Ball or Bescot
Went to back-to-back gigs at Birmingham Academy 2 last week. First up was the Hot Hot Heat/Har Mar Superstar/The Bandits show. As I strolled to the bar the first band were up on stage, but instead of hearing the scouse strains of The Bandits this noisily entertaining bunch were clearly from Sarf London. And when I turned sharply from the bar to have a gander at what was going on, my eyes were met by an equally bewildered glance from the lead singer. Most disconcerting.
Anyway turns out these were The Rocks and they, um, rocked with their cheerfully shambolic run-through of songs about psychopaths with chainsaws and not missing people when they're dead. The lead singer is a real star with sackfuls of charisma, bounding around the stage like the missing link between Jerry Sadowitz and Jarvis Cocker and tutting at his bandmates for drowning out the quality heckling. The Rocks then, are set to climb.
Next up were The Bandits which meant, sadly no Har Mar Superstar (found out later he has shingles - how poxy is that?). The Bandits played with no shortage of energy and confidence, but their scally take on Ocean Colour Scene still left me feeling a little robbed. Noel Gallagher seems to like them though.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of Hot Hot Heat who, with their birds nest hairdos and Brady-Bunch demeanour are the No Wave band it's seemingly OK for teenage girls to like. It was a very young crowd with some clearly a little too young for licensed premises, attracted either by the band's looks or their big bouncy choons, or both.
I enjoyed Hot Hot Heat's show and they're impossible to dislike but, on the evidence of this gig, there's not enough variation in the vocal range for my tastes and this will have to be addressed if the band are going to stick around for the long run. But they came to have fun and so they did, and I'm not going to begrudge them their 15 minutes in the spotlight.
The following night was the Evan Dando show. I missed the first band (The Pieces) but caught hard-working Aussies You Am I, who, rather like The Bandits on the previous night, displayed much more perspiration than inspiration, and are perhaps best appreciated by their fellow musicians than the public at large. That said, a couple of songs where they harmonised the vocals and sounded like Teenage Fanclub were almost good enough to forgive them for inspiring The Vines to form.
There then followed an amusing interlude waiting for ED when the hot Asian babe to my left got chatted up by a Jasper Carrot looky-likey. 'Where you from then?' the hopeful, hairless lothario asked. 'I've just flown in from Seattle' the Asian Babe responded, doing her best to sound interested. 'Oh' replied our rugless romeo, a little dejected, 'I'm from Walsall' and things went a little downhill from there, really...
Ah yes, our Asian Babe from Seattle only had eyes for Evan Dando who only kept her 25 mins waiting before storming into a crowdpleasing mix of old Lemonheads classics ('Big Gay Heart'; 'The Outdoors Type', a punky take on 'It's A Shame About Ray') and the bulk of the tracks from his excellent new album 'Baby I'm Bored'.
Dando started with some solo acoustic stuff before inviting his band onstage for some uptempo choonage. Whatever ravages his refuelling habits have taken on his body he still has a great voice and some fine material, new and old. The only downside of the show being because of the 11pm curfew (club opening time) the late start meant no opportunity for an encore. Shame.
So over the two days my Academy (2) Award Winners were...The Rocks. For sheer entertainment value, charisma, interaction with the crowd and commendable couldn't-give-a-fuck attitude, not to mention a clutch of viciously good songs they're the band I'd unreservedly recommend to readers.
Went to back-to-back gigs at Birmingham Academy 2 last week. First up was the Hot Hot Heat/Har Mar Superstar/The Bandits show. As I strolled to the bar the first band were up on stage, but instead of hearing the scouse strains of The Bandits this noisily entertaining bunch were clearly from Sarf London. And when I turned sharply from the bar to have a gander at what was going on, my eyes were met by an equally bewildered glance from the lead singer. Most disconcerting.
Anyway turns out these were The Rocks and they, um, rocked with their cheerfully shambolic run-through of songs about psychopaths with chainsaws and not missing people when they're dead. The lead singer is a real star with sackfuls of charisma, bounding around the stage like the missing link between Jerry Sadowitz and Jarvis Cocker and tutting at his bandmates for drowning out the quality heckling. The Rocks then, are set to climb.
Next up were The Bandits which meant, sadly no Har Mar Superstar (found out later he has shingles - how poxy is that?). The Bandits played with no shortage of energy and confidence, but their scally take on Ocean Colour Scene still left me feeling a little robbed. Noel Gallagher seems to like them though.
I'm still not quite sure what to make of Hot Hot Heat who, with their birds nest hairdos and Brady-Bunch demeanour are the No Wave band it's seemingly OK for teenage girls to like. It was a very young crowd with some clearly a little too young for licensed premises, attracted either by the band's looks or their big bouncy choons, or both.
I enjoyed Hot Hot Heat's show and they're impossible to dislike but, on the evidence of this gig, there's not enough variation in the vocal range for my tastes and this will have to be addressed if the band are going to stick around for the long run. But they came to have fun and so they did, and I'm not going to begrudge them their 15 minutes in the spotlight.
The following night was the Evan Dando show. I missed the first band (The Pieces) but caught hard-working Aussies You Am I, who, rather like The Bandits on the previous night, displayed much more perspiration than inspiration, and are perhaps best appreciated by their fellow musicians than the public at large. That said, a couple of songs where they harmonised the vocals and sounded like Teenage Fanclub were almost good enough to forgive them for inspiring The Vines to form.
There then followed an amusing interlude waiting for ED when the hot Asian babe to my left got chatted up by a Jasper Carrot looky-likey. 'Where you from then?' the hopeful, hairless lothario asked. 'I've just flown in from Seattle' the Asian Babe responded, doing her best to sound interested. 'Oh' replied our rugless romeo, a little dejected, 'I'm from Walsall' and things went a little downhill from there, really...
Ah yes, our Asian Babe from Seattle only had eyes for Evan Dando who only kept her 25 mins waiting before storming into a crowdpleasing mix of old Lemonheads classics ('Big Gay Heart'; 'The Outdoors Type', a punky take on 'It's A Shame About Ray') and the bulk of the tracks from his excellent new album 'Baby I'm Bored'.
Dando started with some solo acoustic stuff before inviting his band onstage for some uptempo choonage. Whatever ravages his refuelling habits have taken on his body he still has a great voice and some fine material, new and old. The only downside of the show being because of the 11pm curfew (club opening time) the late start meant no opportunity for an encore. Shame.
So over the two days my Academy (2) Award Winners were...The Rocks. For sheer entertainment value, charisma, interaction with the crowd and commendable couldn't-give-a-fuck attitude, not to mention a clutch of viciously good songs they're the band I'd unreservedly recommend to readers.
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