The Barracks, Magic Wands, Noisettes at Spaceland, NME, Wednesday 22 July
First time I'd ever seen a line outside of Spaceland, which was especially shocking as I didn't hear about the show until two nights before. Apparently, I'm simply late to the game. At least I got there in the end. And it wasn't even that late, as the doors didn't open until well after nine. From the few 60s outfits sprinkled throughout the crowd, and the unknown opening acts, it seemed like half the audience was there for the Noisettes' new take on the Motown wall of sound. Unfortunately for them, the Noisettes and their opening acts were still in love with the garage punk sound from their first album.
The Barracks were the first band up, and the last band to rush through their sound check. From all appearances, it seemed like these guys stepped out of a time warp from 1990s Seattle. When the music hit the floor, they pulled a refreshingly modern take on classic rock out of their instruments. Complete with a southern rock hint, the Barracks play a "noise punk" style (post-punk, prog-ish attempt at classic arena rock).* They definitely wear their influences in their long hair and on their sleeves, dropping a reference to themselves as "Ted Zeppelin." I don't think I've ever heard drums provide what passes for melody in a song before. All of The Barracks' songs had a weaving wall of guitar and bass pushed forward and kept in line with rapidly rhythmic drumming. In the end they feel a bit like an updated Double Felix, which is remarkable as this was their first show.
Next up were the Nashville duo Magic Wands, whom I've seen before with The Kills and The Horrors. I gather they were able to get a decent sound check this time, as I could finally hear their backing click track. While The Kills make their fortune with the concept of dueling guitars fighting and destroying the stage, Magic Wands play a duet of dancing guitars: less tumultuous energy, but more trackable, danceable melodies. Teenage Love sounds a bit basic, until you realize the lyrics are mostly mocking the realities of teenage foibles. Their last few tracks, including Kiss Me Dead, gave the feel of a 50s slow dance, straight out of Back to the Future. The low lighting, Dexy's sunglasses and low sexy voice do nothing but add to this feeling of laid-back love with a dash of fleeting innocence. The lyrics may seem a bit simple, but for what they seem to be trying to capture, they fit better than elastic. Overall, see these guys at a smaller venue, as I never really got a feel for their music until this show.
True to form, the Noisettes start their set with the familiar beat of Wild Young Hearts, but there's no lead singer on stage-no microphone in the stand either. The music fades. The dulcet tones of Shingai Shoniwa start the chorus a capella. Soon the music comes up again, as she emerges from backstage. Shoniwa plays with the curtain as she makes her way out, revealing her outfit slowly. A tight black one-piece (which is apparently called a romper) given the 60s touch with a metal fringe covering the torso and a hot pink jacket. Topping it all, Shoniwa has a platform of hair decked out with a solitary black feather. As she finally approaches the mic-stand and gets fitted with her bass, you notice a little tension. Granted, who doesn't notice tension on the first number, especially when nothing sound-wise seems to have gone right in the set up process? Once she gets out the "La la la, la la la" getting the audience to clap along (with the help of an energetic background singer), she finds her stride and falls in rhythm. And of course, the next track begs us Don't Upset the Rhythm. Shoniwa passes the bass to the background bassist and takes the mic all over the stage, complete with hip-shaking hits to the chorus ending claps. Through 24 Hours, Shoniwa continues using the entire stage, at the end bending over backwards in front of Jamie Morrison's drums. Course, she looses her feathers in the second outfit casualty of the night. (The first was the hot pink jacket, which could never work in a heat trap like Spaceland.) Dan Smith announces that they'll be going into a "golden oldie, or at least what we call an oldie" as the front woman gets her bass strapped on. Half the audience roars in approval as Scratch Your Name starts up. They blast through the next few songs, Morrison tearing up the drums, Shoniwa dancing on the as yet unused wood block, and Smith exploring the stage while exercising his guitar with a solo or two. The only thing resembling a hickup came when they tried introducing a song: "What day is it everyone?" A timid and confused "Wednesday," came back. "Well I'm changing that tonight. Sorry God. Tonight's going to be Saturday Night." And the multitude cheers as the Noisettes release an upbeat unknown track from the album, complete with call back exchange between the back-up singer and Shoniwa, now standing on the edge of stage's speakers, using the exposed vents hanging from the ceiling to balance herself.
Dan Smith introduces Sometimes as everyone else catches their breath. It was written on the rooftop of a Los Angeles record studio, maybe even the oldest song on their new album. They lay into a heightened performance of Don't Give Up complete with a Smith guitar solo and an extendedly energetic drum solo from Morrison, who is practically dousing the front row in sweat as he pushes his limits.
Shingai Shoniwa uses the next gap to ask how the crowd is doing, the back loves it, as does the front, but when she calls for the crowd by the bar, their response is a bit timid. "So I guess I need to go over there and pick them up." Smith starts up Atticus as she heads over to the bar, where she serenades the patrons while sitting on the bar. Morrison hops out from behind the drums to the wood box for some lower key percussion. Smith and the bassist use the opportunity to relax and stroll around the stage as they strum and sing along. By the end of the song Morrison is back behind the drums, but still using his hands, keeping it low key. Shoniwa, meanwhile, is still at the bar when she introduces the next song. She starts it off with a question: "What you drinkin'? Rum or whiskey?" With Never Forget You being the number one single on the US alternative charts, this was the finale song everyone in the audience was waiting for.** Shoniwa takes advantage of the slow song and high fives half the front row, and serenades the rest, leaning backwards over the monitors to get closer. After the song, they leave the stage, already barraged with cheers for an encore.
Which they accommodate lovingly with Count of Monte Cristo complete with Americanized lyrics ("dollars" for "pennies"). Morrison starts on his wood box, completely acoustic, though the tech tries his damnedest to get the audio link back up for it-not that it matters, the audience soaks it up. The bassist joins the full band instead of accompanying in the back corner, the background singer busts out a tambourine, Smith and Shoniwa play the crowd exemplarily. Morrison ditches the wood box for the last chorus and slides behind the drums as they go fully plugged in to finish the night. And fresh out of loved songs to play, they pay homage to a glam rock influence with a cover of Children of the Revolution. They pour everything they have left into this song, and even bring out the maracas so Shingai can dance and sing with Jody, the tambourine wielding background singer. The cover drops to just drums and light strumming as Shoniwa drops to her knees to add a chorus of "When you're down and out" to aide "No you won't fool the Children of the Revolution." When the Noisettes finally left the stage, the audience beamed and cheered, relishing the exhaustion of a great performance. And it didn't hurt none that a couple of the band members passed a handful of Coronas to the front rows.
Oh, and Shoniwa did this all barefoot.
*I know fuck all about genres, and for that matter, not much about musical instruments, so I'm likely wrong or at least, not adequately descriptive at times.
**The bassist told me this after the show, but I was unable to check it out.
The Barracks were the first band up, and the last band to rush through their sound check. From all appearances, it seemed like these guys stepped out of a time warp from 1990s Seattle. When the music hit the floor, they pulled a refreshingly modern take on classic rock out of their instruments. Complete with a southern rock hint, the Barracks play a "noise punk" style (post-punk, prog-ish attempt at classic arena rock).* They definitely wear their influences in their long hair and on their sleeves, dropping a reference to themselves as "Ted Zeppelin." I don't think I've ever heard drums provide what passes for melody in a song before. All of The Barracks' songs had a weaving wall of guitar and bass pushed forward and kept in line with rapidly rhythmic drumming. In the end they feel a bit like an updated Double Felix, which is remarkable as this was their first show.
Next up were the Nashville duo Magic Wands, whom I've seen before with The Kills and The Horrors. I gather they were able to get a decent sound check this time, as I could finally hear their backing click track. While The Kills make their fortune with the concept of dueling guitars fighting and destroying the stage, Magic Wands play a duet of dancing guitars: less tumultuous energy, but more trackable, danceable melodies. Teenage Love sounds a bit basic, until you realize the lyrics are mostly mocking the realities of teenage foibles. Their last few tracks, including Kiss Me Dead, gave the feel of a 50s slow dance, straight out of Back to the Future. The low lighting, Dexy's sunglasses and low sexy voice do nothing but add to this feeling of laid-back love with a dash of fleeting innocence. The lyrics may seem a bit simple, but for what they seem to be trying to capture, they fit better than elastic. Overall, see these guys at a smaller venue, as I never really got a feel for their music until this show.
True to form, the Noisettes start their set with the familiar beat of Wild Young Hearts, but there's no lead singer on stage-no microphone in the stand either. The music fades. The dulcet tones of Shingai Shoniwa start the chorus a capella. Soon the music comes up again, as she emerges from backstage. Shoniwa plays with the curtain as she makes her way out, revealing her outfit slowly. A tight black one-piece (which is apparently called a romper) given the 60s touch with a metal fringe covering the torso and a hot pink jacket. Topping it all, Shoniwa has a platform of hair decked out with a solitary black feather. As she finally approaches the mic-stand and gets fitted with her bass, you notice a little tension. Granted, who doesn't notice tension on the first number, especially when nothing sound-wise seems to have gone right in the set up process? Once she gets out the "La la la, la la la" getting the audience to clap along (with the help of an energetic background singer), she finds her stride and falls in rhythm. And of course, the next track begs us Don't Upset the Rhythm. Shoniwa passes the bass to the background bassist and takes the mic all over the stage, complete with hip-shaking hits to the chorus ending claps. Through 24 Hours, Shoniwa continues using the entire stage, at the end bending over backwards in front of Jamie Morrison's drums. Course, she looses her feathers in the second outfit casualty of the night. (The first was the hot pink jacket, which could never work in a heat trap like Spaceland.) Dan Smith announces that they'll be going into a "golden oldie, or at least what we call an oldie" as the front woman gets her bass strapped on. Half the audience roars in approval as Scratch Your Name starts up. They blast through the next few songs, Morrison tearing up the drums, Shoniwa dancing on the as yet unused wood block, and Smith exploring the stage while exercising his guitar with a solo or two. The only thing resembling a hickup came when they tried introducing a song: "What day is it everyone?" A timid and confused "Wednesday," came back. "Well I'm changing that tonight. Sorry God. Tonight's going to be Saturday Night." And the multitude cheers as the Noisettes release an upbeat unknown track from the album, complete with call back exchange between the back-up singer and Shoniwa, now standing on the edge of stage's speakers, using the exposed vents hanging from the ceiling to balance herself.
Dan Smith introduces Sometimes as everyone else catches their breath. It was written on the rooftop of a Los Angeles record studio, maybe even the oldest song on their new album. They lay into a heightened performance of Don't Give Up complete with a Smith guitar solo and an extendedly energetic drum solo from Morrison, who is practically dousing the front row in sweat as he pushes his limits.
Shingai Shoniwa uses the next gap to ask how the crowd is doing, the back loves it, as does the front, but when she calls for the crowd by the bar, their response is a bit timid. "So I guess I need to go over there and pick them up." Smith starts up Atticus as she heads over to the bar, where she serenades the patrons while sitting on the bar. Morrison hops out from behind the drums to the wood box for some lower key percussion. Smith and the bassist use the opportunity to relax and stroll around the stage as they strum and sing along. By the end of the song Morrison is back behind the drums, but still using his hands, keeping it low key. Shoniwa, meanwhile, is still at the bar when she introduces the next song. She starts it off with a question: "What you drinkin'? Rum or whiskey?" With Never Forget You being the number one single on the US alternative charts, this was the finale song everyone in the audience was waiting for.** Shoniwa takes advantage of the slow song and high fives half the front row, and serenades the rest, leaning backwards over the monitors to get closer. After the song, they leave the stage, already barraged with cheers for an encore.
Which they accommodate lovingly with Count of Monte Cristo complete with Americanized lyrics ("dollars" for "pennies"). Morrison starts on his wood box, completely acoustic, though the tech tries his damnedest to get the audio link back up for it-not that it matters, the audience soaks it up. The bassist joins the full band instead of accompanying in the back corner, the background singer busts out a tambourine, Smith and Shoniwa play the crowd exemplarily. Morrison ditches the wood box for the last chorus and slides behind the drums as they go fully plugged in to finish the night. And fresh out of loved songs to play, they pay homage to a glam rock influence with a cover of Children of the Revolution. They pour everything they have left into this song, and even bring out the maracas so Shingai can dance and sing with Jody, the tambourine wielding background singer. The cover drops to just drums and light strumming as Shoniwa drops to her knees to add a chorus of "When you're down and out" to aide "No you won't fool the Children of the Revolution." When the Noisettes finally left the stage, the audience beamed and cheered, relishing the exhaustion of a great performance. And it didn't hurt none that a couple of the band members passed a handful of Coronas to the front rows.
Oh, and Shoniwa did this all barefoot.
*I know fuck all about genres, and for that matter, not much about musical instruments, so I'm likely wrong or at least, not adequately descriptive at times.
**The bassist told me this after the show, but I was unable to check it out.