Last stop before stardom: university gigs are where new bands make their mark |
2005 DESERVES to be remembered for some grade A bands – Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire for starters. Hard acts to beat, and, thanks to the revival in the popularity of guitar music, hard acts to see in a venue smaller than an aircraft hangar this year.
The trick, of course, is to see these bands BEFORE the Q-reading hordes have gotten a sniff of them. And what better place than university to seek out some seminal gig experiences?
University towns are the ones with the legendary venues – bastions of what’s affectionately known as the ‘toilet circuit’ around the UK. They’ve all hosted some amazing acts, and usually see a few new ones through their doors each year.
Bath Moles Club promoter Steve Wheadon maintains that when it comes to gigs small is beautiful. He recalls an intimate evening last May with chart-busting folk duo Nizlopi: “The place was rammed but no-one could have predicted they would be number one a few months later. Now we probably couldn’t afford them.”
Acts he’s excited about this year include Larrikin Love, a scruffy lot who keep getting compared with The Libertines and Razorlight but look too disorganised to get upset about it. Already feted by NME, they play dates in the north of England in March – worth catching them before it all gets silly.
Devotees of lo-fi pop with classy lyrics and questionable keyboard noises ought to consider a date with The Research. A band which demonstrates that the Kaiser Chiefs don’t have a monopoly on kooky posturing in Leeds, they boast lovely tunes, backed with gorgeous harmonies that perhaps betray more precision than they ever wanted to let on.
Not new, but relatively unknown in the UK, Australia’s Art of Fighting have inspired reams of adulation from those in the know. Set to visit the UK for the first time in five years this spring, it could be this year that their Best Kept Secret tag expires.
According to Brighton promoter David Morrison, AoF are making “arguably the most emotional music in the rock/pop format of any band working today. Towering, epic, shattering melancholia and impossibly gorgeous melodies, it would be a travesty if they didn’t make a breakthrough on this tour.”
The superbly intense 65daysofstatic tour in February, and you’re unlikely to experience a more visceral collision of guitars and breakbeats this year. They sound like an orchestra being picked up and shaken, violently. Drowned in Sound reckoned their recent album was “the most vital, enthralling and unrelenting record of 2005,” and an increasing number of converts seem to agree.
There’s growing acclaim too for their San Franciscan label-mates Thee More Shallows, who return to the UK this spring. Their spine-tingling take on post-rock, by turns ghostly and grinding, occupies the kind of magical place which gets them compared to legends Yo La Tengo and Talk Talk. Mystifyingly, they’re still playing small venues – but for how much longer, who knows?
And finally, run, do not walk, to see Leeds threesome Quack Quack. A recent stunned reviewer recently claimed simply that they could be the best band in Britain. “Just awesome,” says Howard Monk, of London-based promoter Knom. “Like instrumental heaven. Bass, drums, and keys. Brilliant brilliant brilliant.” |
