SWN Festival 2010 Diary: Friday
SWN Festival 2010 Diary: Thursday
Day two of the SWN Festival - ten venues, fifty-plus acts and thousands of fans of live music, among them myself and music critic Critique, who is writing this festival diary with me.
Our first stop was only a quick one, to catch the end of Jonathan Powell's set in Y Fuwch Goch, where one man and his guitar were entertaining a small, respectful but enthusiastic crowd. An acoustic act was a good, mellow way to start an evening of live music. Critique - Branded as Mr. Charlotte Church, who apparently joined us in the audience that night, I really liked JP. He had a powerful voice and you could actually tell the difference between his songs. His album Forgive This Day has some Seth Lakeman style tracks and I’m attributing the mellow bare feel of CC’s new album to his influence.
Next we found ourselves wandering into the end of a set by We Are Animal. I wish we'd caught more from these guys, as I really liked their grungey rock sound. It may have been that the lead singer reminded me of Kurt Cobain, but I definitely got a Nirvana vibe from them; monotonous, growling vocals and driving guitar riffs. They wrapped up their set with a fantastic climax, as they slammed through a repeating riff over and over, faster and faster, and got a great response from the crowd. Absolutely look these guys up on Myspace. Even better, they’re on Spotify! But the live performance was far superior. If you can see these guys live, do it! The lead singer does look like Kurt Cobain’s and the Cookie Monster's love child, which added to the magic of literally being pulled into a runaway train of drum beat. Oh and a couple of the guys from WAA are in Masters In France as well. We may have found the Welsh version of the Foos/Them Crooked!
Back in the Red Cow we stopped by to see a bit from The Last Republic. It was just a bit, though. I found myself a little underwhelmed by how generic they were, and when the singer whipped out a megaphone to sing the chorus through, I lost interest. When an already average band has to resort to a gimmick borrowed from a more well-known band (in this case Muse), I struggle to have respect for them. If it had added anything to the song then fine, but all it succeeded in doing was making the singing quieter and less clear. Not impressed. The look of disgust on your face when he pulled it out. Personally I wasn’t offended. I love a megaphone. The bigger the better Definitely not a euphemism.
Once more we crossed the road to visit Welsh Club (the bouncers were getting to know us by this stage), Yes! They even stopped asking you for ID Baby Neil! We caught the end of the set by O Children while we waited for the main event upstairs. O Children were definitely interesting - quite a strong 70s Joy Division sound, especially from the lead singer, whose amazing deep voice and echo-effect microphone reverberated in the cave-like downstairs room of Ifor Bach. Their singer also had real stage presence and a mystique, though this may have been helped by the fact that he addressed the crowd through the echo microphone so we couldn't understand him. He had poured himself into those trousers. Imagine Olivia Newton John’s outfit for The One That I Want and you get the picture. I was worried about the friction causing a small fire. Yes it sounded like he was an American Ian Curtis but really, who has two microphones in front of them and chooses to talk through the one with echo? He wasn’t alluring or adding to his ‘mystique’. He just sounded like he’d smoked a pack of 40. Not cool.
And then upstairs for The Ex. We had queued outside and as we questioned whether or not The Ex were worth queuing in the rain for, a middle-aged man in a leather jacket told us that The Ex were incredible. This should have been a warning. The band looked and dressed like they had turned up to do some painting; three middle aged guys and one woman, dressed in t-shirts and tracksuit bottoms. However, it soon became clear that they knew exactly what they were doing - they had a female drummer, of course they knew what they were doing - and they did it with twice the energy of bands half their age! Without a doubt the best word to describe them is "raw": raw, shouted, angry vocals, stripped-down guitar work (the lead guitarist got some noises out of his instrument that I have never heard before, in one instance playing it with a drumstick) and drumming born out of raw energy. At the time I was not their biggest fan - I would have had my work cut out to claim that title in a room full of people that went wild for them - as while each song started well, they all seemed to descend into making as much noise as humanly possible. It’s called Punk Rock! However, I have to say they were hugely likeable, entertaining to watch, and unique among the bands that I saw that weekend.
Thanks to the indispensable Wiki I was able to determine a little of what we were letting ourselves in for. A Dutch punk rock band from ’79 who’s first single was called Stupid Americans followed by the equally pleasantly titled All Corpses Smell The Same. I should have expected the shock wave from the first chord and prepared accordingly. Instead I jumped a mile and for the rest of the gig I became a kangaroo. If I could bottle this band I would sell them as a cure for laziness. I imagine that they come up with their music in the same way that the band Chumbawumba, who they have collaborated with, came up with their band name. They let a bunch of chimps loose with some guitars and instead of Shakespeare they come up with pure punk. They are no Green Day or Sonic Youth.
They are ‘Old Skool’. Yes they look like your parents. Yes they dance like your drunken uncle at a family wedding. But when a bloke starts playing his guitar by scraping it against the wall and a curtain, damn it makes me wish that I was Henry DeTamble and could go back to the best year of music! Also, their drummer was the first of two female band members I saw ALL weekend. Why the lack of oestrogen! She was the best drummer I saw and I’m not being all 'right on sister' when I say that. Drumming so fast that your hands are blurred whilst smiling and singing a Dutch folksong and not even sweating; hell I thought I could multitask! If you like the Ramones and Motorhead go see The Ex live. After 1,250 gigs, they know what they’re doing.
SWN Festival 2010 Diary: Saturday
1 Comment – Post a comment
Sam Sprout (Editor)
Commented 67 months ago - 2nd November 2010 - 16:44pm
The Ex were the best thing I experienced all weekend, especially as I hadn't heard them before and the drummer was wearing a t-shirt from The Wire.
Friday was the best day by a mile, with The Ex, T3eth and Stricken City (and all with female members).