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ventaNote to self: remember that the LJ app is not that reliable at saving drafts. Take 2...
Friday evening was a much more leisurely affair. ChrisC and I travelled gently up to Kings Cross, and paused for a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant before heading once more for the Lexington.
When the line-up was first announced, I assumed that Bleurgh were a new, unknown signing to Fortuna Pop. It turned out they were, in fact, a minor indie-pop supergroup Blur tribute band. I think someone had taken a collection around Fortuna Pop's roster, and five bands had agreed to donate a musician to the effort. I'd guessed that they'd probably play a set of B-sides and oddities: wrong. They trotted through a decent parade of Blur singles, admittedly starting with one I didn't know but managing most of the biggies and ending with Song 2. I strongly suspect it was all a late-night in-the-pub idea that got a bit out of hand (after the first song, the singer conceded "this has all got very silly very quickly".
They'd variously got into character - the singer insisted he wasn't doing an impression ("I'm from Essex, this is just my voice!") although the guitarist seemed to have chosen his t-shirt for maximum Coxonness. The bassist cheerfully threw cheese into the audience (and fielded the heckle "Tory wanker!" by shouting back "Less of the Tory!").
"Are you good, Dave?" asked the guitarist (whom I didn't recognise) of Cat, Fever Dream's drummer. "Are you good, non-descript keyboard player?" after Tigercats' keyboardist complained that she was "no member of Blur". For something that could have been a throwaway idea, poorly rehearsed, they were actually surprisingly good. All the notes were there in Park Life's bassline ;)
They were followed by Milky Wimpshake, who were a little on the under-rehearsed side after a gangrenous appendix had forced the drummer to pull out. A long-gone former drummer had been dug out, learned some of the songs in the soundcheck, and in the circs sounded surprisingly good. Milky Wimpshake are always a bit on the shambolic side; the singer doesn't have much of a voice, and the songs are the sort of wonky tunes that makes people look at indiepop down their noses.
Coming after Bleurgh, even with a guest vocalist on some songs they sounded a bit amateurish at the start. Towards the end of the set, though, they'd hit their stride and had people singing along.
Try it: Without You
Friday night was the only night of the Winter Sprinter that sold out in advance, and I think it was very probably Martha's fault. Martha are a cheerful DIY four-piece, proudly from Durham, who play everything-louder-than-everything-else guitar music.
One of the things I like most about Martha is that they look like they're having so much fun on stage. At least, three of them do - the band declare themselves to be vegan and straightedge, and the fourth member appears to have given up facial expressions as well. All four of them sing, sometimes all at once, and often one or two are singing along away from the mic just for the hell of it.
Some of their songs (like the bounce-along 1997, Passing in the Hallway) have lyrics that are a bit banal and sound like they were written by teenagers. It's entirely possible that they were. Martha all look about seventeen to me. Especially the bassist, who is so small and slight that she looks like she's playing her older brother's bass (she isn't; her older brother is directly behind her on the drums...) But if we forgive them being young, they're making amazingly energetic noise that everyone should try at least once.
Try it: I Miss You, I'm Lonely (which they introduced under the title I'm A Horny Devil, presumably an acknowledgement that every mishears the chorus...) or Cosmic Misery
Right. That's the end of the Winter Sprinter. No more gig reviews for at least ten days, promise.
Friday evening was a much more leisurely affair. ChrisC and I travelled gently up to Kings Cross, and paused for a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant before heading once more for the Lexington.
When the line-up was first announced, I assumed that Bleurgh were a new, unknown signing to Fortuna Pop. It turned out they were, in fact, a minor indie-pop supergroup Blur tribute band. I think someone had taken a collection around Fortuna Pop's roster, and five bands had agreed to donate a musician to the effort. I'd guessed that they'd probably play a set of B-sides and oddities: wrong. They trotted through a decent parade of Blur singles, admittedly starting with one I didn't know but managing most of the biggies and ending with Song 2. I strongly suspect it was all a late-night in-the-pub idea that got a bit out of hand (after the first song, the singer conceded "this has all got very silly very quickly".
They'd variously got into character - the singer insisted he wasn't doing an impression ("I'm from Essex, this is just my voice!") although the guitarist seemed to have chosen his t-shirt for maximum Coxonness. The bassist cheerfully threw cheese into the audience (and fielded the heckle "Tory wanker!" by shouting back "Less of the Tory!").
"Are you good, Dave?" asked the guitarist (whom I didn't recognise) of Cat, Fever Dream's drummer. "Are you good, non-descript keyboard player?" after Tigercats' keyboardist complained that she was "no member of Blur". For something that could have been a throwaway idea, poorly rehearsed, they were actually surprisingly good. All the notes were there in Park Life's bassline ;)
They were followed by Milky Wimpshake, who were a little on the under-rehearsed side after a gangrenous appendix had forced the drummer to pull out. A long-gone former drummer had been dug out, learned some of the songs in the soundcheck, and in the circs sounded surprisingly good. Milky Wimpshake are always a bit on the shambolic side; the singer doesn't have much of a voice, and the songs are the sort of wonky tunes that makes people look at indiepop down their noses.
Coming after Bleurgh, even with a guest vocalist on some songs they sounded a bit amateurish at the start. Towards the end of the set, though, they'd hit their stride and had people singing along.
Try it: Without You
Friday night was the only night of the Winter Sprinter that sold out in advance, and I think it was very probably Martha's fault. Martha are a cheerful DIY four-piece, proudly from Durham, who play everything-louder-than-everything-else guitar music.
One of the things I like most about Martha is that they look like they're having so much fun on stage. At least, three of them do - the band declare themselves to be vegan and straightedge, and the fourth member appears to have given up facial expressions as well. All four of them sing, sometimes all at once, and often one or two are singing along away from the mic just for the hell of it.
Some of their songs (like the bounce-along 1997, Passing in the Hallway) have lyrics that are a bit banal and sound like they were written by teenagers. It's entirely possible that they were. Martha all look about seventeen to me. Especially the bassist, who is so small and slight that she looks like she's playing her older brother's bass (she isn't; her older brother is directly behind her on the drums...) But if we forgive them being young, they're making amazingly energetic noise that everyone should try at least once.
Try it: I Miss You, I'm Lonely (which they introduced under the title I'm A Horny Devil, presumably an acknowledgement that every mishears the chorus...) or Cosmic Misery
Right. That's the end of the Winter Sprinter. No more gig reviews for at least ten days, promise.
