The Beat Surrender

I find Camden Barfly quite strange really. When you enter the bar everyone is sitting around the room in a circle, staring at people wandering in. The newcomers (which included us on this occasion) are easily spotted as they walk around the place looking lost and confused, desperately trying to find the room where the band will be playing. If you are planning on going to this venue soon, I would not advise finding your own way around. There are no signs to help you, and like us, you will end up walking through endless corridors that lead back to the same place you started. If it’s your first time, I would suggest just following the crowd.

We find the correct room at last and the first support band have started playing. They are full of energy. As I watch I realise I can’t take my eyes off the drummer. You could be forgiven for thinking I had a bit of a thing for him, but the fact of the matter is that he is one of the best drummers I have ever seen. It’s not very often that a drummer’s performance carries a band but on this occasion it does. He is absorbed in the music and completely in his element. I hardly notice the lead singer who is leaping around the stage in a frenzy.

The second support band (The Foxes) are now entering the room complete with clean, freshly ironed white shirts and tidy hair. I wonder to myself whether they have come to the right venue. As they begin playing I realise they are just nice boys playing nice music. They are certainly not dirty enough for my liking though. They look to me like they are city boys who decided one day they wanted to be in a band and hey presto found themselves at a gig in front of a crowd of people. Although they are not much to look at, they’re music is actually quite good. It’s very melodic which stands in stark contrast to the previous performance. They remind me of McFly or busted. I notice the lead singer has 2 badges attached to the front of his shirt. I think this is meant to make him look cool. That say’s it all really. Enough said.

Yeti arrive finally and are met with lots of love from the crowd. As the band members descend upon the stage, complete with messy hair and dirty indie shoes I think to myself, ‘this is more like it…this is what it’s all about!!.’ They don’t take long arranging themselves as they stand in a line across the stage, completely obscuring the drummer from view. They start to play.

What I immediately notice is that John Hassell does not strike me as a typical lead singer of a band. He doesn’t lead as such, more like stares vacantly out at the crowd. At first I find this slightly odd and I’m not sure how to take him. He makes me feel slightly on edge as though he is not in control. I’m not quite sure whether it is stage freight, shyness, his way of being cool, or confidence?? Which ever it is, as I listen more, his manner becomes more intriguing and I realise that he is like this because he knows he is good.

He knows the audience will like what they are hearing. There is no need for him to put on a fancy performance or jump around the stage, because the music they are making is brilliant. Ok, it hasn’t blown me away, but it is obvious Hassall can right a good song or two. Like many bands who have gone before Yeti, the sound of The Beatles is etched in each and every one of their songs, but this doesn’t bother me as much as I know it would some. The band play a good variety of songs and each is unique in its own way. From the tender and harmonious ‘Merry-Go-Round’ with it’s unusual change of tempo in the middle, to the uplifting and original sound of ‘Never Lose Your Sense Of Wonder’ which helps to confirm the extent of their talent.

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