Gig review

[venta]

Last night I wombled down to London after work, and puttered over to Camden with ChrisC. We were heading for the Fusilier and Firkin to hear ChrisC's-mate-Gordon's-band, Union. There was a certain amount of disconcertedness on arrival: the pub ChrisC had confidently headed for did not in fact appear to be a Firkin at all - turns out it has (like most of the Firkins) been renamed, and we were all right really. Pintwatch was not all right at all, and drank cider slightly grumpily after observing an absence of bitter (incorrectly, as it happened, there was one electric Tetleys pump tucked away, sadly unobserved until too late).

I'n only heard one Union track before, so wasn't too sure what to expect. They started soundchecking just after we got there, and turned out to be four blokes (singer/guitar, guitar, bass and drums) who major on monumentally low-slung trousers. And I listened, and I actually rather liked them. And for the first time in a while, the first thing that struck me wasn't who they sounded like. Which has, of course, left me faintly unable to describe them :) I guess they're a solid guitar-rock sound, heading towards indie, musically pretty competent, though I'm a little unconvinced by the singer - good lyrics, but not a terribly strong voice. Mind you, I might be prepared to blame that on the soundman, I'm not sure :)

Actually, I was amused by the singer; he and Gordon were taking it in turns to announce stuff. Gordon was doing a very good impression of... er, a very laid-back bass-player, actually. Kele had the slightly over-eager too-keen-to-explain attitude which I associated with student bands. Somehow I wasn't surprised when Fiona told me he was only 21 :)

But then I got to wondering. Last week I was writing about Chillburn and Katscan, and saying how I'd gone to listen to them prepared to be impressed. And it's true, they had their chance to convince me they were great. But going to hear a band when you've had it recommended, or when it contains one of your friends, and you're already pre-disposed to like them. You want to like them, and it might take something really quite sucky to put you off.

So what would I have thought of Union if I'd just randomly happened on them in the pub ? I don't know. As it is, I'll be harassing Gordon for some recordings, and will go and see them again. And somewhere inside me I think there's a groupie struggling to get out - I like the idea of having a small and unknown band to follow about. And any band which looks pleased to see you and thanks you for coming definitely counts as small :) And I've never had a song dedicated to me before.

Well, kind of not. When talking about gigs, I tend not to include the small folk clubs and concerts which have filled my life. I love the fact that the folk club my parents help run can put on some of the best known folk singers in the country, and yet they're people you can still wander up and talk to at the gig. This is somethig I've always associated with folk stuff, but I think it's more a feature of small gigs. At Whitby goth weekends it's usual to see whichever bits of bands aren't on at the moment milling about or standing at the bar. And while I can see why it's unavoidable, it disappoints me that this usually falls away as soon as a band becomes famous.

Comments

[diffrentcolours]

I "ran into" Union doing an impromptu set in the middle of Cornmarket, assuming I'm thinking of the right people. I thought they were rather splendid.

[neilh.livejournal.com]

And somewhere inside me I think there's a groupie struggling to get out - I like the idea of having a small and unknown band to follow about.

You should come to more Blyth Power gigs!