Time Machine

StrangeTime/Mono, Barfly, Birmingham, Tuesday July 31 2007.

As your tired tyro heads down the stairs into the cavernous Barfly he is greeted by a convivial Phill who advises that the bands won't be playing on the main stage tonight but in the 'back room' instead. Any sense of disappointment that we won't be seeing StrangeTime grace the same arena as we've seen the likes of Metric, iLiKETRAiNS and Archie Bronson Outfit, gives way to the excitement your curious correspondent gleans from the knowledge that there is a secret area at this venue hitherto unknown to your gullible gig-goer.

The 'backroom' is a dark, narrow area but with decent sound and enough space for up to a 100 people to pack into at a push. Tonight, there's roughly half that amount gathering in anticipation, enough to create a stirring of atmosphere while still preserving some degree of personal space. StrangeTime have the confidence to drop in favourites like 'Lust' and former Parallax View Single Of The Week 'Personality Disorder' early into the show, reflecting an increasing belief that is building within and from outside the band. There's a slight hitch when they try out a new number (on Donna's excited encouragement) and John elects to abandon the drum intro but the resulting spark of anarchy throws some light relief into a set that's otherwise as hard, taut and glistening as a hanged man's cock.

Only catch about half of Mono's set, a comparatively straightforward outfit presenting a competent and toe-tapping take on blues rock. They're not exactly re-writing the rule-book but then neither were Moseley's Ocean Colour Scene but that didn't seem to do them any harm, did it? Worth checking on a full set soon, Dead Kenny reckons.