The new independent label Small Town America Recordings showcased four UK bands at the legendary Marquee club, a venue where the like of the Stones, Bowie and The Who have all played in the past. Nowadays it has become a venue to showcase new and upcoming music talent, right in the heart of Leicester Square.
Small Town America is an independent label with a difference. Their aim is to ‘cultivate a productive staff of music lovers, and a self-sustainable business model - through which artists can release the best records they can possibly produce’. Basically this means all profits produced from one music venture, such as a single or cd, go into the production of another, it is a non-profit organisation. To prove this they go one step further by displaying on their website all their costs, profits and debts. Big up to them, very honourable, if only all Corporations’ inside-workings could be that visible there would be more trust in the world. The four bands playing at the Marquee tonight night were: CatNap, Iposfacto, Fuck-Off Machete and the Playwrights.
Quartet CAT NAP were up first. The band was fronted by a singer-guitarist/bassist, with a bassist/guitarist (the only girl in the group), drummer and percussionist. Their whole oeuvre was like a dj set, each song did not seem to end as each ending was mixed into the introduction of a new song, which gave Catnap a certain authenticity. Both guitarist/bassist kept on changing their guitars on each song, which was rather odd. The overall rating for their set though was low as the songs were not very distinctive. The rock riffs and harsh sounds were palatable but the singer’s voice appeared to be weak. Even though he may have been screaming, nothing of value was heard.
The bizarrely titled IPSOFACTO appeared shortly after. This three-singer line-up and a drummer were absolutely amazing. The vocalists - who also doubled as guitarist, bassist and keyboards – all sang beautifully. Their songs were well crafted, a harmonious combination of all three voices gave their performance a rock musical feel, with sudden changes in each song, drifting from acapella to heavy guitar solos to heavy synthesizer sounds. The audience was captivated and the band seemed carried away, lost in there own performance. A real pleasure to watch and hear, total professionalism. This Welsh band was very surprising and ended up being the highlight of my evening.
The next band was FUCK OFF MACHETE: a Scottish trio, and we’ll stick to calling them ‘the Machetes’ for now. They were fronted by a beautiful ethereal girl (singer/guitarist). She looked amazing, completely overshadowing the other the bassist and drummer. The Machetes' sound closely resembles Joy Zipper to these ears, mixed in with a bit of PJ Harvey. Yet somehow their music never managed to peak, or go anywhere. It remained a little stale from one folk-rock song to the next. Even though her weird, otherworldy penchant for staring towards the ceiling may have given their leader an edge, musically their whole performance lacked a certain something. The songs were not gripping and lacked any form of structure or melody and in the end it was a little disappointing after what had surely been a promising start.
|
The last band on the bill for the night was Bristol based band THE PLAYWRIGHTS. Rolling Stone have apparently stated that they "fucking love them", but judging from this display I wasn’t that convinced. It maybe down to the fact that the Playwrights' music is not my personal taste or if I had chance to listen to their music prior to the gig, I may have had a different opinion but I thought they sounded very dry and dull, the lyrics a little too pretentious and premeditated.
In their music there was little in the way of continuity or structure, the whole set was unremarkable and if I was to judge by the sparse crowd that remained until the bitter end, the feeling was not solely mine. They played their instruments very well, I’ll give them that, and they looked the part, in a Billy Bragg meets the Jazz Blues sort of fashion, but the songs were just boring. I recall when they were introduced on stage the presenter mentioned: ‘ok people this band brought their own instruments. This band is the real thing’ …..hmmmm I am not so sure about that.
Nonetheless, I had a fairly lovely evening at the Marquee club, which was partially salvaged by Ipsofacto and the girl out of the Machetes. But then, that’s always the risk with new music and going to see bands you’ve never heard of. It could absolutely suck or then again it could absolutely rock your world and that's why it's essential we continue to support new talent from the off.
|
