Thursday, September 15, 2005

There's Gold In Them Thar Gills!

Midas/Beats Capri/Strangetime/Sinistra, 'A Different Kettle Of Fish', Flapper and Firkin, Birmingham, Tuesday September 13 2005.

'It's not about making money, Kenny', ADKOF impresario Phill Huxley advises me while thumbing through a huge wad of fivers, 'it's about bringing music to the people, man'. Fortunately, Dead Kenny is long enough in the gills to remember a certain Dickie Branson echoing similar sentiments back in the mid-70s, so consider this fair warning that the bulk of Britain's economic infrastructure will be deep-Philled by 2035. For now, though, he'll have to make do with a hot and sweaty F&F and a crowd heaving with lacquer and cleavage in anticipation of the Huxster's cunningly devised bill whereby he gets to do business with all the foxy black-haired vixens on the Midlands indie scene.

For starters, if you're feeling Sinistra consider yourself lucky as the lead singer is a striking goth maiden, while the band employ a style of 'dark, brooding rock' which will inevitably draw comparisons to the notion of Siouxsie Sioux fronting Joy Division. Early days for the three-piece yet (this is just their second gig) but they're off to an intriguing start.

Hardly time to buy another pint before fellow gig sophomores Strangetime emerge on stage, another trio, this time comprising Phill's significant other Kate (aka Fincho), her equally gorgeous bass player friend, and some bloke on drums I couldn't quite see (sorry bloke on drums, I'll catch up with you next time!). Strangetime have a sound not a million miles away from their chums Sinistra, but give it a punkier and poppier edge, and possess a more direct lyrical style, typified by the barbed 'Ex-Boyfriend' and sweary blues showstopper 'I Want To Fuck You' (give these girls dildos and they'll be dangerous!). They look like rock stars, sound like rock stars, and with a little bit of self-belief, a lot of hard work and the right sort of luck they could be driving undergraduates crazy with frustrated lust up and down the country.

After all that excitement things calm down a little as Derby's Beats Capri provide a polished fusion of pop and metal whose commercial viability may be hampered by Do Me Bad Things beating them to the major-label punch. Ben's quite enthusiastic about them though, and even Dead Kenny is forced to admit the urgent onslaught of set closer 'Me Your Girl' is pretty damn exciting.

Disappointingly the crowd starts to thin a little as Stourbridge headliners Midas draw things to a close. Is this because they're the only band on tonight minus a hot indiechick in their line-up (Phill clearly fucked up somehow on this one), or is there another Brum curfew no-one's had the heart to tell me about? Neverthless, I enjoy their lively set, even though I fear their fast, complex rock music is likely to draw plenty of comparisons to Muse.

Crowdwatch postcript: Donna and the Prykemeister were both in attendance at some stage in proceedings, the former skilfully avoiding my line of vision throughout, and the latter skipping in just in time to catch the last band. ADKoF was clearly the hottest ticket in town and this evening's show was further evidence that A Watched Kettle Never Fails.

Sinistra and Strangetime will be playing a joint gig downstairs at Scruffy Murphy's in Birmingham on Friday September 30.

1 Comments:

Blogger Ben said...

Really glad the Beats Capri song on the sampler is the set-closer - I've been playing it repeatedly. The StrangeTime song sounds really good on CD too.

Already looking forward to (Hooker) next month.

12:44 AM  

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