A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF GIGS : WEEK 2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

A LIFE IN A YEAR OF GIGS : #2 : SWEDE SOUL MUSIC

After the experience of the local hip-hop scene in week one, your humble scribe and his sidekick Aldo decided to get on more familiar ground in week two. And to avoid the possibility of us having to leave early and miss the headline act as had happened with Mackenzie and Swad, we decided to make it a Friday night out.

There were two gigs vying for our attention – in the end Aldo tossed a coin. If it had come up tails, we’d have gone to this:-

“Ultimate Thrush, She’s Hit, Smack Wizards and Gig O Ram play the Old Hairdressers on 13 January and then all their names will go into a hat to select four new supergroups who will have just 24 hours to create a set then play the same venue of the 14th”

But it was heads. So it was a swift return to the 13th Note on the 13th for three bands, the headline act of which was described as ‘fiery indie music from Sweden.’

First thing we note is that the venue isn’t quite as crowded as it had been for the hip-hop night. Also, instead of about 80 baseball caps in the house, there’s just one on the head of a bloke who is the double of the bloke who used to play bass in Queens of the Stone Age. Oh and there’s a lot more females in the audience this week – a mix of indie-cool, goth and rock. The night looks promising.

Fat Janitor take to the stage. Four young men who have attracted a fair crowd for being bottom of the bill. It’s loud guitars, bass, drums and a laptop. It’s mostly instrumentals or minimal lyrics. It’s mostly fast. Oh and did I mention it was loud??

These boys can play...no arguments from either of us. They are hugely energetic and seem slightly constrained by the small size of the performance space. This is a band whose audience would revel in a mosh pit. Korn come to mind as do Rage Against the Machine, but no doubt their real influences will of course be more hardcore and obscure.

The drummer was particularly impressive. He battered away without seemingly breaking sweat during the six-song set. But the truth is, it was neither of our scenes. Aldo was pleased he’d brought his earplugs while JC wished he’d invested in a set. Can’t see John Butcher Boy playing any of the Fat Janitor material at any of the Little League nights. Not enough in the way of pop hooks or melodies.

After a short break, Miss the Occupier take to the stage. JC has to own up and admit that this is a band he’s long been looking to catch live as the drummer is someone he used to work alongside.

Another four-piece act - guitar, drums, keys and a fantastic-looking female singer who also plays bass. Said singer had been spotted in the venue a bit earlier wearing killer heels – these were removed for the performance so that it was barefoot a la Sandie Shaw, who coincidentally the singer, thanks to the black-bobbed hair, has more than a passing resemblance to.

Despite the band being a bit unhappy with the sound via their own monitors, what comes across to the audience is a fabulous 30-odd minute set that had the two of us among many others swaying and dancing along. Lots of hook and lots of melodies. Notes we took at the time name check The Cure, Pauline Murray, Sons & Daughters, Sonic Youth, The Slits, Pixies and Lush. Two more to add in the cold light of day  - The Organ... and Elastica Hugely enjoyable stuff.....but it all begs a thought.

If a band this talented, energetic and such damn good fun to watch and listen to are still unsigned more than three years after their formation, then no wonder the modern-day music industry has gone to buggery.

Miss The Occupier would, without any question, have been massive if the industry hadn’t messed up so spectacularly in the late 90s when any indie-looking and sounding band were signed up and given huge advances only to see the scene crash and burn within months thanks to a lack of quality control and the fact that things do move on (albeit inevitably come back into fashion some time later). Right now, the fashion is for bands round these parts to have something that makes them stand out as distinctly Scottish and that clinches them a deal – no harm in that – but there has to be and must be room for talented bands like Miss The Occupier. They aren’t your typical Scottish band right now – they could just as easily be from Swindon, Swansea, Sunderland or Stockport. And their music deserves a wider audience. Including the good people of Sweden. Talking of whom....

The QOTSA look-alike in the baseball cap with the beard turns out to be the bassist in From Our Hearts, tonight’s headliners. Formed in Gothenburg back in 2009, they have attracted a reasonable crowd for a Friday night in January, but we’re wondering how the hell they can afford to be here. The entry fee was just £3 and there’s no t-shirts, CDs, vinyl or merchandise to allow any further financial contributions to support their efforts.

They’re another four-piece band – and we’re caught out by them having a female vocalist as she is stood to one side while the bass player is centre stage. Oh and their drummer has more than a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain in those photos where he wore glasses – or maybe it’s Garth from Wayne’s World.

JC makes his mind up right away that this band are going to be good. Opening few minutes of guitars are indie-rock heaven....and besides the singer’s guitar-strap says ‘Jazz Sucks’ on it. JC would want one of those if only he had a guitar....

They are also very good indeed. Less poptastic than Miss The Occupier there is a touch of shoegazery about them and its close cousin – grunge. Dinosaur Jr and Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins influences are duly noted. There’s nothing unique or earth-shattering about From Our Hearts, but after more than 30-years of listening to punk, new wave, indie, college rock, grunge, Britpop and all parts in between, there’s very little can ever be new with a classic four-piece line-up.

But part of what this whole ‘one gig per week’ is to try and ‘discover’ things that otherwise would have passed us by. From that perspective, the night at the 13th Note was a success as two of the acts are now firmly on our radar while the third, while not our cups of Earl Gray, are recommended to those who like lots of noise and moshing.

Even at this stage in the adventure, it’s going to take something special to give us a better value night than we enjoyed on Friday the 13th at the 13th Note. £3, three bands and we got talking to one of the performers afterwards (and yes, Ione from Miss The Occupier was as good on the drums as the other two stickmen mentioned above).

It was a gig we went to on the toss of a coin. Very much a case of ‘heads, we win...’

NOW TO THE MUSIC....................

Fat Janitor's six-track debut mini-LP Lurk can be downloaded for free by clicking here

mp3 : Fat Janitor - Laughing Sick

Loads of information and links to Miss The Occupier can be found here

mp3 : Miss The Occupier - All Day



And finally....to learn more about the headline act, please click here

mp3 : From Our Hearts - Berlin/San Francisco
mp3 : From Our Hearst - Disco From Our Hearts
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Rewind
mp3 : From Our Hearts - Sunn 636


JC and Aldo. Wednesday 18 January 2012