The Beat Surrender

It’s the end of the eighties and I’m entering my teenage years in a flowered hooded top with my favourite dungarees on, loose fit of course and everyone’s listening to the Roses or the Mondays. Although I really loved these bands, it must have been the pull of the Hammond organ ( or as Clint Boon will tell us, it’s a Farfisa) that drew me to my main two favourite bands of the time, The Charlatans and Inspiral Carpets.

It’s taken this long for me to eventually get round to see them live, fortunately it’s the very same line up and they’re still playing the classic tunes that drew me in all those years ago. The last time I was at The Leadmill, the Inspirals’ Clint Boon, a slightly worse for wear Shaun Ryder and newly crowned Big Brother winner Bez were ‘DJing’ while Tony Wilson unfortunately didn’t turn up, Boon was the only one spinning his record selections himself, which is just as well with him having a job laying them down at XFM Manchester.

The stage is set up with a huge backdrop of the now legendary ‘Moo’ cow the band is synonymous with and the crowd is made up of mainly 30 to 40 year olds eagerly awaiting, like me, the return of these indie legends from Oldham.

Firstly though we are treated to local Sheffield lads Seven Hills, performing in their usual group line with fast paced, layered guitars which build into soaring choruses, resembling Cast which is even more evident in the singer Liam’s voice, very John Power.

After a lengthy lay off, this is their first show back in quite a while and it sounds like they’ve never been away. New track ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ stands out with potential but it’s their closing tune ‘Boy On The Run’ that hit’s the right buttons and is their current single for download.

Next on stage are Manchester’s Lowline, who have already supported Happy Mondays and The Enemy and are making some serious industry waves within a year of formation. The Verve’s Nick McCabe is a huge fan and indie production god Owen Morris is working with them on recordings.

Musically, they are intense and brooding with hard, rumbling drums and rising, metallic guitars a la Joy Division. Their influences seep through into dark soundscapes with My Bloody Valentine or Jesus And Mary Chain more apparent than naming say Kraftwerk or Soundwax. This black clad quartet’s power-indie is as cold as the warehouse-like Leadmill and is heavy in distorted feedback with the three guitars fitting so well together, they can certainly play their instruments.

Their debut single has just been released and the b-side to it is immense. ‘Last Chance’ combines siren notes with runaway rhythms and crashing cymbals. Robbie Rush spit’s the lyrics with a northern snarl, their sound carries the almost desolate, industrial feel of their home city. ‘Monitors’ is that first single and was named The Sun’s single of the week amongst many other positive remarks. A Peter Hook bass line underpins searing, sharp guitar atmospherics that are dragged along by Sam Clarke’s pulsating beats. Its sound could be compared to Editors out of today’s bunch of darker edged souls and we could be hearing much more of these lads this year.

The time is now upon us and the anticipation is huge, when the five of them take the stage and indulge swiftly into ‘Dragging Me Down’ it’s pandemonium!

They were always a great ‘singles’ band and it’s really amazing just how many they belt out tonight. The sound is “tight as fuck” according to Clint and he’s right. Tom Hingley’s voice has lost none of it’s majesty and tops off a riotous version of ‘Directing Traffik’ from the first and in my eyes the best album, ‘Life’.

An emotionally charged version of ‘Two Worlds Collide’ sounds sublime and afterwards is met with long “moo” noises from this almost religious crowd along with “Boon army”!! My favourite track is treated to a military drum style makeover and ‘She Comes In The Fall’ takes me down the front to join in the mass appreciation, it really is bedlam!

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