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ventaThe day after we saw Frank Turner (excellent gig, shite beer) I mutinously demanded to be taken somewhere which had nice beer. Accordingly, on the Saturday we wombled far into the depths of Bethnal Green searching for the Sebright Arms.
We'd been in Hammersmith searching out the electrical components needed to add more sockets to our kitchen (sadly, being-an-adult does occasionally intrude into my life, despite my best efforts). So we walked as far as Hyde Park, then hopped on the tube to get to Bethnal Green in time to have dinner. Except... well. Maybe parts of Bethnal Green are full of exciting eateries. But not the parts we walked through.
The pub advertised some odd-sounding pop-up food-solution called "Lucky Chip", which served burgers, so we figured we'd risk it. The Sebright Arms is down a fantastically unappealing ginnel[*], but once you've found it it's a lovely place. Nice wooden pannelling, mis-matched furniture, four handpumps on the bar (and decent cider). The turnover on beer was so swift that while we were there two handpumps ran out, and within minutes were replaced with new beers. And Lucky Chip's burgers turned out to be considerably superior to your average pub burger (though the chips were so salty they made my mouth hurt).
And, as we finished the burgers off, I remembered about pub gigs. They always involve waiting around. And being rather unsure what's going on. The website advertised "doors at 7:30". When I asked behind the bar, they said, er, dunno, er, usually about half eight to nine o'clock. At about 8:35, a piece of paper appeared on a door opposite the toilets giving stage times (starting with Deer Park, whom we'd really come to see, at 8:30). We shot downstairs, paid our £4 each, and entered an almost completely empty room. Around 9 the place started to fill up and Deer Park came on stage.
Deer Park were an accidental discovery some time ago. I noted then that the band we saw and the band who'd recorded the album appeared to be quite different entities. This time we saw something more like the band who'd recorded the album - equally good, but very different.
Aha - in fact, according to their Myspace page (oldskool!) they are not a band, they are a "collective" with a shifting line-up. That explains that, then. It also has listenables.
Dead Coast were a pleasing, prickly, reverb-y surf-noir sort of outfit with stacks of Hammondy organ noises. They practically cleared the place. By which I mean the audience went from a whopping over-thirty to under a dozen. Which was a shame, because I liked them - they reminded me of Gretchen Hofner[**].
(Is surf-noir even a thing-comma-existent? I dunno. I know what I mean. If you don't, try giving them a listen; it isn't a very good recording, but it does the job.)
The evening closed with Vienna Ditto, a boy/girl combo who managed to sound like three people. The girl sang, and occasionally interacted with the mountain of electronics in front of them. The boy played the guitar, and interacted with the mountain of electronics (sometimes simultaneously). The result was a sort of dirty electronic fuzz, with the girl's high, clear voice way down in the mix like just another instrument.
Almost all the youtubery for Vienna Ditto has them as a trio (with a drummer and without the big pile o' loopy electronics) - there is a recording from the night at the Sebright Arms, but it's recorded on someone's phone and it's flamin' dreadful. You can download their most recent single freely if you wish, which does at least sound a bit like them. A bit.
I don't think I'd specifically recommend hunting down any of these three bands. But I would recommend finding your nearest pub-with-a-backroom: for but a few quid you'll get a few bands and (very probably) some form of indelible mark on the back of your hand which you will spend several days trying to wash off.
[*] Note for aliens: small alley.
[**] I do like reference points that are of use to practically no one. If you don't know the band, may I commend to you Maria Callous?
We'd been in Hammersmith searching out the electrical components needed to add more sockets to our kitchen (sadly, being-an-adult does occasionally intrude into my life, despite my best efforts). So we walked as far as Hyde Park, then hopped on the tube to get to Bethnal Green in time to have dinner. Except... well. Maybe parts of Bethnal Green are full of exciting eateries. But not the parts we walked through.
The pub advertised some odd-sounding pop-up food-solution called "Lucky Chip", which served burgers, so we figured we'd risk it. The Sebright Arms is down a fantastically unappealing ginnel[*], but once you've found it it's a lovely place. Nice wooden pannelling, mis-matched furniture, four handpumps on the bar (and decent cider). The turnover on beer was so swift that while we were there two handpumps ran out, and within minutes were replaced with new beers. And Lucky Chip's burgers turned out to be considerably superior to your average pub burger (though the chips were so salty they made my mouth hurt).
And, as we finished the burgers off, I remembered about pub gigs. They always involve waiting around. And being rather unsure what's going on. The website advertised "doors at 7:30". When I asked behind the bar, they said, er, dunno, er, usually about half eight to nine o'clock. At about 8:35, a piece of paper appeared on a door opposite the toilets giving stage times (starting with Deer Park, whom we'd really come to see, at 8:30). We shot downstairs, paid our £4 each, and entered an almost completely empty room. Around 9 the place started to fill up and Deer Park came on stage.
Deer Park were an accidental discovery some time ago. I noted then that the band we saw and the band who'd recorded the album appeared to be quite different entities. This time we saw something more like the band who'd recorded the album - equally good, but very different.
Aha - in fact, according to their Myspace page (oldskool!) they are not a band, they are a "collective" with a shifting line-up. That explains that, then. It also has listenables.
Dead Coast were a pleasing, prickly, reverb-y surf-noir sort of outfit with stacks of Hammondy organ noises. They practically cleared the place. By which I mean the audience went from a whopping over-thirty to under a dozen. Which was a shame, because I liked them - they reminded me of Gretchen Hofner[**].
(Is surf-noir even a thing-comma-existent? I dunno. I know what I mean. If you don't, try giving them a listen; it isn't a very good recording, but it does the job.)
The evening closed with Vienna Ditto, a boy/girl combo who managed to sound like three people. The girl sang, and occasionally interacted with the mountain of electronics in front of them. The boy played the guitar, and interacted with the mountain of electronics (sometimes simultaneously). The result was a sort of dirty electronic fuzz, with the girl's high, clear voice way down in the mix like just another instrument.
Almost all the youtubery for Vienna Ditto has them as a trio (with a drummer and without the big pile o' loopy electronics) - there is a recording from the night at the Sebright Arms, but it's recorded on someone's phone and it's flamin' dreadful. You can download their most recent single freely if you wish, which does at least sound a bit like them. A bit.
I don't think I'd specifically recommend hunting down any of these three bands. But I would recommend finding your nearest pub-with-a-backroom: for but a few quid you'll get a few bands and (very probably) some form of indelible mark on the back of your hand which you will spend several days trying to wash off.
[*] Note for aliens: small alley.
[**] I do like reference points that are of use to practically no one. If you don't know the band, may I commend to you Maria Callous?
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Date: 2012-04-25 10:15 am (UTC)I know remarkably little about Gretschen Hofner. Someone put Judy Garland Life on a compilation tape for me in around '97, I liked it, bought an album... that's about it.