Scene Report: Bristol March 2008
By: Sian Norris
Hello readers, and welcome once again to your monthly catch up with what's been happening down in the South West.
After the blues of January it was great to get back in to the spirit of the party with Vice's free gig at the Fleece and Firkin, featuring Friendly Fires and Black Kids. I haven't been to the Fleece for years - I think Queen Adreena were the last band I saw play there - but it was refreshingly the same. Whilst so many gig venues in Bristol have been spruced up or decorated to become generic and a little too "trendy wine bar", the Fleece has maintained its grimy glamour with leaking ceilings and peeling paint included.
Friendly Fires played another excellent gig, with sterling performances of tracks such as 'On Board', 'Paris' (Zane Lowe's tune of the week), my favourite 'Strobe', photo booth and more. The band as always were incredibly tight, and although Jack admitted to me that there was a mistake near the beginning, the guys completely concealed it. They seem to communicate seamlessly and have an intuitive feeling towards each other and the audience. I love it when Jack and Big Ed join forces with Little Ed at the beginning of 'On Board', I was singing along at the top of my voice, dancing like a crazy person. Love. It.
Next on the bill were the hugely hyped Black Kids from the States, another "next big thing" band that I was a little disappointed in. When I heard the single 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You', I thought it was a really cute, interesting, and generally fresh and cool tune. But live, they failed to impress. The performance was messy, sounding more like a rehearsal in someone's garage. At first we mused whether the problem was with the sound, but after a few songs that still sounded scrappy, we had to conclude the band were at fault. A real shame, as recorded they sound ace, but live, just a lack of cohesion and effort seemed to mark the performance.
Still, all in all it was a very fun evening, with free bags and tights as well! The only thing left to say is a message in general to miserable Bristol gig goers - come on ladies and gents, you've come to see the band, not check each other's outfits and pout at one another. This miserable epidemic seems to have infected every gig I've been to lately, with trendy outfitted folk spending the whole gig looking each other up and down and putting on the coolest pose they can find. C'mon, sing along, dance and get a bit sweaty - you'll have far much more fun.
Actually, that could probably apply to the whole country.
The following evening was the much anticipated Robots in Disguise gig at the Bristol Academy. Currently one of my favourite bands, with their mix or dirty electro beats, and part shouty, part melodic vocals, Robots have injected a huge dose of crazy haired fun in to electro music. I love these girls, so it was a very nervous journalist who went backstage to catch up with them before the gig started.
Waiting outside whilst they finished the sound check, I could hear them singing 'Life is A Cabaret' a capella. Excellent. This is why they are my new favourite band!
I was greeted in the dressing room by Sue, whilst Dee finished up soundchecking, and I asked her about the history of the band.
"A Le Tigre gig was one of the places we met," explained Sue. "We kind of knew each other from round and about, and then we grew out of the ashes of an all girl band. It didn't work out so we thought we'd try it just the two of us, and now there are three of us as we've got a drummer for the live stuff, Ann-droid."
I then quizzed them a bit about the growth of electro, and whether they felt they were part of a growing electro scene.
"I suppose nu rave-y stuff has kind of made it grow a bit," Sue mused. "When you think of electro you always kind of think of eighties electro I guess, and then there's dance music. I don't really feel like we're in any particular movement, but we just happen to have that kind of sound really."
I for one am glad electro is back, and Sue agrees with me. "It makes everything a bit more interesting, more danceable!"
My favourite track on debut LP Get Rid, as a staunch riot grrl feminist lady, is definitely 'Girl', where the Robots yell out "we're the F-word, F for feminist", and list the many offensive and sexual names women have been insulted with over the centuries, before entreating the listener to understand that Girl is not a dirty word. I ask them if they were consciously feminist.
"Yeah, definitely," nods Sue emphatically. "Last night we had loads of thirteen fourteen year old girls chanting along to it, singing all the words, which was really inspiring. And of course, bands like Le Tigre have definitely been inspiring. There aren't loads of women electro bands around; I guess we are like electro riot grrl in a way."
Now it was Dee's turn to answer some questions. Their new album cover features a picture of the girls wearing nothing but body paint. The press release informed me that this was in response to things said about the band in the French press telling them to 'get their tits out', but the Robots had their own ideas about why that image was important beyond this.
"It's generally about how women are treated in the music industry and the fact that it's often about revealing flesh. When I saw the Slits cover of Cut and they were all covered in mud, I thought that was a really powerful image and we wanted to do something like that. It's subversive, that's the point, and especially wearing the body paint of the indie uniform, boys in bands wearing skinny ties since the seventies and earlier. And I just wanted to get my tits out as well!"
I wanted to find out what ideas had been developed between Get Rid and We're in the Music Biz, what kind of things were behind the new songs and what continuity there was from what had come before.
"The story of it was inspired by falling out with a promoter," Dee explains. "We were ranting about it and started writing a song called something else, I think it was 'We're in a Meeting'..."
"And then that developed into writing about how we were really angry!" interjects Sue. "And it was making us laugh, so we then had to change all the names and get rid of those kinds of references."
"It's just a story really, about what it is like for us to be in our band, and all the ridiculous things that happen to us!" finishes Dee. "Our songs are stories and autobiographical, we write about what happens to us. I find it quite hard to write about things I haven't experienced."
This comes out throughout the album; it's about Europe, with a European outlook, 'I Live in Berlin' particularly about Sue, living in Berlin.
Surprisingly, Dee isn't into electro or techno.
"The electro has really just come from the production," she explains.
"I am in to that sort of music a bit," interrupts Sue.
"I like dirty electro with guitars in it," nods Dee. "Nothing too smooth. I don't think you can beat playing instruments live."
A debate is going now.
"In a club it's different," suggests Sue. "It's much easier to dance to electro than anything else."
Dee doesn't agree! "I don't think that's true! You can dance to a good rock sound! It'll get me on the floor any time!"
I'm curious as to why the Robots run underage gigs. I got a hint of an idea with the inspiring sight of thirteen year olds chanting to 'Girl', but am wondering what else they have to say.
"We've got loads of fans on MySpace who are fourteen asking us to come and play!" explained Dee. "And after seeing what it was like with the Boosh, and how they had a fan base of all different ages, that's a really modern and open idea. It's better than saying something is just for a few people. It is a bit weird playing to young kids, our stage show is quite sexual and I'm a grown woman, so it is odd. But I think it's good for them, it's what I would have wanted to have, a band for girls; not that I'm excluding boys."
"There are already tonnes of bands for boys anyway!" suggests Sue. "That's also why we wanted an all girl line up. When we were auditioning for our drummer, we put the ad out and Anna was the only one who responded! But lots of guys responded wanting to know why we wouldn't have them!"
"But we really wanted a girl. The only boy we allowed to play drums was Chris Corner, (I Am X) and he looks like a girl anyway!" finishes Dee.
Despite my nerves, all three were so lovely and interesting to talk to, with great tunes and really inspiring ideas. The gig was fantastic too, the tunes all sounded amazing, with a good mix of new and old, 'I Live In Berlin', 'Voodoo', 'The Sex Has Made Me Stupid', 'DJs Got a Gun'...I could go on. The energy on stage and in the crowd was intense and electric, the tunes were tight and it was great hearing Anna on the drums. The only shame was that once again the Academy proved a poor venue for a live band, the stage was lower than the back if the dance floor, and they'd put the gig upstairs in a long and narrow room, making it impossible to see unless Sue and Dee were standing on their amps. Still, nothing could dull my enthusiasm for this band, inspiring women and damn fine musicians who know how to dress up!
Next up was the welcome return of the King of Stoke's Croft, aka Bass Clef to the Croft. I caught up with the man himself, Nza da Baron, and Jay Le Surgeon during the day for some beers and games of pool (no pool for me, just Jay chucking chips at me) before munching pizza and heading down to the Croft. It's been a while since Bass Clef was in Bristol, the last gig being with Konono Number 1 at the Fiddlers, but you can always be sure of a big and loving crowd when he hits our shores.
His excellent brand of dubstep-not-dubstep was on fire, but unfortunately there were innumerable problems with the sound - Bass Clef keeps it old school with his CD player, but that tends to jump, and jump... However, he kept the set together, interacting with the crowd who pardoned any tech problems, and, as he says, it doesn't feel like a gig at the Croft if something doesn't go a bit awry. Trombone and Theremin, cowbell and kazoo all fitted together with booming bass lines and flickering electro samples. My favourite track is always 'Opera', with its swooning intro before exploding into some banging beats, pirate flag flying.
He was supporting Kode 9 - a fantastic dubstep group, with a little bit of trance injected in to it. Hailing from South East London, the home of dubstep, they combine the essences of dub and reggae to bring it all together in to some massive beats and a polished and excellent live show. Quite the crowd, too - we bumped into Appleblim and the Gatekeeper, as well as Wedge, Carnage and the Kelly Twins, all the luminaries of Bristol were out at this one.
A quick diversion to London now where I went to see their first live show of the Backslap Club at Brixton's Windmill. Evolving from an acoustic two piece to a true rock n roll band, as they gained bassist, amps, and drums, Backslap Club played to a screaming crowd, including members of alt country band The Tailors. They provide loud guitars and drums, with elegant and smooth vocals from Dave and Dara, as Rowan and James harmonised. There songs have the makings of classics, timeless lyrics about love and loss, with mashed up instruments building to a beautiful cacophonic slice of rock.
Back in Bristol, and a trip to the Trinity, to see BassClefandVexkiddy, put on by QuJunktions. With no sound issues, there was a seamless set from Bass Clef, who always looks at home on a Bristol stage. With an interlude from Jem on the mic, up next was Vexkiddy, who deserve some explaining. They are the only band in the planet and universe made up of two time travelling Victorian scientists - Cuthbert and Strangeways, in search of the Vexkiddy. They provide a proper stage show, fully costumed and propped, before breaking out in to a lot of bassy gabba rave, mashed up and terrifying, but hilarious fun to dance and prance too. Sophie/Ghettozoid of Octopussy was up on stage with them - rumours are that Octopussy are recording so watch this space!
On returning from a business trip I popped over to the Louisiana to see My Own Flag and Casino Drive which was jolly lovely. Saw Jean Paul of the Hounds and promoter of Flight 51, who commented on Casino Drive's set - "really good to see a proper rock n roll band again," and that they were, providing a set of thrashing and melodic rock. They should be making waves soon, trust me. My Own Flag were as impressive as always, but you can read my other reviews of them!
And that concludes February! It was a busy month, and March promises to be just as exciting, with the return of Sexy Bitch (expect an interview next month!), Master Chaynjis at the Louisiana, I know I have no Collar at the Cube, and Tape's dubstep not dubstep or Big Ting revival night, with Jay le Surgeon, Puffin Jack, Carnage and Bass Clef (he's ubiquitous) to look forward to.
Til then!