Short Warning, Wakefield Snooty Fox
Two days on the road with Short Warning, February 9th and 10th Leicester and Wakefield.
This was my first experience of ‘going on tour’ with a band, I say it with inverted commas as it was only two days and it was more of a laugh with my good friends SHORT WARNING than a proper hardcore tour. But hey, you have to get broken in gently right?! Anyways we set off for Leicester’s appallingly titled Attik with no idea of what to expect, on Monday afternoon. We made a quick stop off at a mate’s pad in Leicester and then proceeded to find the venue. After waiting for half an hour outside and with no-one else showing up or answering their phones we were a tad worried that the whole night might go down the pan, but fortunately things took a turn for the better and the other bands and venue staff eventually arrived; the show was on.
I had been told the Attik is a tiny venue, but I couldn’t have ever imagined it to be as small and intimate as it is. It would have been absolutely immense to see the Suicide Machines play the there the next day. However, tonight none of the bands knew what the hell was going on and nor did the venue, it was all a hectic mess as there was no promoter to co-ordinate things, it had all the hallmarks of a show booked by a 12 year old kid in between watching Grange Hill and playing Battle Ships. Luckily everyone was ultra cool, especially the venue manager and sound guy who sorted out what could have been a sloppier mess than a blind chef cooking on Pancake Day.
3 GUN PETE were the opening band on this night, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to see them as I had the task of working the door which was less fun than drowning in the Arctic, but probably just as cold! With the venue being so small though, I could just about hear them from downstairs. They reminded me off early BLINK 182, cheesy riffs but not too cheesy to stomach. I also heard sometimes out of key singing which is never a great thing really. I think they were quite young, but they had the right idea. From what I heard downstairs which wasn’t very much, so they could be better, they score a (4).
BEST LAID PLANS were on next and once again I didn’t get to see much of their set, but I did manage to catch a couple of songs which showed a lot of promise. Nothing to set the world alight, but there’s nothing wrong with some nice emotive pop-punk if done correctly. BLP were unfortunately dogged by wall of feedback of the ear piercing variety which hindered their set greatly but their enthusiastic performance with seemed to be filled to the brim with energy made it more than bearable for the short time I watched them. (5.5)
VENT were the first band of the night I got to see for any particular length of time and they were quite impressive. They were fortunate enough to have the best sound of any of the support bands so automatically things were in their favour. The things most memorable about their set were their big riffs which made me want to sell my car and buy a Harley. Good stuff but again, not anything special enough to blow me away. There was a non-existent crowd on this rather wintery Monday night, so atmosphere was severely lacking but VENT didn’t let it bother them and hammered out their ballsy punk rock to a good standard. (6)
West London’s SHORT WARNING finished off the night with their fast and furious skate punk. There’s not too many bands doing the 3-piece thing these days but SW pull it off extremely well. One thing I’ve noticed about SW in recent times is that they’re getting damn tight and a lot more confident about their abilities. Carl’s often manic on stage antics are complimented well by Nick’s driving bass lines and Gareth’s brutal double time drumming. The only thing letting them on this performance was a few school-boy errors; dropping sticks and breaking strings, however, they are more than competent enough to carry on regardless as Carl showed when he ran round the crowd guitar-less for the last song which was rather amusing I must say. (7)
So it was an interesting show if nothing else, I got to hear three new bands and check out a new venue which was quite a nice little place. The worst thing about tonight was the lack of turnout but it was a Monday night and it was pretty darn cold outside. Fortunately the bar remained open until the early hours of the morning which kept us all happy and after a quick Pot Noodle stop at a 24hour shop we headed back to our room for the night.
So after a heavy night’s drinking, some of us felt a bit worse for wear on Tuesday morning especially after a rough night on the floor; all good fun though. So eventually we packed all our stuff together and set off on the M1 to Wakefield’s Snooty Fox. We arrived nice and early which was surprising considering we stopped at every service station we could find. Again things were a bit hectic as no-one knew what the hell was going on. But it was made a lot easier by the general warmth and hospitality of the venue’s manager and the other band, yes there was only one other band playing which was a bit odd but made things easier in the long run anyhow.
The Snooty Fox has a really nice warm sound and the hi-tech video equipment which allows bands to be filmed from 5 different angles adds a really nice touch. We weren’t sure what the turnout was going to be like as there was only one other band playing but we were pleasantly surprised at the 50 plus crowd.
SHORT WARNING opened this one up, and tragedy struck in the first song as Carl’s string breaking curse came back to haunt him, literally on the first riff! So after a short delay they re-took to the stage and tried again. I thought they played better tonight than at Leicester the previous night and built up some humorous North vs. South banter with the crowd; “apples and pears” and “oi oi saveloy” never grow old. The Snooty Fox has a reasonably large stage but for a three piece they filled it comfortably and as a result of this and a strong performance they turned out to be very well received tonight and even got called back for an encore; top stuff. (8)
THE INNOCENT OJ’S were the local band which became apparent by the number of fans they had in the crowd. I was expecting them to be a ska band with a name like that but they blasted out some top quality pop-punk: catchy and melodic as hell one minute and chucking in some STRUNG OUT style technical riffs the next. The OJ’S put on a really excellent performance and really got the crowd involved which is always nice to see. I was especially impressed with the epic guitar solos, very tasty. They generally had a great presence and put on an entertaining show, musically they were also very strong. Certainly a band I’d expect to hear more from in the future, they were very good indeed. (8.5)
The show was a lot of fun, both bands performed really well and the venue was nicer than a lot of toilet venues I’ve been to before and had a better sound which goes a long way in my book. The venue manager was a legend and provided us with some very much appreciated friendly hospitality. (4/5)
So that was my furthest trip north ever, my, oh my, I’m very under travelled. Although tempers were flared on Tuesday it was mainly due to lack of sleep than anything else and it didn’t mar what was an enjoyable two days on the road. A couple of things I’ve learnt from this trip is that people are generally more helpful and friendlier the further north you travel from London and popular to contrary belief, not everyone in Yorkshire has a whippet and racing pigeons.
Mike Frankal
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