Gig – Where is Phil now?

Oneida and Teeth of the Sea @ Studio 9294

Sunday 12 March 2023 – London.

This will be the fourth gig I’ve been to in under month, incredible, and I missed two others that I planned to attend as well. I haven’t done this for a very long time and I’m enjoying it to. Hopefully this will continue as the year goes on.

I’ve been a fan of Teeth of the Sea for a few years, though had yet to see them live. The headline act, Oneida, I’d not heard of until recently; they’re an American band that have been around for over 20 years but didn’t popped into my radar until the 2022 LP ‘Success’, which is frankly fucking brilliant. With its mix of sing-a-long pop rock and psychedelic rock its one of my favourite LPs from 2022. They’re doing a short tour of the UK for the first time in years, and while Sunday isn’t my favourite day to go and see a couple of bands I decided this time it was worth it.

They were playing at Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, which according to G*#gle Maps was under 25 minutes from home, if I timed the trains exactly right; which amazingly and completely by accident I did. We saw Hey Colossus at 9294 last year so I was prepared for a poorly lit venue, and I wasn’t let down either, it remains poorly lit.

Teeth of the Sea opened with a booming electronic track with bass straight out of the heaviest techno, the audience, especially those like me at the front, could feel more than hear the bass and drums. It seemed massively loud but with no ringing ears the following morning, thankfully I remembered ear plugs, it obviously wasn’t as loud as some shows I’ve been to recently. I recognised most of the tracks they played, but annoying can’t put names to songs.

They are a drumless instrumental trio with a trumpet player, albeit the trumpet is played through a myriad of effects. It was the trumpet that first attracted me to the band as it’s not an instrument that features highly in electronic psychedelica, in my experience anyway, but I really like they way they make it sound. I’m looking forward to the new album.

It was tough going getting decent photos, the light was terrible and I was stuck tight up against the stage by an enthusiastic crowd. I think the show was sold out, it was busy anyway.

Oneida are a five piece with two keyboard players, one also who occasionally plays bass, and they fully occupied the small stage. I thought they were great, a bit more engaging with the banter than Teeth of the Sea who didn’t say anything at all. I started off in front of the guitar players before moving to the opposite side of the stage later in the set. I would loved to have been in front of the drummer though, he was incredible. There were moments during their set when clean white light was on the stage and I managed to grab a couple of photos that didn’t need to be converted to black and white; if only Teeth of the Sea had the same!

They played quite a few songs off Success, including the 15 minute Paralyzed which was a set highlight.

I was too close to the stage to get a decent photo of the other guitarist, so here is a guitar.

For a Sunday night it was a great gig, well attended by a supportive audience. I had a good time; and I grabbed a gig poster too.

(not really) Entombed Festival

Saturday 04 March 2023 – Hastings.

I completely managed to screw this weekend’s entertainment right up, though having said that I still had a very good weekend. I’d bought myself a ticket to Entombed Festival in Hastings back in October I think, stupidly didn’t put the dates in my calendar and almost totally forgot about it. In the meantime I agreed to go and see another band, the Loft, in Brighton last night which was day one of the festival, and then go to dinner at the house of some St Leonards friends tonight.

Entombed Festival has been running for three or four years, a small punk and metal festival in a basement bar in Hastings. The Saturday night headliners this year (postponed from last, and the main reason I was going) are Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs (Pigs*7) a doom/stoner rock band from Newcastle. I quite like them, especially their more Black Sabbath influenced tracks. There were a couple of other bands scattered over the weekend I wanted to see as well, at least that was the plan when I bought the ticket. I managed to see just two acts, neither on my must see list. It was a bad mistake on my behalf.

To compound the double booking the weekend error I didn’t look at the start time for the festival on Saturday and only realised it started at mid-day in the late afternoon. I was quite keen to see punk band The Domestics; I have one of their records, and felt I could see their set, then catch a bus back to my place, pick up Eleanor and make it to our friends and only be fashionably late. I grabbed the camera and power walked my way into Hastings.

I arrived at The Crypt just before the doom/sludge duo Kulk started playing. I’ve seen them once before and the singer/guitarist is great to photograph, though I’m not a huge fan of their music I was pleased to see them play.

This was my first visit to The Crypt and it’s a great venue, decent floor space, small and low stage, big bar with really friendly staff and a few places to get out of the blast line of the speakers. Though it was still a bit flat the stage lighting was bright enough to be OK for photography, which is always a bonus.

The next band up was Fatalist, a blackened hardcore trio. Blackened hardcore was new to me and I almost immediately decided it wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t a fan. I felt sorry for them as there were issues with the bass amp/speaker cabinet and there was a lot of faff before they started, so much so that I missed the end of their set and also didn’t get to see The Domestics who were on next. None of this was anyone’s fault, tech issues are common at gigs, but I was a bit disappointed.

I had intended to make my excuses from dinner early and go back for Pigs*7 but after a few glasses of red and a delayed meal we didn’t end up leaving our friends house till past midnight.

The festival was cheap, had some great bands and the vibe in the rooms was really good, I’m gutted I ballsed it all up. Next year I will plan better.

We haven’t been spending a lot of time in St Leonards since Eleanor bought the new house in Leytonstone in November; we’ve visited so rarely that I’m seriously considering finding a tenant for the flat which is getting more and more expensive as the cost of living crisis bites. When my mortgage goes up in June it will stretch my finances significantly, renting will relieve the pressure but means we don’t have somewhere to go if we want. I love it when I come down though. Decisions decisions!

The Loft @ The Prince Albert, Brighton

Friday 03 March 2023 – Brighton.

This was the second in a string of gigs that we planned to attend, admittedly we haven’t made all of them; mainly due to my laziness, though there are more to come, including one tomorrow.

The Loft in Brighton was, on the surface, an odd choice. I had majorly stuffed up this weekend; ages ago, possibly as far back as September, I’d bought tickets to Entombed Festival a punk/metal two day festival in Hastings. It starts tonight and here is me driving 50 minutes to Brighton to see another band. When I bought the Entombed ticket it was so far in advance of the gig I hadn’t bothered updating my calendar and we’ve now accepted an invite to dinner with St Leonards’ friends tomorrow night, which meant missing most of the festival, not going to tonight’s sets seemed to be inevitable.

The Loft were an early 80s English indie-pop band, from a time before indie-pop was a thing. They were one of the first bands to be signed to iconic record label Creation, though they split up on stage in the middle of one of their largest gigs, ending any chance of fame. I hadn’t heard of them until I met Eleanor, though I have a record of the lead singer’s follow up band, The Weather Prophets, which I bought when I lived in London in the late 1980s. The Loft are releasing a retrospective album of all their material and are headlining a gig in London tomorrow to promote it. This gig tonight is an unannounced warm up gig and The Loft are supporting Mozart Estate.

The main reason this is an odd choice is Eleanor’s ex-husband is the lead guitarist and a founding member. Eleanor and Andy’s relationship has improved over the last few years and I guess if they hadn’t divorced then I wouldn’t have met Eleanor and be as happy as I am, and have been for the last 10 years. I think she is as happy as me so it’s been a win for the both of us. We both like the band’s music and Eleanor was hoping some old friends who live in Brighton would come to the show, which they did and she was very pleased to see them. Having a partner who likes music is one of the best things!

I don’t really enjoy driving any more and I especially don’t like driving at night. My car is fresh from an MOT and a service so at least it was running well and the headlights had had a special clean and were the brightest they’ve ever been, making the drive to Brighton not too stressful. We chose to drive as the train journey back to St Leonards of an evening is over 90 minutes and the trains only run once an hour, not the most convenient for the tired.

We arrived at the Prince Albert just before the band came on, it looked and felt like a great pub with a positive vibe and the upstairs venue was fab too, small, good sound and a bar. I would happily see a band or go for a drink there again; if only it was in Leytonstone.

The Loft played a 40 minute set to a pretty full room of mostly people our age; people who knew the band and their songs. I really enjoyed it as did the rest of the crowd, and for a change it was a decent place to take photos. The band seemed to enjoy it as well.

We hung around for a bit after the Loft played; Eleanor chatting to old friends, though regrettably we didn’t stay for Mozart Estate as I wanted to get home while I was still awake, we had another night out coming tomorrow and I’m very tired at the moment.

Aircooled and Miki Berenyi Band @ The Lexington.

Friday 24 February 2023 – London.

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The last gig I attended was in October last year; the fantastic Wrong Speed Record all-dayer in London, and I had to look up the date for it as it felt so long ago. Eleanor and I had free tickets to a gig a couple of weeks back but I couldn’t be bothered going. I also skipped a four bands for five bucks punk gig in Leytonstone last weekend and it was at a venue an eight minute walk from home. I’m definitely not feeling the need to attend the occasional gig like I used to, maybe age is catching with me? Having said that we’ve two shows to see next weekend so let’s see how that plays out then. My record purchasing has been somewhat curtailed recently as well, life is more expensive than it used to be and I’m being a little more careful with my cash, though I still listen and enjoy music as much as ever.

Aircooled are a newish band formed in or around St Leonards-on-Sea, they’re almost an indie super-group, with members from a bunch of bands from the 90s onwards. I guess the best known would be Justin Welch, the drummer for Elastica, Suede and Lush. Aircooled released their debut album ‘St Leopards’ last year. I like it a lot, it’s mostly instrumental with a very ‘krautrock’ vibe throughout, though there is a big nudge to disco on one track. I’m very big on kraurock at the moment, the long jams, repetitive beats and lack of vocals means makes for great music to work to. I’ve tried to see them a couple of times, but have failed to do so; either missing out on tickets or not being in St Leonards when they’ve played. It was good news when they conveniently announced a show not too far from us in London so I made sure I was in quickly to buy tickets to what turned out to be a sold-out performance.

Supporting Aircooled was the Miki Berenyi Trio, twin guitars, bass (from Oliver of Aircooled) and a drum machine. Miki Berenyi was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for 90s shoegaze/indie legends Lush. Last year Miki published her memoir, ‘Fingers Crossed: How music saved me from success’, which is on the quite long list of must read books.

We arrived at The Lexington just before Miki Berenyi took to the stage, it was quite full and I was too late to get a spot close to the stage for photography. There were a lot of old Lush fans there, so we didn’t feel particularly old. The upstairs venue is one of the best small venues I’ve been to; a decent height stage, good lights, bench seat around the sounds, steps up to a raised bar, so clear viewing from a number of places. The sound was superb; not too loud and very clear. I will be going back there again.

I took a couple of photos and then just enjoyed the music. I’m not overly familiar with Lush, I know some of the bigger songs, though didn’t recognise any tonight. There were some new songs in the mix. It was a good set, enjoyable dream pop, with a very appreciative crowd.

I was kind of expecting a number of the audience to leave after Miki Berenyi’s set, she would have been the major draw for some I suspect, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many stayed for Aircooled. I gather there were quite a few up from the coast especially for the show. A few diehards stayed right up against the stage so again I was forced back a couple of rows to take photos. The light wasn’t as helpful with Aircooled, less spots and much more use of the psychedelic images projected by Inner Strings onto a screen behind the band. These were far too bright for me and my old camera to cope with.

I enjoyed their set, particularly the 16+ minute eponymous track ‘Aircooled’ which they played early on; I was kind of expecting this to be the closer so was pleased to hear it up front.

One of the best things about The Lexi on a Friday night is that it turns into a nightclub at 11:00, meaning concerts finish nice and early, something I am very keen on 🙂 It was a fairly straightforward journey to and from the venue, one tube change with a total journey time about 30 minutes so we were home pretty quickly. This made for an even better night as we were out last night and are out again tomorrow; and we both need some sleep. It’s been a busy, but enjoyable time!

Wrong Speed Records all dayer @ The Strongroom.

Saturday 8 October 2022 – London.

Wrong Speed Records is a small and vital record label created by Joe Thompson, bass player with Hey Colossus and Henry Blacker, during the early Covid lockdowns. The label is the centre of the Hey Colossus multiverse, with most of the (at the time of writing) 38 releases on the label coming from bands associated with current or ex-members of the band, and there are quite a few of those. I don’t own all those records but I have at least one by all the bands playing today, or I do now as I picked up the Gum Takes Tooth record from the merch stand after the show.

Today was the Wrong Speed Records all-day gig at The Strongroom bar in Shoreditch. Six bands, five on Wrong Speed Records and one (Gum Takes Tooth) about to be, all for the amazing price of zero pounds; yes it was free. Fantastic, and such a good line up as well.

The first band was on at 3:30 and I arrived just before The Mute Servants hit the stage, meeting Sean, a Walthamstow friend at the venue. The Mute Servants are a two piece formed around the songs of one of Hey Colossus’ three guitarists. The songs were short, sharp and fun, nothing over two minutes in length; garage punk at its finest. They did (at least) two covers, The Breeders ‘Do you love me now’ and The Fall’s ‘Industrial Estate’. It was a great start to the day.

The Strongroom is not a bad venue, I’m not sure if hosts a lot of bands, but it is well set up for them, with a couple of bars, a huge outdoor space with loads of seating and a gig room that would hold a couple of hundred; it seemed really well air-conditioned as well which I appreciated. The one downside for day time bands was the glass fire exit doors letting in too much background light which made it hard to take photos of the musicians on a very dimly lit stage. I had a lot of trouble getting images of the next band. Shooting was hard for all the bands with my ancient beast of a camera, the light was very dim and mostly a horrible red or even more horrible blue.

Haress (prounced hairs) were second on, and the band I was most looking forward to seeing, and they didn’t disappoint; not that any of the bands did. Another of the Hey Colossus guitarists plays guitar in Haress.

Haress play a very quiet gentle gothic country, slow mournful tunes, that build slowly to a gentle peak, I play their records a lot while I work. They all play their instruments while seated, which sort of reflects the vibe of their music. There was even a sing-along with handed out lyric sheets for one of their songs.

I thought they were great and my photos didn’t do them justice, I would have loved to have been on the other side of the stage but someone else was taking pictures there and it seems a bit weird having the only two people taking photos standing in the same place.

Thee Alcoholics were the third band of the day and the third band of the day without a bass player. Definitely the heaviest band so far (it gets heavier), a grungey-noise rock four piece with an ex-Hey Colossus drummer on guitar and vocals. There was a guest vocal by an ex-Hey Colossus vocalist/current Hey Colossus guitarist on a song that which was very reminiscent of the older sludgier Hey Colossus sound. I liked them.

Fourth up were Nottingham punks Blind Eye, the only proper punk band on the bill. They play a fast melodic hardcore and had the crowd buzzing; there were even a small number of people slam dancing through their short and furious set. From where I was standing it was impossible to get a decent photo of the guitarist, he was mostly in the dark, one of the only musicians I didn’t get a photo of.

The venue was at ground level with the locked glass fire door on Rivington Street, opposite a restaurant and bar. It was very early evening when Blind Eye took the stage and I was amused by all the fancily dressed young folk peering in through the glass of the doors, wondering/bemused at the thunderous racket going on inside.

Four bands in, and the first band with a bass player and also the first without current or ex Hey Colossus member.

Not owning of their records meant I was not that familiar with Gum Takes Tooth, only really giving them an online listen in the days before the gig. I liked what I heard and was keen to see them, they were the real outliers on the day; no bass, no drums and no guitars, as well as being the only band on the day yet to release anything on Wrong Speed, apparently something coming in 2023.

The played a set that sounded very techno to my electronic-ignorant ears, and they got a very good response from full venue, I enjoyed their set a lot.

Headliners for the event were Hey Colossus, a last minute addition after another band had to pull out. I always like seeing Hey Colossus, and I guess with so many members at the venue it made sense that they played. It was a cracking set as well, with a couple of new tracks being aired as well as songs from the last three records. I enjoyed it immensely, especially the epic closer, the 16 minute Trembling Rose. Paul, the vocalist is such a fun photographic subject.

This was the first time I’ve been to a multi-band event where every band was excellent, it was impossible to pick a favourite. They were all different enough that direct comparisons would be impossible.Big thanks to the bands, the fans, the bar team, Joe, Chris, Baba Yagas Hut and anyone else who was involved in organising the day.

Roll on the next event in mid-2023.

Big thanks to the bands, the fans, the bar team, Joe, Chris, Baba Yagas Hut and anyone else who was involved in organising the day.

Roll on the next event in mid-2023.

Enablers with Van Coeur @ The Piper

Friday 02 September 2022 – St Leonards.

This is only the third UK gig I’ve attended this year and it’s also the third with a direct or indirect relationship with Wrong Speed Records, the label that headline act Enablers released their new album ‘Some Gift on. The record came out today, which provided little time to cement any tracks in my head before the gig started. Not that this was to be a sing-along show anyway.

I’m gonna take a little bit of credit/responsibility for the gig happening at The Piper. The label did a call-out on Twitter for a venue in the south of England who would be up for show on the Enablers UK and Europe tour, and I suggested St Leonards. Somehow it happened, and I was very happy with that. The more tours that come through St Leonards the better, though of course small town SE England isn’t an overly attractive place to tour. Hasting/St Leonards may not be small geographically, but it’s small in other ways…

Arriving at The Piper at 8:30 (doors at 8:00) I wasn’t surprised to find the upstairs venue still closed. There a few people gathered in the bar below, and most of those were just Friday night drinkers, though there was the odd bloke (mostly blokes) on their own who looked like gig attendees. I think I was the only person in attendance in a band t-shirt (NZ band Die! Die! Die!), this is highly unusual behaviour, obscure band t-shirts are almost compulsory at obscure band gigs. Obviously the t-shirt shouldn’t be from the band/s you’re seeing, that would be very uncool indeed. Maybe things have changed? As Eleanor will attest I’ve been trying to wean myself off of obscure band t-shirts as I approach 60; with limited success. I’m wearing one (Southern Death Cult) as I head back to Walthamstow on a Saturday morning train.

A couple of very loud drunk/wasted guys came into the bar so I climbed the stairs to the venue and joined three other people waiting for the support band, Van Couer, to take the stage. It was a bit of a wait, I assume they were waiting for more people to arrive. Just before the band took to the low stage the two drunk/wasted loud blokes arrived in the room and looked around for somewhere to sit. Finding nothing they liked they dragged a small bench into the middle of the venue and plonked themselves down right in front. I’ve never seen anyone do that before, I quietly admired their confidence.

Van Coeur are a three piece from Brighton; comprised of two guitarists and a drummer; all contributing to the vocals, their music is a very slow almost folky post-rock; think Slint, mixed with Low and Haress and slow it down some more. They reminded me a bit of Deathcrash, who we saw in a church in Islington last year. They are a very quiet group; as they played their opening track (You have the benefit of all my doubts) I heard the fizz of an illicit can of lager being cracked open by someone sat further along the bench I was on.

I hadn’t heard of them prior to the gig being announced and only started listening to them yesterday. I really like them, and am listening to them on the train as I write. I don’t know the names of many of the songs they played, one stood out in particular though and I hope to stumble across it again as I listen (I didn’t (sad face emoji) ).

Enablers are a Texan four piece, and like Van Coeur before them they had no bass player, just two six-string guitars, drums and vocals. I don’t know much of their music; they are touring the UK and Europe to promote the new LP. The audience only got to hear the songs that made up most of their set for the first time just before the show started. I would describe them as a post-punk/post-rock band backing a poet/story teller, the lyrics are mostly spoken rather than sung. They are delivered with passion and style, this isn’t a book reading.

This was the second show on their current tour and the set was crisp and enthusiastically delivered and I thoroughly enjoyed their set, as did the small appreciative crowd. I think my favourite track was called ‘Willard to Kurtz’, a clear reference to the film ‘Apocalypse Now’. It’s very much my favourite from the record.

Pete Simonelli is an engaging front man, difficult to photograph as no part of his body was ever still, I took a lot of photos that were plain rubbish. The light was significantly more photographer friendly than it was for Gnod a few weeks back which meant I managed to get a couple of quite crisp images. I moved closer to the centre of the stage and shot these photos between the head and shoulders of the two Van Coeur guitarists.

it was great show and there are now another couple of LPs to add to my wish list.

There was a small piece of exciting news this week. New Zealand (I think, though he lives in Canada) author, Matthew Goody, has written a book, ‘Needles and Plastic’, documenting the 1981-1988 period of New Zealand music label Flying Nun; their most fertile and influential period. I have more records and CDs on Flying Nun than any other record label. I’ve been waiting for the release announcement for some time as Matt has used some of my photos from the period, which will be the first time any of my photos have appeared in a book. The book comes out in November and I’m quite excited by this.

I never link to products for sale, but will make this a rare exception.

In NZ the book can be ordered from here

and from here for the US and UK/Europe.

Hey Colossus with Kulk @ Studio 9294

Friday 24 June 2022 – Hey Colossus with Kulk @ Studio 9294, Hackney Wick, London.

Hey Colossus have been a favourite band for a few years and I’ve been looking forward to seeing them again since they made a surprise appearance at The Piper in St Leonards way back in November 2019. A gig that turned out to be almost the last I attended pre-lockdown. This London show was originally scheduled as an album release party in 2020, was then postponed to 2021 and then further postponed to now. Life was not normal for most of 2020 and 2021 so it was an eager and expectant crowd that turned up to Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick to see them.

Noise/sludge/doom duo Kulk, I’m not entirely sure how to describe them, were the support act. They were OK, I mostly enjoyed their set, but they weren’t really my cup of tea, a bit too metal for my tastes.

Taking photos in the available light was a struggle, the band were mostly in darkness with very strong strip lighting behind them. I took a few photos with some difficulty and then gave up, these are the best of an average to poor bunch.

After some last minute monitor cable faffing Hey Colossus were welcomed to the stage by a loud and robust cheer from the audience. As a six piece they managed to survive reasonably intact over the pandemic period with only the drummer and one of the guitarists changing since I last saw them. They have been recording and performing for 16 years and lines-up changes are quite normal for them, the replacement guitarist has been a band member before. The main thing was they survived the pandemic, managed to rehearse even though they live all over the place, and it seems they have written some new songs as well.

Their 13^th LP, a double, “Dances/Curses” came out in November 2020 to critical acclaim and a number of represses, and was released on bass player, Joe’s new label Wrong Speed Records . I have two copies, not for any weird ‘playing one and keeping one mint’ reason, but because one got lost in the post for two months so I ordered another. They’re a small band, albeit with lots of members, and I didn’t want to the Royal Mail’s balls-up to be at their cost. I could afford it, though obviously I didn’t expect the first copy to turn up, which it did about two days after the second copy. Oh well. Wrong Speed have released quite a few recordings during and since lockdown, all have been by obscure artists, across a variety of genres and most have been excellent. I have a few…

The ten song set was, as you would expect, mostly made up of tracks from the new record, though they played a couple off the previous LP ‘Four Bibles’ which I appreciated as it is a great collection of songs. There was also a new song in the set, which seems to have been called B & G, possibly describing a two chord main riff, who knows?

The set closed with the 16 minutes track Trembling Rose from the new LP, a favourite of mine and by the enthusiastic reception from the crowd, it was a favourite of most others as well.

We really enjoyed the gig. Though like the Gnod gig I went to in May it was quite loud and a bit muddy it was difficult to hear individual instruments where we were standing. Ear plugs would have been good so I’ve ordered some for future gigs. My ears are getting old.

It was fab just getting out of the house of evening and doing something, and Hackney Wick isn’t a bad place to do it.

‘Swell Maps’ @ Rough Trade East, London

Thursday 24 March 2022 – Shoreditch, London.

I’ve no idea when I first heard Swell Maps, given I didn’t start listening to punk until late 1978 and my exposure to new music as a mid-teen in Auckland with no older siblings was limited. I expect I didn’t hear them until after they broke up in 1980. I know I had their first single from 1977 ‘Read about Seymour’ on a cassette one of my workmates made me in 1981. I guess that was possibly the first time for me. It is a great song, as were the other singles.

They are an odd band, originating in Solihull in the English midlands the various members muddled around experimenting with music and sound in various duos and trios from the early 70s but didn’t form as Swell Maps until the punk explosion. Their early singles were short sharp bursts of jagged guitar driven punk, ‘Read about Seymour’ is only 1 minute 27 long. Resolutely DIY, they used cheap instruments in cheap studios and it shows in their early recordings, they all sound fabulous. I love that lo-fi over driven sound.

They released two LPs; the first in 1979 ‘A trip to Marineville’ and the more well known ‘Jane from Occupied Europe’ in 1980. Both were on the fledgling label Rough Trade. The band split soon after ‘Jane’ came out and most of the members went onto other musical projects, none were what you would call commercially successful. Both their LPs are more post-punk than what most would consider punk, with longer songs (Gunboats was over eight minutes), some instrumentals and lots of weird instrumentation and found sounds. Those records still sound good today.

They were not a band I followed, perhaps because they split before I started buying music. However, I suspect it’s more likely that by the time I first heard them their music had moved on from three chord DIY punk to something more challenging and interesting and I hadn’t moved on at all. I have been listening to them more over the last few years though and was interested enough to order bassist/guitarist/vocalist Jowe Head’s book about the band when it was released earlier in the year. A copy is waiting for me in my favourite bookshop, Printed Matter in Hastings, when I get back to St Leonards next month

As was normal in the early punk days most of the band members had made up names, Jowe Head, Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden, Biggles Books, Phones Sportsman and Golden Cockrill. Sadly Nikki Sudden and Epic are no longer with us, both passing too young. After Swell Maps split Jowe Head was in an early line up of the Television Personalities.

I only saw that this interview with Jowe Head was on tonight at Rough Trade on Tuesday. As it was free and early in the evening and the weather was going to be nice I decided to get a ticket and make the walk to Rough Trade in Shoreditch after I finished work in Westminster. I need the exercise and the walk took an hour which was perfect, I’d earned my pint. I didn’t realise that after the interview and Q and A with Jowe there was going to be a live performance of Swell Maps songs by Jowe and friends. This was a massive bonus, and I was glad I had lumped the camera around with me.

The band tonight comprised of – Jowe Head, guitar and vocals,
Dave Callahan of The Wolfhounds and Moonshake, guitar and vocals,
Luke Haines of The Auteurs, guitar and vocals,
Lucie Rejchrtová of Instant Flight, keyboards,
Jeff Bloom of Television Personalities, drums
Lee McFadden of Alternative TV, bass and vocals.

The band was joined for the songs ‘Harmony’ and ‘Cake Shop’ by Gina Birch from another seminal band, The Raincoats.

It was a lot of fun, the band were great, a little chaotic at times, the mix was really good, and it was a joy listening to songs I never ever expected to hear live. Midget Submarines was probably my favourite song of the night, though Seymour and International Rescue were brilliant. The set ended with a five minute or so jam of what was apparently a Can track. Kinda the perfect way to end a set really.

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Dave Callahan, Jowe, Luke Haines. Lee McFadden

Dave Callaghan singing ‘Let’s Build a car’ with Lucie Rejchrtová in the background. I wasn’t able to get a decent photo of Lucie from where I was standing.

Gina Birch.

Lee McFadden and half of drummer Jeff Bloom.

Luke Haines summing it up (he is a great performer)

At one point when I was taking photos I realised I’d moved just out of sight of my back pack which contained work laptop, I could feel the person behind me getting closer to me, so I stepped back a bit and turned round and it was Thurston Moore, I realised my bag was going to be fine.

I’m really glad I went, it was a fun atmosphere, with what I’m guessing were loads of friends of the band giving them loads of love.

Three Songs, No Flash. The Beths @ Whammy Bar

Wednesday 12 January 2022 – Auckland

Before I start here is a quick note for anyone who landed here from a Google search while looking for information on The Beths Whammy Bar series. I couldn’t find the stage times elsewhere. This was from the Wednesday night performance so may not reflect the following nights.

Other than Friday 14 Jan, all five Auckland shows are sold out.
Doors at 7:00, the support band, Lips were on stage at 8:00 and The Beths on soon after 9:00.
A vaccine pass was required; most of the punters were wearing masks (yahoo).
Whammy has been proactive and installed some much needed, and very efficient, air-conditioning. The staff were great too.
Capacity has been reduced from 210 to 170 which made a massive difference to space.

The most important thing you’ll want to know; was the Wednesday gig any good? Hell yes, of course!

After the obligatory ‘Hi, we’re The Beths from Auckland New Zealand’, the band started with the fabulous oldie ‘Happy Unhappy’ with its poptastic ‘oh-uh’ opening, before launching into a set that seemed to have more tracks from the first LP than the second. All the ‘hits’ were there as you would expect so I doubt anyone will leave disappointed their favourite song wasn’t played. They introduced three new songs, unusually closing the encore with one of them, the very un-Beths like rager ‘Silence is Golden’, a track I’m looking forward to hearing on record.

If you have not heard The Beths and you like indie pop with great musicianship and witty songs with the best vocal harmonies New Zealand has produced since The Muttonbirds, then you definitely need to check them out. Then go buy some records. They are a great band, seem like lovely people and deserve to be huge, though not stadium huge as I hate stadium gigs. The Beths are doing a good old fashioned five night residency at the freshly post-lockdown re-opened Whammy Bar on Auckland’s K’ Rd.

My favourites ‘Future me Hates me’, ‘Uptown Girl’ and ‘I’m not getting excited’ were played at pace and were fabulous, as was ‘Jump rope gazers’. With so many people masked up the crowd singing along was slightly muted too, an unexpected bonus!

Australian artist Stella Donnelly was supposed to play the support slot but was unable to attend due to the travel restrictions. The Beths played one of her songs ‘Tricks’ in tribute, I thought that was the weakest song of the set.

We saw a great The Beths set at Heaven in London in August 2019, along with 1100 other people, though this much more intimate venue really suits their personalities. The on stage and audience banter worked so much better here and at times it felt like it was a sing-along with mates rather than a public show. With fewer people than normal Whammy Bar was the best it has been, the sound was excellent, particularly at the back and the lighting was not too terrible for photography, though I still had to convert to mono as the colour cast was pretty bad 🙂

I stayed at the front taking photos for the first three songs before heading to the raised area at the back to stand with Eleanor to enjoy the rest of the show.

I have not heard support band, Lips, before. I thought they were OK, they had some good songs, the first couple and the last were the standouts for me.

While Covid rates are (thankfully) incredibly low in New Zealand we all know how virulent the omicron variant is and we won’t know it’s in the community until it’s in the community. Getting Covid right now, just before we head off on holiday, and then back to London would be just so ironic. With that in mind I (we?) was a little tentative in the hours before the gig; this was only the second show we’ve gone to since Feb 2020 when we saw Penelope Isles in St Leonards. The last gig we went to was Deathcrash in July 2021 and it was a fully seated, socially distant event held in a Hackney church. The lack of shows was not through lack of desire; there were none in the UK before we left for New Zealand, and when we arrived in Auckland we went straight into lockdown. Gigs have just started again and we were so glad we got to go this one before we leave. It was originally scheduled for September and had been postponed twice before.

For a return to standing gigs we couldn’t have picked a better one. It was a fun show; great band, good sound, busy but not packed venue, and most importantly smiles round (as far as I could tell as the majority of the audience were wearing masks).

Hey Colossus Supported by Mullholland @ The Piper, St Leonards.

06 November 2019 – Hey Colossus with Mullholland @ The Piper

Hey Colossus are a bit of an odd beast; a sort of noise/droney/experimental/metal with a bit of pop, band. They are impossible to accurately describe, and each album is a little different to the previous. They are resolutely low-key. I had not heard of them in NZ, yet they have been around since the early noughties, releasing records and touring. They released a new LP, ‘Four Bibles’ in May, and it sits very high up on my album of the year list. I was pleasantly surprised that they were playing a gig in St Leonards, and for a paltry £5.50. OK it was a Wednesday, but now I have discovered I can work from a Hastings office a Wednesday is not as tricky as it could be.

After a busy day at work in London I had a fairly stressful drive down to the flat. It was as busy as you would expect for rush hour. I am not a big fan of driving in the dark, off the main highways the roads are crap and I don’t drive often enough now to be totally comfortable on the road. I am becoming one of those slow and overly cautious drivers I hated being stuck behind when I was in NZ. I am seeing the other side now.

Arriving at the flat not long before the gig started, I dumped the load of stuff I brought down, and headed to the pub almost immediately. Rushing didn’t help the stress levels. I really like The Piper, it is a new pub, having opened since I have been in St Leonards. They have bands, most of which I like, the music in the pub is often really good, and they have a really good house red at a decent price. [*note; 3 weeks later, the good house red at a decent price seems to have ended.]

Hey Colossus were supported by Mullholland, a young instrumental duo from the Channel Islands, now living in Brighton, I am guessing there is not much of a music scene on Jersey. I thought they were brilliant, they have released a couple of albums, which I had listened to at work, but they were very much a live band. I took a few photos, and am looking forward to hearing the next, pending, record.

Hey Colossus are a six piece guitar, bass and drum band. A bit too big for the stage at The Piper, and too big for the 20mm lens on the GX800 (basically a 50mm lens on a normal camera). I could not fit all of them in a single shot. This is the first gig on a European tour, they are from London and the south west, so I guess this was on the way to the ferry to France. There had been no sound check, it was at times a total wall of noise, at others the sound was crisp and clean. Either way it was pretty damn good. The vocalist was standing directly under that hideous purple spot light, so I was forced to convert these to black and white.

When they hit the stage I am fairly sure they was more band members than audience, something I was pretty upset about, though it did fill out a little once the the music started. I know this is small town coastal England, Brexit country, small ‘c’ conservative, and yes Hey Colossus are never going to be Ed fucking Sheeran, but they deserved a much bigger crowd than this. They are innovative, noisy, talented, though to be fair I doubt they gave a shit. Small audiences are what they are used to I guess.

I was mesmerised by the vocalist, he does not look like his voice. Maybe it was the ‘tache.

I loved them. My ears less so, they were still humming well after I got to work on Thursday.

I posted couple of photos on Instagram on Thursday night and Mullholland asked if they could use them, which was very nice. My photos on their Instagram feed get more likes than any photos on my feed!