By Tom Clarke
Tonight I learnt three things:
1) The camera on my new phone is, shall we say, not what I was expecting from 3.2 'mega'pixels...looks more like 3.2 pixels to me, you can just about distinguish between light and dark but that's about it.
2) I think I can finally go back to wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans at gigs without blending in to the extent of being unable to pinpoint myself in photos.
And most surprisingly and importantly
3) Not all gigs on a Monday night in the smallest of pub backrooms will be deserted. For the last few years I would flip through gig listings and think twice before attending a gig at the start of the week. In my experience you would have a less-than-enthusiastic (or occasionally deaf) sound guy, about five people in the audience (the rest of the room being filled with members of other bands performing, if they bothered to watch at all) and a frosty look from the barmaid if you interruptred her from the book she was reading. Thankfully, tonight was the polar opposite of all of those things...
The first band on were called 'Geometrics'. They started the night in great form, producing vocal harmonies that made them sound like an all-male version of Johnny Foreigner. Unfortunately they soon took the form of a 'toffee apple' - the first and last songs of the set were brilliant, sweet and probably highly calorific (not unlike toffee) but the middle of the set was filled with a lot of Kooks/Arctic Monkeys soundalike material that if I'm honest I've become bored of over the last year or so, the apple, if you will. For such a young band though I'm sure they will find their own sound soon enough and Geometrics is definitely a name I'll look out for.
Following on from them was a local band called The Cougars. I only know they're local because I recognised their singer from primary school, a few years my junior, so was quite suprised to hear the almost certainly faux London accent coming from his vocals. They were quite a frantic bunch playing fast paced indie-punk not unlike Thee Unstrung or perhaps early Cribs. To finish their set Ashley the front man was clambering all over the amps at the back of the stage, which if anybody is familiar with the Portland, is an impressive feat considering the height of the ceilings.
After a couple of young bands starting the evening off, it came as quite a surprise to see that the next band were actually capable of growing facial hair. Proper facial hair at that, not the sort that a few people have when they leave secondary school.
Aside from the facial adornments Lord Auch (which i have been informed is pronounced 'ork' - that'll teach me for ignoring Lord of the Rings for so many years) provided a huge sound for a three-piece band, even dropping down to simply drums and bass guitar for one song, but with no loss of impact. The vocals were definitely unique, a bit like a twisted Elvis Presley, but with a Jim Carrey circa Ace Ventura look to the singer (which was duly noted by the audience and the band alike.) I don't really want to fall into the trap of making a direct comparison with any other bands, but if you want an idea of how they sound imagine The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster stripped down somewhat. Although you're probably better just checking them out for yourselves. A single is due out soon I beleive, I can't see it troubling the number one spot just yet, but I'm fairly sure they don't care. Keep up the good work.
When i returned to the back room after another refreshing beverage, I was amazed to see how many people had actually come to see The Paddingtons play. Having been off the scene for a while after disbanding and then reforming, you could be forgiven for thinking that their following may have died off a little. If anything the opposite seemed to be true, with even a minature mosh-pit forming at a few points (not even the sarcastic two person mosh pit in an empty room that i have been subjected to and probably been a part of at the Portland before.)
They rattled through some of the more well-known material from their first album 'First Comes First' before treating the crowd to new material including recent single 'Stand Down' which was met with as much excitement from the crowd as their more established numbers. The song I was most excited about throughout their set though was 'What's The Point In Anything New' which is set to be released as a single on October 27th. That's not a plug for it by the way, there's no corporate payoff for me to have said that, the band probably won't even read this review but I thought that putting a fact such as a date in this I look far more well read on the band than I really am.
I'm fairly sure that The Paddingtons finished the night with 'Some Old Girl' but due to the fact my hearing had been well and truly lost by that point, and also that the room was in such full swing that watching the band was almost a sidenote, I don't think I'll ever really know!
I haven't heard their new album 'No Mundane Options' yet, but if it does any justice to how the new material came across live, I have no doubt it's well worth a few spins.
All in all a great night, and a credit to The Portland Arms for being faultless hosts.
Tonight I learnt three things:
1) The camera on my new phone is, shall we say, not what I was expecting from 3.2 'mega'pixels...looks more like 3.2 pixels to me, you can just about distinguish between light and dark but that's about it.
2) I think I can finally go back to wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans at gigs without blending in to the extent of being unable to pinpoint myself in photos.
And most surprisingly and importantly
3) Not all gigs on a Monday night in the smallest of pub backrooms will be deserted. For the last few years I would flip through gig listings and think twice before attending a gig at the start of the week. In my experience you would have a less-than-enthusiastic (or occasionally deaf) sound guy, about five people in the audience (the rest of the room being filled with members of other bands performing, if they bothered to watch at all) and a frosty look from the barmaid if you interruptred her from the book she was reading. Thankfully, tonight was the polar opposite of all of those things...
The first band on were called 'Geometrics'. They started the night in great form, producing vocal harmonies that made them sound like an all-male version of Johnny Foreigner. Unfortunately they soon took the form of a 'toffee apple' - the first and last songs of the set were brilliant, sweet and probably highly calorific (not unlike toffee) but the middle of the set was filled with a lot of Kooks/Arctic Monkeys soundalike material that if I'm honest I've become bored of over the last year or so, the apple, if you will. For such a young band though I'm sure they will find their own sound soon enough and Geometrics is definitely a name I'll look out for.
Following on from them was a local band called The Cougars. I only know they're local because I recognised their singer from primary school, a few years my junior, so was quite suprised to hear the almost certainly faux London accent coming from his vocals. They were quite a frantic bunch playing fast paced indie-punk not unlike Thee Unstrung or perhaps early Cribs. To finish their set Ashley the front man was clambering all over the amps at the back of the stage, which if anybody is familiar with the Portland, is an impressive feat considering the height of the ceilings.
After a couple of young bands starting the evening off, it came as quite a surprise to see that the next band were actually capable of growing facial hair. Proper facial hair at that, not the sort that a few people have when they leave secondary school.
Aside from the facial adornments Lord Auch (which i have been informed is pronounced 'ork' - that'll teach me for ignoring Lord of the Rings for so many years) provided a huge sound for a three-piece band, even dropping down to simply drums and bass guitar for one song, but with no loss of impact. The vocals were definitely unique, a bit like a twisted Elvis Presley, but with a Jim Carrey circa Ace Ventura look to the singer (which was duly noted by the audience and the band alike.) I don't really want to fall into the trap of making a direct comparison with any other bands, but if you want an idea of how they sound imagine The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster stripped down somewhat. Although you're probably better just checking them out for yourselves. A single is due out soon I beleive, I can't see it troubling the number one spot just yet, but I'm fairly sure they don't care. Keep up the good work.
When i returned to the back room after another refreshing beverage, I was amazed to see how many people had actually come to see The Paddingtons play. Having been off the scene for a while after disbanding and then reforming, you could be forgiven for thinking that their following may have died off a little. If anything the opposite seemed to be true, with even a minature mosh-pit forming at a few points (not even the sarcastic two person mosh pit in an empty room that i have been subjected to and probably been a part of at the Portland before.)
They rattled through some of the more well-known material from their first album 'First Comes First' before treating the crowd to new material including recent single 'Stand Down' which was met with as much excitement from the crowd as their more established numbers. The song I was most excited about throughout their set though was 'What's The Point In Anything New' which is set to be released as a single on October 27th. That's not a plug for it by the way, there's no corporate payoff for me to have said that, the band probably won't even read this review but I thought that putting a fact such as a date in this I look far more well read on the band than I really am.
I'm fairly sure that The Paddingtons finished the night with 'Some Old Girl' but due to the fact my hearing had been well and truly lost by that point, and also that the room was in such full swing that watching the band was almost a sidenote, I don't think I'll ever really know!
I haven't heard their new album 'No Mundane Options' yet, but if it does any justice to how the new material came across live, I have no doubt it's well worth a few spins.
All in all a great night, and a credit to The Portland Arms for being faultless hosts.
1 comment:
Seems like these guys have suffered a bit of a venue drop since a couple of years ago!
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