Blood Brothers, Mean Fiddler, London
If someone asked me before the show what the bands were going to sound like I wouldn’t be able to accurately describe them, if someone asked me now, I think I’d still have the same problem. Although I could make a broad generalisation and sweep them under post-hardcore’s ever growing carpet it wouldn’t really portray the weirdness of what I saw tonight.
I really like the Mean Fiddler; it has a nice vibe about it and is generally quite a comfortable setting for great shows. I arrived to join the moderately large crowd rather late after the joys of driving into central London and then after having a bit of hassle actually trying to get inside I had missed the first act entirely but I found a good spot to perch myself and watch two of the most… ‘interesting’ bands I’ve seen in a while.
THE BLOOD BROTHERS were already on stage when I arrived so I hurried along to check them out. Like I said earlier, to tar either of tonight’s bands with a generic genre brush wouldn’t be acceptable and would be rather lazy on my part. BB have seem to have themselves quite a big following and with live shows this energetic it’s evident as to why. The two vocalists, no matter how irritating I found their voices, were undeniably a strong presence to have on stage and spent some of the set actually surfing on the crowd which always scores high in audience participation if nothing else. Musically, well, they had a very powerful sound, quite experimental whilst being listenable. I wasn’t too keen on the way the guitarist had his back to the crowd for most of the set, but I get the impression that the front men are essentially the basis of everyone’s attention. Not really my cup of tea at all, but it’s not hard to see the appeal of this band and they do have an impressive arsenal of noise, however random it may sound and it’s executed full of verve on stage.
What I saw next was just weird; THE LIARS. I didn’t have any idea what this band were going to sound like at all, I couldn’t really see them being too different from BB but when the drummer came on stage wearing a massive gold cape and the front-man came on wearing a dress over his jeans whilst sporting what looked like a giant sock over his head I knew I was in for something a bit different. Now, I pride myself on having a fairly broad taste when it comes to music but I couldn’t see how even the most pretentious NME reader could claim to ‘get’ this band. Was it art? Was it music? I really don’t know. Song structures were non-existent; musically there were more electronic effects than in a Spielberg blockbuster and well the front-man pranced about looking more wacko than Jacko. I couldn’t really tell if they’re serious or not; was the joke on them? Was it on me for not getting it? Or was it on their fans? I’m still not entirely sure. The entertainment value was definitely there especially for a few members of the crowd who looked more wrecked than the Titanic but I just couldn’t get into it.
Mike
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