The Beat Surrender

I got sent the new Help She Can’t Swim single recently, one listen to Hospital Drama and I was completely hooked, it was full of energy, sounded really fresh and I was really keen to hear more from them, so much so that I blagged four guest list places to see them at this gig at The Love Apple in Bradford.

I took with me a fellow eight a side footballer and our respective partners, we’d had a bit of a dash to get their having played (badly) football earlier, luckily though the bands weren’t on until late, so a few beers were had in a local ale house and then it was on to The Love Apple.

The venue itself is a little strange, it’s almost like a series of low outbuildings, it doubles as a cafe during the day and has club nights and bands on in the evening. Due to the way it’s set out the sound isn’t always great and sometimes bands do struggle in their. This proved to be the case with both bands we saw, although some tackle adversity better than others as is true in life generally.

First up were the young punk outfit The Vagabonds, back combed hair and ripped jeans were the order of the day style wise, musically they were brash, yet catchy and showed potential. The lead singer was like Zebedee on speed, bouncing all around the stage, at some points even coming off of the stage and joining the minimal crowd on the floor. They didn’t seem happy with the sound (although it sounded ok to us) and eventually cut their set short, playing only half a dozen very quick, very short songs.

A ten minute break and then it was time for headliners Help She Can’t Swim who were on tour to promote second album The Death Of Nightlife, as I said earlier I was looking forward to this, unfortunately what followed has put me well and truly off them as a live experience.

The energy and buzz that came with the single had gone in the live performance, it was a shambolic noise that wasn’t helped by keyboard player Leesey Frances who has a singing voice flatter than me, it wouldn’t have been so bad but her microphone was turned up louder than everyone elses. Within a couple of songs the room started to empty out a little and after five or six songs the bar area was actually busier than the venue part.

Maybe it was sound problems, maybe it was just an off night, but either way they sounded more like Help She Can’t Sing than Help She Can’t Swim.

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