Indie Daze
Hello again, it has been a while since I wrote here. Been to some great festivals this year like M'era Luna and Sacrosanct but last Saturday's Indie Daze was especially memorable. I would have loved to be at a gig with this line up in the early 90s. However, whilst I enjoyed listening to some of these bands at the time at home, I was a bit young to get into London for late night gigs. By the time I was going to gigs in the mid 90s, indie had mainly lost it's appeal to me and I had got into goth music, so I have some catching up to do!
As for the gig, I got to the Forum in time to see most of the opening act Thousand Yard Stare. This act were especially of interest to me as they come from the suburban Berkshire town that I appear to have made home. The singer had a strange habit of eating apples during breaks in vocal duties, I have to say he's aged better than the rest of the band. The highlight of their set for me was their one top 40 hit "Comeuppance". Saw Simon Landmine after their set, then decided to head next door to the Bull and Gate for slightly overpriced decent beer, as opposed to hideously overpriced crap beer at the Forum. What is it about beer prices in London, even Slimelight are charging £4 a can these days. Don't generally feel like I'm missing out when driving to clubs. There was a half an hour gap between bands and re admittance was allowed until 6pm, so quite a few people had a same idea as me including a couple of blokes from Bracknell whom I was chatting about Ministry with, really should have got their contact details.
The next band were Bentley Rhythm Ace, a band I didn't think I knew much about, but I did recognise a couple of songs from adverts. Apparently they contain members from Pop Will Eat Itself and EMF (both were on the bill later) dressed in sparkly suits reminiscent of notorious 1970s DJs. This was certainly a trippy experience, but I enjoyed them more than I thought I would. They knew how to get the crowd dancing to their acid-rave material.
Next up were Grebo act Gaye Bykers on Acid playing their final gig of a one-off reunion tour. Can't say I knew much about them beforehand other than a song about a killer vacuum cleaner on a compilation I have, which they did play. Was an interesting mix and punk and dance music, with hints towards metal. They were the first band to have a considerable fan base there for them.
Jim Bob was up next playing an acoustic Carter USM set. Some of the songs sounded very different unplugged. Even he admitted that some of them didn't really translate well to acoustic. Still lots of fun singing along. The crowd added their own instrumental noise to "Sheriff Fatman" near the end of the set.
Saw Laura from Bristol in the crowd, who I hadn't seen since M'era Luna so it was good to catch up and we made our way forward for the next band Pop Will Eat Itself. Amazingly, I hadn't seen them before live but this won't be my last time! Really enjoyed getting in the mosh for them, played a fair amount of old classics and "Ich bin ein Auslander" is so relevant in the aftermath of the referendum result. Highlight of the day for me.
Found Echobelly a bit dull in comparison, so went to find food upstairs. Came back for their final couple of songs. Not bad, but seemed a bit out of place on the bill, and didn't really have a crowd for them like the other main acts. I was never really a fan of their style of indie rock though.
EMF were the main headliner and, after some technical issues at the beginning of their set, put on an entertaining show celebrating 25 years of their Schubert Dip album. I was surprised they chose to play their big hit "Unbelievable" so early in the set, then the crowd thinned slightly. They did play other hits like "I Believe", "Children" and "Getting through". Then at the end Jim Bob and members of PWEI came up to join EMF for an "unbelievable" finale (terrible pun fully intended). Was amusing to see them getting lyrics wrong even when they were written on a piece of paper in front of them!
So all in all, a highly enjoyable gig. Felt a bit bad for missing Red Sun Revival on the same night but they regularly play in London anyway.
As for the gig, I got to the Forum in time to see most of the opening act Thousand Yard Stare. This act were especially of interest to me as they come from the suburban Berkshire town that I appear to have made home. The singer had a strange habit of eating apples during breaks in vocal duties, I have to say he's aged better than the rest of the band. The highlight of their set for me was their one top 40 hit "Comeuppance". Saw Simon Landmine after their set, then decided to head next door to the Bull and Gate for slightly overpriced decent beer, as opposed to hideously overpriced crap beer at the Forum. What is it about beer prices in London, even Slimelight are charging £4 a can these days. Don't generally feel like I'm missing out when driving to clubs. There was a half an hour gap between bands and re admittance was allowed until 6pm, so quite a few people had a same idea as me including a couple of blokes from Bracknell whom I was chatting about Ministry with, really should have got their contact details.
The next band were Bentley Rhythm Ace, a band I didn't think I knew much about, but I did recognise a couple of songs from adverts. Apparently they contain members from Pop Will Eat Itself and EMF (both were on the bill later) dressed in sparkly suits reminiscent of notorious 1970s DJs. This was certainly a trippy experience, but I enjoyed them more than I thought I would. They knew how to get the crowd dancing to their acid-rave material.
Next up were Grebo act Gaye Bykers on Acid playing their final gig of a one-off reunion tour. Can't say I knew much about them beforehand other than a song about a killer vacuum cleaner on a compilation I have, which they did play. Was an interesting mix and punk and dance music, with hints towards metal. They were the first band to have a considerable fan base there for them.
Jim Bob was up next playing an acoustic Carter USM set. Some of the songs sounded very different unplugged. Even he admitted that some of them didn't really translate well to acoustic. Still lots of fun singing along. The crowd added their own instrumental noise to "Sheriff Fatman" near the end of the set.
Saw Laura from Bristol in the crowd, who I hadn't seen since M'era Luna so it was good to catch up and we made our way forward for the next band Pop Will Eat Itself. Amazingly, I hadn't seen them before live but this won't be my last time! Really enjoyed getting in the mosh for them, played a fair amount of old classics and "Ich bin ein Auslander" is so relevant in the aftermath of the referendum result. Highlight of the day for me.
Found Echobelly a bit dull in comparison, so went to find food upstairs. Came back for their final couple of songs. Not bad, but seemed a bit out of place on the bill, and didn't really have a crowd for them like the other main acts. I was never really a fan of their style of indie rock though.
EMF were the main headliner and, after some technical issues at the beginning of their set, put on an entertaining show celebrating 25 years of their Schubert Dip album. I was surprised they chose to play their big hit "Unbelievable" so early in the set, then the crowd thinned slightly. They did play other hits like "I Believe", "Children" and "Getting through". Then at the end Jim Bob and members of PWEI came up to join EMF for an "unbelievable" finale (terrible pun fully intended). Was amusing to see them getting lyrics wrong even when they were written on a piece of paper in front of them!
So all in all, a highly enjoyable gig. Felt a bit bad for missing Red Sun Revival on the same night but they regularly play in London anyway.