HiTechJet, Nottingham Woolaton Park
Hi tech jet, Driving on the Right, Chalk Four and Stickers for Kids
I arrived after some wandering in the snow to a very warm and cosy Junktion Seven in Nottingham. By the time I had arrived it was halfway through STICKERS FOR KIDS set, but I think I saw enough of a set to form a good opinion of them. A young looking band, their setup was guitarist playing power chords, a bass guitarist knocking out funky bouncing basslines, a rock drummer, a female vocalist and a violin/fiddle player (my apologies for not being down with my stringed instruments). As you can tell, the mix was hardly conventional, but if you imagine a slow-fi rock outfit with a freestyling bow instrument over the top, you’re probably in touch with SFK’s sound. The singing in places sounded like a forced accent was holding back decent projection, but not a bad effort from local openers. Closing a set with “what shall we do with the drunken sailor” will leave a lot to be desired if they want to be taken seriously however. Unique, but not ground breaking. (6)
After moving a bit nearer to the front, and fighting a whole horde of people considering it was a Wednesday night, I caught CHALK FOUR setting up. I had seen them before in London playing under their previous moniker OLD FIRM DERBY. The sound in London had let them down, but the Junktion 7 sound guy had them spot on tonight. With all the forces of post hardcore (which in places I couldn’t take seriously, but I don’t think that was the point) and some refreshing twinkly clean guitar sections, they really did take me by surprise. When they played they might not have flung themselves around like fish out of water, but they still had enough stage presence to hold my short attention span, and when I say hold, my eyes were glued. It’s often an easy writing cop out to say “yeah, this band sounded like so-and-so” but with each song filled with overlapping rhythms and flicking between clean and distortion like I’d not heard before, I’d be hard pushed to make a comparison. Chalk Four have got an excellent sound, and were tighter than a crab’s backside, and if they hold it together and get a good recording down, they could well be a good sign for things to come. I’d love to hear more from this band. (9)
DRIVING ON THE RIGHT were probably the band least in keeping with my tastes tonight. They were a lo-fi indie rock outfit, playing dirty and sleazy redlight songs, broken up by harder, more melodic tunes which had all the arrogance of Aerosmith but for me, all the attraction of a tuna sandwich. Which isn’t saying they’re bad, I’m just saying I don’t like tuna sandwiches and I’m sure other people do. They were my least favourite of the night, but you could see the talent was there, along with the rockstar arrogance and they were by no means sloppy tonight. (6)
Headliners HITECH JET tonight didn’t disappoint me. Venomous Rock was order of the day, and the chef was on form as every one was clean and crisp, with lead guitar scratching into solid rhythm guitar, whilst the rhythm section were holding this punk rock package together. With vocals 20,000 leagues deep and guitars that were crunching all set long, you could tell HTJ weren’t going to be knocking the socks off pop-punk fans in the audience, but that wasn’t the intention. Regardless of what you’re into, you can tell HTJ built their band on the foundations of rock music, and the tower that they are today still stands firm in them. The songs were varied and consistent and when the last song finished on a finger tapping solo that did not take the piss, nor devalue a thoroughly enjoyable set. It’s time HTJ were taken that little bit more seriously. (9)
Lurch
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