For a garage rock three piece, Ontario's MARBLE INDEX are a pretty accomplished set of entertainers. Eschewing all pretensions to be the voice of the voiceless, the icons of the new cool, the sublimation of a tortured death wish or any other unrelated vacuity, they just pump out thundering good tunes in an exhibition set of open-hearted crowd pleasers.
Tonight's crowd, it has to be said, are a little bit sullen baggy jeans and backpacks (how do you get a whole Robinson's bottle in your back pocket?) but even they can't help smiling and getting involved. Eventually there's even a shout for "My Generation!", and MARBLE INDEX, obviously, oblige. "Yeh, we can play that". But not just play it - they have a fully rehearsed maximum force version ready to go.
Because whatever else they are, MARBLE INDEX are a most obliging band. On top of that, you know they could play pretty well anything and have it sound tight, bubbling and full of noise. Making one guitar, one voice, one bass and one drum kit sound big, poppy, strong and interesting, is no easy trick. They have it.
Animation, chat, audience incitement, intense vocals and blistering guitar come from Brad Germain. Adam Knickle is a magnificently precise exponent of ballistic drumming, and Ryan Tweedle looks like a chunky Hugh Grant doing the virtuoso bass that is essential to a three piece that wants to keep it harmonically as well as dynamically varied. All these skills have that Canadian confidence that makes them invisible - no grimacing, no foolish showmanship - just red hot playing.
With a second or third vocal line and lyrics about shopping malls they could be power pop. With an extra curl of the lip, a slurred delivery and a drop in tempo they could be STROKES-era New York. With more technoid arrogance they could be Dark Star. With keyboards they could transform into MUSE. With suits, FRANZ FERDINAND. But deep down (just like al those others) they draw from the classic guitar bands of the 70s and 80s and their strength is in performing with an audience who want to get involved - dance even - and who appreciate the distinction between a simple band who can write, sing and play and a simple band who pose. Brad has a good go at getting the front row up and dancing ... but too many of us tonight are single confused males to be able to be that self confident and free. So, unfazed, they keep smiling and churning out the tunes.
|
The songs themselves, as witnessed by a fine album, are a lot more than throwaway dance numbers. "What We Need", "I Believe" "Missing File" and some crackling newer things whose titles I missed mark then out as serious songwriters who take the same craftsman care over the songs as they do over the live show.
In the court of King Trash they would be sent down for Excess Quality and summarily hung. To the confused ranks of people who would like to be live music fans again they could represent a welcome return to something to keep them going well beyond the celebrity half life of NME lightweights into something more like a permanent relationship.
Openers SECOND TO LAST and support DECORUM do bludgeoning rock and scream filled emo overload respectively. They did it with integrity and a lot of passion tonight. As Brad Germain observed in one of his chats with the audience "I noticed they were a little bit heavier than we are". Indeed they were. Good work lads.
|
