Commenting on their plans, Cardiff-based band PEOPLE IN PLANES say on their website that they probably won’t move to London because “it’s an urban jungle, over populated by urban warriors, and we don’t like urban warfare”.
Understandable, then, that at their most recent London gig at Parker's Place in Holborn last week, band were separated from warriors by a 3 foot-high safety barrier and a good 7 foot of floor space. However, despite the obvious safety advantages, being kept away from the action had bred listlessness in the audience the basis of which was probably the stiff Parker's Place décor, including chandeliers and ornate gilt mirrors.
Despite this, the mood rapidly changed when People in Planes finally took to the stage. All the things that have been written about them are true; they do sound a bit like Muse, with hints of Pink Floyd punctuated with shadows of Radiohead and Supergrass, perhaps inevitable as they share a producer.
Yet, the most important feature of the band is the one that this particularly uninspired crowd needed; as my friend Pete the Hawaiian put it “they definitely rock”.
However, the ability to play guitars loud does not a band make. Fortunately, besides blow-out guitar riffs, the songs often have catchy melodic jingles. Alternating loud guitar and soft melody seems to be a favourite trick, and it works, to a degree, especially on songs like "Talking Heads", which was released as a single on the 11th April by Trigger Industries.
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Happily, one gets the impression that the sometimes overbearing guitars are more a symptom of the band's enthusiasm than of an unsophisticated masking of the more subtle melodies that, for me, could really make their songs great. Front man Gareth Jones, particularly, clearly loves doing what he does, screaming out notes at the top of his register and throttling his microphone, but, equally, delighting in the hushed tones that he can produce to great effect. He epitomises a band who clearly enjoy poking into the corners of light and shade.
Perhaps People In Planes' enthusiasm has been stoked by their recent performances at the South by Southwest festival in Texas, where, despite being rained on, the band played defiantly on, apparently earning them a lot of respect from the industry audience. On this showing, they seem to have taken that to heart.
No details for future gig dates are available yet, but if you do get the chance to see People In Planes play, take it and enjoy the enthusiasm of a band who clearly love to perform and who may well be on the verge of becoming something.
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