Please Please You Presents: Times New Viking / Banjo or Freakout / Missing Kids @ Basement Bar, York. 21st September 2009

Back to the Basement Bar for another quality line up brought to you by the Please Please You crew, this time we have Ohio noise/punk/lo-fi/indie band Times New Viking, one man shoegaze band Banjo or Freakout and Missing Kids who quite aptly I can’t find a thing about pre gig… Now I’ve seen TNV before on the Shred Yr Face tour in a big cavernous hall in Leeds and I really wasn’t impressed it was more of a sedate jangle than an all out invigorating noise fest like their recordings are, saying that I can’t listen to them on record either, to much compressed ear popping sounds. But in a smaller venue I’m hoping they win me over with enough fuzz we’ll see. Who I’m really looking forward to tonight is Banjo or Freakout who I’ve seen once before during a disasters HEALTH gig that ran so late I missed HEALTH as I had to get a train. Despite this Banjo or Freakout won me over with his shoegazy almost one man band set up, him playing keys and guitar with a guy from Gentle Friendly adding percussion in that so hip right now one drum floor tom way… so it’s brilliant to see them in town.

We ended up rolling in a little late so Missing Kids will have to remain a mystery for now unfortunately, but I heard reports that they were very good indeed. So Banjo or Freakout hit the stage with an actual drum kit and drummer this time as well as the floor tom, keys, samplers, loop peddles, guitar and bass all play by the multi-tasking-multi talented Mr Freakout. It was a quality set full of fuzzy shoegazing soundscapes carved out of loops and guitars fed through pedals. There was loads of drum machine work going on through samplers and pads as well as the live drummer. There was one track with super fast drum loops and proper fuzzy sounds on top that just killed it, if I knew the names of any of the songs of any of the bands tonight I would tell you... but dispite seeing both these bands live before I own none of their work. Banjo or Freakout played a hypnotising set and really impressed me, when the debut album drops I’m going to be all over it like a wet flannel.

As I’ve said above Times New Viking didn’t impress me on the Shred Yr Face tour at all but fuck me this was a whole new kettle of fish. They brimmed with energy and noise. The songs were fun and full of life, with a shambolic (in the best possible way) lo-fi, fuzzed out punk attitude. There were riffs and hooks a plenty that completely passed me by last time, it may well be the smaller basement room that held their sound tons better than the epic hall of the Irish Centre. When TNV’s songs hit a groove with the riffs and noise flying around they really killed it, some of the tracks were a bit lacking in groove for me to really get down to but the rapid fire quick succession way they fired through the tracks kept the energy levels high. I’ve no idea what the songs were about, as is their way with obscuring the vocals in fuzz and walls of noise, which they even did with most of the stage banter with the audience. Times new Viking really won me over tonight, I wasn’t ready for that.

http://www.myspace.com/pleasepleaseyoufun

http://www.myspace.com/basementcityscreen

http://www.myspace.com/timesnewviking

http://www.myspace.com/banjoorfreakout

Copy Haho / Lost From Atlas / The Spills @ Basement Bar, York. 3rd September 2009

The Basement Bar in York tonight has a nice line-up not only do we get two fine young bands from our region but the Big Scary Monster signed Copy Haho from Scotland too. Their EP Bred For Skills & Magic has to be up their for my proverbial best all out indie EP of the year award, if it existed anyway… Local lads Lost From Atlas supporting with their mathematical instrumental stylings, but more on them later I’ve got a review of their demo going up on this very blog soon. Before all that though the night opens with a band I’ve not seen before, Wakefield’s indie rockers The Spills.

I settle in with a pint to melodic sounds of The Spills, their sound is somewhere between an indie rock jangle and more a more rocky sound. The track ‘Oh My Days’ was a belter as was the final two of their set, the names of which escape me.

Lost From Atlas brought many fans with them and played a wicked set of tappy indie/post/rock instrumentals with that addictive clean sound that I kind of like to call gleamo. I’ll talk more about this lot at a later date as the demo is very good indeed and it deserves its own post. But they looked like they were enjoying themselves and it was a tight performance with plenty of locked grooves, chops and changes plus many hypnotic moments dispersed with some rock out sessions, I say rock out sessions you wont be getting a circle pit going here and not only because The Basement Bar hasn’t got the room for it. The more I see them the more I enjoy it.

Now for the main event on this quite night in York, Copy Haho as I’ve mentioned before have made one of my favourite all out indie rock ep’s of the year and these Scots easily lived up to that hype in the flesh. On record they have more of a jangle but here there was a raw edge to it all, with plenty of fuzz and noise. This may well have been the room’s fault, it was a bit of a mission to pick the vocals out some of the time but this didn’t detract from the performance for me there was to much energy in the sound to keep my head nodding. There were plenty of highlights including the fantastic ‘Puling Push Ups’, ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Cutting Out The Bad’. Copy Haho came across as a right laugh as well as proper nice guys it was a pleasure to hear them, thoroughly enjoyable.

http://www.myspace.com/pleasepleaseyoufun

http://www.myspace.com/basementcityscreen

http://www.myspace.com/copyhaho

http://www.myspace.com/lostfromatlas

http://www.myspace.com/bumthespills

Dinosaur Pile-Up / The Federals / Littlemores / Ghosts On The Intercom @ The Basement Bar, York. 25th February 2009

It’s been a little while since I went to a gig with guitars involved so rocking out at the Basement Bar was a nice change. Lots of young York talent on show tonight in the form of everyone but the headliner, who come from down the road in Leeds so they didn’t have to travel to far in their, ‘Truck Delorevan Bigland’ as myspace tells me they ride in... Maybe I read to much.

Ghosts On The Intercom open up the night, I’ve seen these guys before supporting Rolo Tomassi in York but accidentally thought they were ‘in’ the intercom instead of ‘on’ it so sorry about that. They seemed a little tighter this time and rocked the hell out with their own brand of mathematical infused rock. I enjoyed it.

Littlemores are yet more young’uns from round the way and apparently this was only their third gig or somat. They played a brand of indie jangle in the vain of The Strokes or Razorlight you know a little bit garage a little bit ska a little bit indie pop. It wasn’t really my thing but it was by no means bad.

The Federals were the last of the support slots and the young York talent. They make a retro garage sound and are tight as hell with it as well. Nice short, dirty garage riffs with a fuck load of energy and throw back swagger they still managed to sound fresh even though it was all retro as hell.

Dinosaur Pile-Up have been making some indie waves in recent times with their own brand of grunge seeped indie rock, that’s equal parts low slung catchy riffs of Nirvana and fun time on form Weezer… kinda. I had almost seen them before at Nasty Fest in Leeds, but the room was so damn packed that you couldn’t get close so I jumped at he chance to see them in the intimate surroundings of City Screen’s Basement Bar. When Dinosaur Pile-Up really unleash the riffs and rock out like grunge never died it’s a joy to hear. The first track to really get the people dancing and people groping was Love is a Boat and We’re Sinking which is one of their ‘mellow’ ones that just happens to have one hell of a catchy riff and dancy drums. This band is tight, fun and can make one hell of a racket; Long live Dinosaur Pile-Up!

All in all it was a good gig full of guitars, bass and drums just like in the olden days. Everything was kind of retro sounding apart from Ghosts On The Intercom who kinda brought something fresh, angular and a little progressive to the night. All the rest killed it though and put in solid performances.

http://www.myspace.com/basementcityscreen

http://www.myspace.com/dinosaurpileup

www.myspace.com/thefederals

http://www.myspace.com/littlemores

www.myspace.com/ghostsontheintercom

This Town Needs Guns, Jonquil, ABC Club @ The City Screen Basement Bar, York. 19th September 2008

What a line up for a Friday night in York, the Club Defcon crew aka Simon has set up a beauty. The Basement Bar is sold out tonight and I’m glad as these bands deserve to be heard.

ABC Club are some young’uns from the Leeds / Halifax area who are managed by ¡Forward, Russia! guitar wielder Whiskas who happened to be around supporting the talent on show. ABC Club make a kind of jagged post punk with a hint of shoegaze in the vocals and some punchy drums that make you want to move. They have plenty of tracks to download on their myspace so check them out.

The Oxford invasion is coming (They tried to take over Clifford’s Tower but didn’t have the funds to get inside, York is safe… for now) and Jonquil take the stage, I say stage its more like a marked out section of the floor, with everything and the kitchen sink to make noises with, and what a noise they make too. There are keyboards, electric double bass, guitars, melodica, drums, accordion, flute, trumpet; god knows what else all crammed into the Basement Bar. This is the first time I have seen or even heard anything from Jonquil and I was moved. They are accomplished musicians that’s for sure, they swapped instruments and played their hearts out. Jonquils fragile yet sweeping beauty filled the room with a joyous buzz. The vocal harmonies were excellent. The highlights for me were Magdalen Bridge, which they co-wrote with Youthmovies, its such a beautiful track. The finale was brilliant as they whiped out the Accordian for a bit of a hoe down with a majestic build. Jonquil rocked it…

The headliners This Town Needs Guns, also part of the Oxford invasion tonight, hit the stage with a stripped back, back to basics setup especialy compared to Jonquils bring it all make beautiful noise multi-instrumental indie pop gems. Tonight they are selling their debut album Animals, which I have been lucky enough to have on promo to review. It didn’t stop me from buying a CD copy though, and they looked greatful and delighted when I did so. TTNG played a lot of new matterial and it was a real treat to here in the flesh. They also mixed it up a bit with some of their earlyer works from the fantastic Cats x3 split. Chinchilla opened the set and from then on I was mesmerized. Tim’s guitar stylings are incredible, wether he was plucking away on the new songs or hammering around for the old ones he did it with such complex melody and skill. Chris and Jamie locked together to keep the groove tight, with a pounding jazzy edge and rock sensibilitys. Stuarts vocals where as sweet and effecting as always. Other set highlights were my faveourite from Animals, Lemur, which I think just sounds so cool. Panda and Rabbit where also excelent. The final track they played and one that without fail gets people moving is 26 is Dancier that 4. It was a brilliant, energetic ending that induced sporadic dancing, shouting and smiles all round. This Town Needs Guns brought it to York tonight.