The Beat Surrender

The Transgressive Records Hot Summer Hour is a chance to catch some of the labels up and coming acts, a chance to be in at the beginning so to speak, not bad value at £7 per ticket or in my case free. Which would have also applied to anyone walking in at the same time I did, there didn’t appear to be anyone on the door to tick me off the guest list so I made my way to the bar, got a drink had a wander round, went to the ladies etc, in the end I went over to two likely looking chaps and asked if I should be ticked off !!! doubt anyone would have thrown me out, it was all very laid back.

I really like the Brudenell, it reminds me of my youth, hanging around the local working men’s club on “turns night” hoping to catch the local favourites (gives my age away but what the hell) Bradford band Smokie were formed just up the road from where I lived and as kids we loved to watch them, mind you we were usually thrown out for being way to young (around 8 or 9 I think).

Anyhow back to tonight. Shame was that I don’t think the crowd lifted above 80 to 100 all night, despite to lure of cheap booze and pretty good bands. Perhaps its because the club is right in the heart of student land and summer holidays had already started. Perhaps everyone had either gone home or were staying in waiting for the rain to stop, this is a definite problem at this club as I realised half way through the night my legs were soaked, I was sat under a definite water feature (hole in the roof I think its called).

First band up were Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, strange name for a strange looking band. Described as Alternative Rock, I personally found them far too monotonous to enjoy, each track could have been a clone of the last. That is a problem when you have such a distinctive lead vocal but other bands seem to have found a way to change the music or beat sufficiently enough to get away with this, perhaps in time this band will develop further but tonight just not for me. Added to this the fact that the band looked totally disinterested and perhaps even a little bored themselves and made no effort to bond with the sparse audience.

Liam Finn, son of Neil Finn (Split Endz and Crowded House) born in Australia but brought up in New Zealand was up next. I heard some of his stuff on his myspace site and quite liked what I heard so was looking forward to this spot. I have to say that he is slightly odd looking (or perhaps that should read different in style to current skinny jeaned messy haired youngsters) with big beard and slightly dated outfit. Backed by EJ Barnes (she plays an array of percussion type instruments and sings beautifully along side Liam Finn).

Between them they bounce around the small stage seemingly without a real action plan. Liam jumps from guitar to drums mid songs drops or breaks the drum sticks, while EJ has cowbells, and goodness knows what else to bang along to the tracks with. I really liked there performance, apart from the sound being pretty good, an interesting act to watch. Liam Finn really tried to build a rapport, he is funny and seemed a genuinely warm kind of chap. He really plays the guitar and drums really well, not so sure about the sound effects but at the end of the act I was smiling.

Next up were Esser, just how young looking are this band, the drummer would have passed in my daughters primary school!!! Loved the start to this act, a mass of what can only be described as a wall of noise, made me sit up and really take notice. Ben Esser’s(pictured) vocals are fairly quiet in parts but still effective. Liked everything I heard from him, however the highlight was the current single Headlock. Great selling point, the single is available on T-Shirt, You buy the T-Shirt and it comes with a code to unlock the download, great marketing.

I think for me Esser were the high point of the night, he’s just different enough to be acceptable to the masses but interesting enough not to be clones of Arctic Monkeys etc etc. What he plays is pop but with a twist I hope he gets the right type of exposure which could lead to the success he deserves.

So So Modern are a New Zealand foursome, they set up on the floor rather than the stage which I initially thought was weird, however once they start you soon see why. The band also started with a bang, this time two of the band faced each other and screamed, the other two were on stage banging away on the drums. Instant interest from me. Three of the band play either keyboard of synth which is what gives them the distinctive sound. While not my thing I have to say because of the dancing, interaction which the audience and the fact they made some effort to have an image (all dressed in black apart from one guy who had a tight black hoodie with a white face on the back) I liked this band also.

I like the eclectic mix of rock/electro/punk, very danceable as they demonstrated throughout the set. These are not only exciting to listen to there also pretty interesting to watch. Last up Jeremy Walmsley, was expecting a solo, so was surprised to see three guys on stage, having listened to him on myspace and not been over impressed hoped tonight might bring better things. The only way I can describe the band is geekish (but I guess that’s the image that they aim for) From the various promo material I had I thought Jeremy Walmsley was the headliner so was expecting great things.

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