Bolton is perhaps more associated with Fred Dibnah than Friday night live music. Assuming at the moment that you can access the Lancashire town, as at the moment it is swamped in roadworks and railway engineering that together create one hell of an obstacle course to those attempting to access the delights of the mill town.
Venues like the under-threat Dog and Partridge have spawned a fresh generation of live acts, and the likes of projects such as The Bolton Music Collective have facilitated a flourishing live scene in the former capital of 1980’s poodle perm rock. There was a time when ‘alternative’ meant black leather and black magic, Pink Floyd ruled the airwaves and Alice Cooper clones roamed along Bradshawgate in search of appallingly loud death metal nights.
Bar number Fifteen is situated on Churchgate, next door to the ancient Man & Scythe public house. It features ostensibly crazed but friendly bar staff, who practise their juggling abilities in between pulling pints, and a spacious venue that tonight boasted three outstanding acts, two from the locality, along with AT THE LAKE, epic contenders from the capital.
Mop-headed STEPHEN EVANS and THE PLANETS showed me the value of turning up early by treating us to a right ol’ power pop opening. They soon had heads nodding, with their sharp and observant takes on some of the many slices of life, backed up by a headswimming soundtrack that threw up all kinds of things from my brain’s ‘good memories’ stash. Tracks like ‘Paper Aeroplanes’ and ‘…Yellow’ saw off key jazzed out guitars meet wild harmonies, producing an easy-to-love sound that was alive and addictive. Evans has a clear vocal that slices through the subject matter of the bands’ material, and occasionally he screamed out the point with some venom as their stunning set intensified.
The tap room melodies are hard to resist – their easy onstage banter warmed the heart a little and the influence of country wasn’t too far away from their hazier numbers. ‘Drunk Song’ was a short blast of mayhem in light speed 12 bar and ‘Lucy Leaves’, their slowest offering, was all poignant posterity. This endearing act ended with a Syd Barrett-dedicated Queen cover, then exited stage left to appreciative applause as the place began to fill up nicely.
Seasoned Wigan heads BLUE VINYL followed moments later, and matched the quality opening step for step. Chavved out in polo shirts with big stripes, these beggars purvey searing melodies, drawn out chopped up power chords, and riffs that make the subtle shifts in tempo flow. Their drummer is absolutely blistering, and the beats kept it all as tight as their friendship as those awesome patterns created a firm basis for their oddly charming, utterly powerful Beech Hill tales to bob and weave about on.
‘Thinking Of You’ is a strange pitched misfit of a song, but it hits the spot alright, before lifting you off your feet and urging you to remember unrequited love, shyness, bravado, uncontrollable destinies and the mysteries of the night sky as seen from Winstanley rooftops. They also launched into a killer rendition of ‘the BIG ISSUE’, a sledging, surging concoction of rock n’ roll that heavy hits as it brings you quickly round to their way of thinking.
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AT THE LAKE had their work cut out following the impact of the support, but with audience numbers on their side, despite technical problems not being, they looked comfortable up there, undaunted by the stop-start of their entrance. There was a brief clink of pint pots for the bassist from the lead guitarist, who is due to return to South Africa, and playing for the final time. Their new recruit will be thrown in at the deep end as the next live outing for these capital rockers is in support of The Automatic at London’s ULU on July 24th.
After two attempts coping with a dodgy connection, we were off.
“Third time lucky” said singer Matt Forder, and within moments, the wall of noise was insurmountable. As the music seared and dipped to a disturbed pulse that reared up and bucked against the walls, bell clear 1/16ths on the drums added a touch of clarity to the rise and fall of this graduating sound from the jet engine school of noise. Those Heathrow flight paths must definitely be a major influence – based here they’d be replicating traffic cone rail/timetable mayhem without doubt!
A brand new tune had Forder throwing harmonica in the soup and adding hand-held percussion that jangled and tapped at the wicked sound cascading down to a single whine of feedback, before tumbling over and out across a false conclusion to the incessant beating of cowbells. Yes, it’s a fine performance, and one that is not wasted on the bopping, nodding locals.
New single ‘I made my excuses and left’ out 24th July (and reviewed elsewhere here) features frighteningly reminiscent Mozzer vocals across a barmy and impenetrable sonic fog, tonight winding in and around itself as it bounced on a bed of distortion. There was still an extra gear to be found as their set just grew and grew to reach epic proportions, with the guitar driven frenzy at marvellous odds with both the vocals and cymbal happy percussion clarifying the shape of their muse.
It’s gotta be said, there was much mutual respect between all three outfits – always nice to see – and this added to the warm vibe of the evening. I’d happily catch any of the above featured artists in action again, and indeed hope to do so, for combined, they sought to deliver a fantastic evening of live music and succeeded, perhaps putting this town on the map as far as the gig scene is concerned.
http://www.myspace.com/atthelake
http://www.myspace.com/bluevinylwigan
http://www.myspace.com/stephenevansandtheplanets
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