The Plimptons - Post it Note videos

The video to The Plimptons Rock n Roll pt 3

Also known as Cupboard of Porn, this video is work safe, unlike my last go at it which was just porn. This one is based on a storyboard drawn by Adam J Smith, animated by myself. 75 individual post it notes frames of animation and a couple of recycled animated video clips.

The song is taken from their 2007 album Pomp, available on Amazon, and was named after Gary Glitter's Rock n Roll pt2

Miss the Occupier, Antique Scream, Black Carnation – 13th Note

Stevie the organiser dude behind Equal and Opposite introduces me to the boys form antique Scream as a journalist for The Fly. He finds it hilarious that I’m there with a wee notepad and pen but after kicking him in the shins a few times he settles. The boys are dead nice and lavish me with a free t-shirt, CD and, best of all, badge. Turns out they’re from Mesa, a little town in Arizona where strangely enough I’ve visited.

Stevie jokes that tonight is the battle of the three pieces and Miss the Occupier come on stage. I realise I’d seen them at the Wickerman but hadn’t paid much attention at the time. They started off like a energetic punkier Elastica with male backing vocals although at some points I thought it was a feminine voice and got all confuzzled. By the third song singer/bassist Roz’ vocals are coming out really strong and I’m hearing definite Manic Street Preachers 00000000000 (Hey my cat just typed that- speaking in binary now Beau?) but with a more modern basslines providing a different sound. Their sound is solid and at points sound like there’s more going on than for a three piece.

All the songs tend to follow a minimalist verse light on guitar, vocals in time with the rhythm section (rat-a-tat-tat) that then fires into a rocking chorus that makes the song. The 6th song described as near to a love song as they do and again it reminds me of latter day MSP. ”Nothing Ever Perfect” finishes very fast and heavy with some impressive lady growling. Song number 9 struck me with “You make her ill she treats you alright, all night”. I hear that! Later in the evening Mr Snowball asks me what I thought of them and I tried being objective, well they’re punky and fun and energetic…”they’re shite” was his eloquent response and I concurred they might not be the next poet laureates but they sounded good.

I was looking forward to Antique Scream up next, such nice boys. They warm up playing with they’re sound effects and fancy guitar solos and then they get right into it. They sounded great could have been playing at a stadium but….. Led Zeppelin meets Jimi Hendrix. Now both band I love but I want to see something new! Vocalist sounds very much like lead singer from Reef without the warble – which is a good thing. Good old soaring rock vocals – can we turn them up a tad please? Oooh topless drummer, it’s been nigh on a week since I saw a naked gentleman shaped person. Little bits of Lenny Kravitz come into play as a result of the funky oldstylee rock n roll crossed with the smooth vocals. The drummer is amazing. He is banging away non-stop using the entire kit and his sheen of sweat is well deserved. Meanwhile the bass playing side-show bob lookielike is flailing around the stage using up the entire perimeter. Overall well entertaining technically excellent raunch rock but I can’t imagine them finding a niche in today’s market.

Is the Drummer that Timothy Dalton lookalike I fancy wot used to be in Wilbur Force? No not tall enough. Hey, maybe this chaps single. I read in the thirteenth note flyer that Black Carnation is “a bloody orgy of Jeff Buckley and Chris Cornell…with John Bonham on drums”. Oooh exciting! Oh shit is that a lassie sat behind me who’s boyfriend I used to snog years ago? I suddenly want to leave. I manage to stay for three songs. The first song demonstrates the Soundagardeny type riffs and the vocalist does have a Buckley tone to him. The second song however sounds distinctly like Queens of the Stone Age and by the third song I’m hearing the pixies with vocal harmonies very reminiscent of Alice in Chains. This would be my ideal superband but I don’t stay after this – I’ve got all the CDs at home and I’m tired and hungover.

Ally Kerr, The Metro-Gnomes - Cottiers

Has it really been a whole month since I was last at the Cottiers for Viva Melodia? Returning victorious from The Plimptons' show at the Liverpool Cavern. So much has gone on and changed. I'm actually listening to Ally Kerr's lyrics, everything seems to be about leaving town and missing all this. I'm almost in tears at the bar.

This is what summer should be about, cold German beer and songs that make you well up.

Why isn't Ally playing T in the Park? With an honourary place on the T-Break stage or just under Camera Obscura on the King Tuts stage. Maybe talent isn't enough, you really do have to wait years.

I can't believe I missed Monica Queen playing here at Viva Melodia last week. I've been wanting to see her and hear her for years, playing on her own, outwith guest vocals on Belle and Sebastian Shows. I bought a Thrum CD off of Amazon once, on the back of seeing clips of them playing The Word on YouTube. No one gets away in the 21st century.

The Metro-Gnomes, not sure whether the hyphen is required, on stage next. Girl on guitar and bloke on harmonica, both on vocal duties, clear and laid back. Very sweet music when they're playing, but there are long pointless pauses between songs, letting the crowd get restless and chatter. I was going to compare them to The Carpenters, but the harmonies remind me more of Simon and Garfunkle, with the wee finger picked descending guitar lines.

Oh my!! KAZOO SOLO!!!! I now love these guys, all sins are forgiven.

Some quality bands coming up here in the next few weeks, Reno Amps, Primary 5 and The legendary St. Deluxe

Kristin Hersh - Oran Mor

Foolishly lingering over a pint in the Whisky Bar upstairs, I walked in half-way through the first song, thereby missing the rapturous applause that would have greeted Ms Hersh as she walked on stage. One of the few from that American college indie scene in the mid-90's who never stopped making records, Kristin Hersh is a genuine legend and the crowd know it. After the angular guitar lines of Throwing Muses and distorted rock-outs of 50ft Wave, here she performs under her own name accompanied by a cello and violin alongside drums, bass and guitar.

I suppose I had expected the gig to be a more sombre affair. A huge fan of Throwing Muses, I was less familiar with her solo output. The track I knew best was the Michael Stipe duet 'Your Ghost', a stripped down song with a simple repetitive guitar refrain and no drums. As I arrived downstairs to find the band rocking out, I was surprised and delighted to find that her new setup had lost none of the energy of Throwing Muses. The string section bowed and bothered away like they were being played by evil pixies, the drums were clattering and Kristin Hersh played like a bastard.

Her voice is a delight throughtout, a soft Texan drawl which could be intensely annoying when spoken by someone else, feels like a warm cuddle from Kristin. She seems at ease throughout the gig, reining in the head wobbling and telling a few anecdotes to the throng. At one point she recalled how her band were unable to 'speak Scottish', as it just sounded like a bunch of disconnected syllables to them, then an audience member shouted something in response and she said 'Yeah, kinda like that!'

A rocked-out version of 'Your Ghost' made all the better for it's lack of Stipiness came towards the end of the set and received a warm reception, especially after the revelation that it was written in Glasgow. Kristin came back out after the end for 2 encores and could easily have gone on all night were it not for the venue's wish to close up. Spoilsports.

So we had to say goodbye to possibly the only woman who could come here and say 'Y'all' without getting a kicking. Hope she comes back again soon, and I'll be down the front this time.

Other reviews at:-
here
here
here

Errors, Big Face, Konx Om Pax - Mono

All full of piss and vinegar pre-gig. In MonoRail they'd put the Plimptons album in amongst the random 'P' CDs rather than in 'new releases' or under a 'Plimptons' section. I know it isn't, but it feels like snobbery, a scenester conspiracy. Luckily, just opposite, on the notice board, there's adverts for two of my lot, the Deep Fried Wolfknuckles, playing McSorleys on the 15th for a Magnetic Fields tribute night and the Just Joans at this Saturday's Winchester Club.

I was rifling through the 12"s, really getting into whatever tunes the 'Mogwai DJs' were playing, when CommanderKeen off of Jockrock, accosted me to shoot the breeze.

The place was dark and full of familiar looking scenesters, all eager for Errors and wishing the show would start.

The chap who took my money on the door announces the first act, apologising if its too loud, but I missed the actual name of the act.

One bloke, crouched behind a rack of equipment, shuffling acetates on a projector, black and white images and illustrations, either yellow with age or cheap projector.

The noise is loud, the bastard son of a washing machine and the Clangers, turned up to eleven. After a while its almost dreamlike, like memories of the scary room at Madam Tousauds when I was six years old.

Bump into some old chums off of the internet and we muse over whether this guy is using backing tapes, or a drum machine, or synth or a combination, whether he's spent much time practising the changing of the acetates. Is there any precise timing to it?

"Once it progressed into a proper beat it was okay with layers, but there was too much fucking around"

There was this girl called Wee Laura.

The next act, possibly called their cute, hat-wearing girl, stood a little too far away fromher keyboard at first.

I tried convincing Wee Laura, that it was performance art, they never had a drummer, they just wanted us to think that they did.

Imagine bis, with an apprentice builder instead of Manda Rin.

Aw man, I just saw Graham from The Royal We

Hmm, when the scratchy lead guitar kicks in, I start to think the girl was drawn by Jamie Hewlett. Not sure about the vocals.

and I can see Big Duncan

I actually wish I were in this band, I'd turn the shoegazer up to 7 and whisper lyrics about the weather in the evening.

"Too many Chrises"

Killer cheekbonesand nice nodding, but she's sharing a smirk with the guitarist, an inside joke that we're not in on. Ooh, hang on, she's just sucking on the inside of her lip piercing.

Too many people around the bar for me to feel comfortable getting a drink.

and hmm, people leaving before the Errors hit the stage.

Woo! Squelchy electro!!

And drums, real live drums, played by a real live drummer!

"'Feedback'" we are told, "is the shortest word to use the letters'a', 'b', 'c' and 'd'" - genius, typographical factoids and squelchy electro, drummery, guitary music.

Fuck me, there's an 'e' and an 'f' in there too.

What about 'backed'?

Those bastards are so wrong, I might leave in disgust.

hmm, what about 'backfed'? Is that even a word?

Kind of clunky and machineish music, sounds like the theme tune to that level of Shinobe where there's all the conveyor belts and cyborgs.

Ooh, from here the keyboard guy with glasses, who took my money on the door, looks like either Gary Spence or that guy who played Cotton Weary in Scream.

Other reviews of this show
here