Now The Cluny is not the largest venue in the world. In fact it’s a rather small, intimate, cave -like pub on the outskirts of Byker in Newcastle. Yet with roughly twenty people in the audience- thirty tops if you count staff and band, it felt like a huge auditorium, rather cold and echo-ey. However this depressing early scene was soon turned around when the bands came onstage.
Supporting Thee Unstrung were two groups, Venna Blast and Si Connelly. I arrived too late to see Venna Blast and only caught their last two songs, but SI CONNELLY was fantastic! This guy has a voice that others would kill to own. Think Jeff Buckley or Matt Belamy from Muse- that ability to reach any pitch perfectly whilst jumping around stage, playing melodic tunes and singing from the bottom of your heart. Si, like Thee Unstrung managed to make me feel like there were much more than just a handful of people in the room and seemed completely unfazed by the poor turnout.
THEE UNSTRUNG consist of four members: Steve Holbrook on lead vocals and guitar; Ben Bailey -guitars and vocals, Rob Power on bass and Ben Tweedy on drums. If you haven’t heard of them before, take a pinch of The Ramones, with a dash of the Buzzcocks and mix with the Libertines and voila! Your own London pop-punk band; currently hyped by NME and Xfm as being a group to ‘watch out for’ this year. With enough anger to make you feel that it is the real thing, but with songs that would appeal to adults and teenyboppers alike, Thee Unstrung dished out ten frenzied three and a half minute pop songs that would make any veteran punk band proud that they have such a dedicated group of disciples to follow in their footsteps.
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I liked this band; I thought that they were rather good and happily unaffected. I was impressed they didn’t seem put out by the lack of a sizeable audience and instead laughed and joked with the crowd, making the most of what they had. I also liked the touch of class that they exude with the drummer wiping down his drum kit before sitting down to play and the second guitarist Ben Bailey swigging from a wine bottle after every other song.
Although Thee Unstrungs’ songs did not scream of originality – their last single "Contrary Mary" especially has a rather predictable chorus- they do possess a certain something. Live, they are immensely likable, with an air of enthusiasm surrounding them which other, more established bands seem to lose onced the novelty of continuous touring and promotion wears off. There's a lesson in there for all of us, isn't there?
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