The Beat Surrender

God I haven’t been looking forward to writing this, because the evening wasn’t all I hoped it would be. I guess I’ll just have to take the viewpoint that this is just like giving a friend a recommendation.

I first saw Switches live last summer on a line-up which was frankly upside down. They were definitely in a different league, but perhaps this was because the other two bands were extremely dire. As soon as they were on stage they demanded your attention as they almost blasted us backwards with their loudness. If you’d asked me what I thought of them after that evening, I would have said I liked them. They had a few songs which stood out, and they looked and felt like a band who were on their way up.

However, tonight was an entirely different story. It’s sat eve, they’re on late and they’re also playing at one of my favourite venues. I’m hoping that they’ll help to cure my incredibly wobbly head which I incurred from the previous eve; I’d gone out to see Larrikin Love (who were ace), and somehow managed to crawl back as the birds were singing.

It’s a bit of a strange gig as they are playing during the club night Socialism, which is an indie and electro night; so it should be an all round great eve of old favourites and live music. As they come on the stage they look a very different band. It appears that they have had a ‘lets appeal to T4’ makeover. Gone is the black eyeliner, dark jeans and T-shirts. Before they had edge; now they look like they’ve gone shopping in Next. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and all that malarkey but the truth is they sounded just how they looked.

I couldn’t really criticise their musical ability they seem a tight band, but the music just doesn’t do it for me. Opening with the catchy Testify, Snakes and Ladders follows and proves to be my moment where I can feel it’s going to be hard to keep my attention. This and the next song, Lay Down The Law makes me feel like they are song writing by numbers – catchy songs that rely heavily on the choruses. And I’m afraid to report that it doesn’t get much better, although they do draw my thoughts away from the annoying girl who’s obviously loving them when they close with Drama Queen and Message From Yuz.

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