you are good, then you want to be good too."
There is a definite lack of complication with Countryside, refreshing in a musical atmosphere where it sometimes feels quantity and innovation results in a forgetting of quality. Instead, there is a sense of simplicity. They may practice hard, and care a lot, but they never sound like they are trying to prove something.
"We try really hard, and we are aware of a sound we have, even if we can't always pin it down. It is all part of having a connection, we play to sound good."
With the meteoric rise of bands such as CSS, Brazilian electro is getting harder to ignore. One of the shining lights coming out of Brazil are Bonde do Role (pictured), who played the Thekla the other week, a three piece of two guys and a girl, a microphone and sampler/ drum machine, mixed in with loads of bolshiness, shouting, and energetic Portuguese vocals. Confusingly at first, singer Mariana stood very still, very grumpily, singing deadpan in to her mic whilst Gorky and Pedro bounced around the stage as if powered by far too many Slush Puppies. I thought that her stern attitude was part of her act, rather like Sheheena Dax of Rachel Stamp or Sarah Jane of Sexy Bitch, but she soon apologised, explained that she had recently had a bad day, and soon was jumping around the stage, dry humping the guys and giving the audience a huge hit of passion and drive.
Musically, Bonde do Role bring out some heavy electro bass with a good strong dose of eighties influenced synths and effects. Samples ranged from the Final Countdown to Grease, and although I don't speak Portuguese, one song was definitely about James Bond. Their album is fantastic, but this is definitely a band to see live if you can - Mariana, Gorky and Pedro sing to each other, with answer back lyrics, something that really comes alive when seen on the stage, especially when Gorky comes out from behind the equipment to join in singing, shouting, laughing and dancing with the two at the front.
Seven years after it began in Cosies, Bristol DJ legend Jay Le Surgeon (pictured) has decided to call Big Ting a day, and the last Saturday of November gave it a fitting send off. Big Ting alumni Nza da Baron and Annala came down (sadly, Bass Clef was touring Athens, he started Big Ting up with Jay when they both worked at the late, great Imperial music, Soul Lounger was also missed), as well as regulars DJinLove and Puffin Jack. All the Big Ting classics were played, from Jay spinning Roots Manuva's Witness, Althea and Donna, Sister Nancy, Beenie Man; Annala pulling out Aretha Franklin and the original 'Tainted Love'; Nza getting out the big hip hop and RnB tunes, ODB, Beyonce, Tubby T, Stoosh and all time favourite 'Don't Stop 'til You Get to Bollywood', and of course, Madonna, whilst Puffin Jack mixed his traditional techno and dubstep with the Bangles' 'Walk Like an Egyptian' and Kym Mazelle's 'Young Hearts Run Free'. Jay le Surgeon finished his night with Nina Simone's 'My Baby Just Cares for Me', Jocelyn Brown's 'Somebody Else's Guy' and Nicole Willis' 'If This Ain't Love', three timeless Big Ting tunes. Having grown up with Big Ting at Cosies, it wasn't just Jay who had a tear in the eye as the last tune was played out, Louis Armstrong's 'We Have all the Time in the World'. Puffin Jack will be taking charge of Cosies for the last Saturday of the month from now on, and Jay promises Big Ting will be back for special occasions...
Finally, November ended in Clockwork for Beef putting on the Friendly Fires (pictured) playing live with Simian Mobile Disco, Klaxons and Tight Fit on the decks. Beef have been pulling in loads of big names lately, including Hot Chip and Digitalism, as well as running Monkey Knife Fight at the Thekla. Tight Fit got the crowd dancing with their eclectic choice of tunes. The two girls are known for playing the tunes they like, and feeding off each other's knowledge and wild enthusiasm, they excelled themselves, pulling out a heady mix of electro, hip hop and bass laden tunes, such as M.I.A.'s 'Boyz', which always gets me dancing.
I've seen Friendly Fires play many times over the years since they morphed from First Day Back in to their current state, and it seems that each gig shows them more confident and more polished, with seamless interaction with one another and the audience. With great use of keyboard sampling and a range of instruments such as cow bells to mix in with the vocal, guitar, drums and bass set up, Friendly Fires stand out as one of the more interesting and fun bands to come out the London scene of late. A great moment is when drummer Jack joins big Ed at the front to sing along the introduction of 'On Board', a moment that really shows the intuitive interaction of the band. The standout track for me is Strobe - "the ballad"- just for Ed's gorgeous vocals that soar through the lyrics. The set ended with a cacophony of instruments and samples, as the guys pooled all their resources together to build a psychedelic soundscape that blew the audience away.
Friendly Fires outclassed the other acts that night, and it was a shame neither band were available to play live and try and outshine them, although the DJ sets were impressively crammed with lots of filthy bassy electro and techno. The night ended smoking cigarettes and drinking Red Stripe with the Fires and Lily Allen by the van, before waving them off to play Brighton.
And that's it for this month. The 1st December has me looking forward to Prancehall down from London at the Croft, The Kick Inside and Rasha Shaheen raising awareness of Climate Change at the Bristol Sports Club on the 2nd, CSS on the 6th, MIA on the 15th and NYE will see me drinking cocktails with Sexy Bitch, the Hounds and Countryside. You'll hear all about it.