Twee as Fuck All-dayer

I arrived a wee bit early and at the door they give me a fanzine to read and a cupcake. A warm fuzzy feeling spreads out in my tummy. The cupcake has white gooey sugar icing on top and the word "twee" painstakingly written in blue flowing script.

The weather is fine outside, but before long the first band are onstage.


The Mai 68s

Guitar solos like a rusty stanley knife blade, like on the ground near the bins outside a factory, in the rain. Thunderous guitar and bass, with standy up drumer and slightly bewildered looking singing girl in a stripey top, wearing beret and drinking glasses of red wine.

Ithink I saw them play at The Betsy Trotwood a few months ago. They suit the raised stage that this venue offers and they seem to improved their game. The recorded version of Froth on the Daydream doesn't do justice to its sheer power when played live, it'll make you take a step and a half backwards and wish you'd got wine instead of a Jack Daniels and coke.

Even for the first band of the Twee As Fuck alldayer, the place is filling up and there's friendly banter between the stage and the folk at the front.

Neat set-closing song with members leaving the stage incrementally so all that's left is the guitar chap on his knees, tweaking the dials on his effects pedals to turn up the squelch on the thunder.

The Margarets, they're very young, no drummer, just a portable CD player, the ipod broke, I can empathise. The first number was an instrumental, from where I was stood it sounded a bit New Orderish, especially in the bass end of the scale.


The Margarets

There was a bit of the Swedish jangle pop about them.

CD player cocked up their last song so they had to abandon it halfway through which would have ended the set on a sour note if it wasn't for Camila (from Weepop and Your Heart Still Breaks) demanding they finish the song again without any backing. It caught them off guard a wee bit, but ended up sounding kind of sweet.

There's this art exhibition upstairs Pavla's Twee as Fuck Polaroids and Nicola Probert art exhibition. It pretty neat.

There's also a new smoking bit roof garden thing which overlooks the alley next to The MacBeth. A bit too crowded and cool for me though. I stay downstairs, leaning on the bar trying to stave off narcolepsy.


Mono Taxi

Mono Taxi are just a two piece, drums and guitar, with both folk doing vocals. For the early songs I was thinking they were cast in the White Stripes mould, you know, a little blues, a little garage. But it got more bombastic in the middle, stadium drum mincing.

Lots of healthy feedback and distorted guitar. yay


Little My

18 instruments / microphones
13 camera people

Its the mighty Little My collective again. The bass bunny still looks like Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks, I was discussing t with a chap off of the internet, who pointed out that Laura Palmer never had rabbit ears, and neither did her identical cousin Maddy.

They took forever to get set up and even then, for a seven piece with literally hundreds of instruments, there wasn't as much noise from the stage as you'd expect. Two glocks, stylophone, melodica, egg shakersand all the best of twee paraphernalia, but what you heard was mostly guitar.

Ah well.

It would be interesting to see them play on their home turf in Cardiff with however many extra members as they muster back there.

I saw Esiotrot practising in an alley round the corner during my inbetween band wandering and they sounded prety neat, trombone, ukelele, guitar. It was nice.


Esiotrot

However, on stage, they are atrocious.

They are out of tune, badly mixed, drifting in and out of lucidity. I don't know what to say. Maybe I just don't get them. What I do get is this must be one of their worse performances.

I'm scribbling this in the gallery upstairs and I can see the street outside, I can see Laura Palmer from Little My, she is very cute. A chap called Alexander wanders over and suggests I draw a picture of Esiotrot, and goes on to explain that he's in a band called To Arms Etc. I had a listen on MySpace when I was typing this up, they sound very good, they have a gig on the 31st of July.

Oh thank fuck, I think Esiotrot played a three song set.


The Bobby McGees


Skip Theatre


Hatcham Social


Theoretical Girl


Comet Gain

Acts
The Mai 68s
The Margarets
Mono Taxi
Little My
Esiotrot

Photies
Mine
Dansette's
CraigBoney's

Dananananayokroyd, Spin Spin the Dog, Lovvers - The MacBeth

Big Duncan's near the door when I come in, it was a long time ago when I first encountered him in Glasgow, well, maybe five years ago probly. Tonight at the MacBeth we shoot the breeze while I consider the first band on.

Barking what could be random between song bander or Art School poetry with loud rock noise accomanyment.

Something to do with ex-girlfriends in my head tonight. Last time I saw Dananananaykroyd was about a year aho, well,last two times, when I was kind of seeing Jax, some cool show at The Admiral and something bigger at the Oran Mor where they were running late cos the drummer's other band were caught at a wedding We left before the band came on.

Still shapeless falling apart sounds coming from the stage as I wonder what fell apart between me and she and then remembering... shudder.

ooh, looks like they have Aiden Moffat on bass.



Easy to remember how to spell Danananananna... its Dana - nana - naykroyd.

So a year has passed and now look at them, all famous and frequently heralded by the NME.

I remember how me and Adam Plimp cheered when we read their first mention in the NME, some Sunday morning in the 13th Note.They were a Glasgow super-group of sorts, Duncan from The Boy Cartographer and The Hector Collectors, Dave from The Multiplies, Laura from Michael Dracula, James from Errors and Calum who lived opposite Jef.

Ooh, I think the nervous one from Favours for Sailors is here.

Second band on, Lovvers are rather exciting, Smashing Pumpkins sounders, all bending metal guitars and Billy Corrigan vocals.



I think I see French girls from the original Glasgow Indie Eyespy game, five retro bonus points.

Hmm, with the mob on stage, it looks like Richard Ashcroft on guitar.

On thinking more deeply, I think it was five and a half years ago I was also going out with Jax when I encountered Duncan in the Hectors.

Rather neat howling lead guitar and the same urgency as early Idlewild.

Ooh, I've got it, they remind me of Tiny Little Hearts, but without the fancy lead rhythm guitar shredding

The Dananananaykroyd take a while to set up, removing the frontispiece of the stage and installing their trademark two drumkits. I'm struck by the number of very neat hairstyles in the crowd. Maybe I should make more of an effort when I go out, rather than same clothes as work.

Whilst much of the setting up beforehand is pure theatrics, it'd be dangerous for them to go on without performing requisit stretching exercises, wouldn't want to pull any muscles. Duncan invites me to join him and Calum stretching at the side of the stage.

So with a combined height of more than twelve metres, Dananananaykroyd take to the stage.





(When I showed this animation to Natalie, she remembered she'd been dancing with him the other night in Glasgow. So far away, yet so near)

Bands
Dananananaykroyd
Lovvers
Spin Spin The Dogs

Photies
here

Amusing review of Spin Spin the Dogs

Popup, Favours for Sailors, 4 or 5 Magicians - The MacBeth

Its a bit nippy out and my petrol guage ticked over to zero on the way here. Dinner was chips from the place next door to the venue, if I'd had time I'd have gone to the Shish restaurant round the corner.

First on stage are the wonderfully named 4 or 5 Magicians, who I'd earlier witnessed playing pool appallingly

So last time I was at this venue, the girl's drink was spiked and since I'm driving tonight I want to play it safe, but alas, they have no bottles of cola.



Toploader hair and vocals veering between Soundgarden and The Crash Test Dummies. Songs covering the spectrum from Stiltskin to Coldplay. They have a “single” out today, a gentleman on the table next to me sekking CDs. Upon what grounds is it a “Single”? It has four tracks, it is however, one of those wee 3” CDs, I'm tempted for novelty value.

The music drifts a little to far into cheesy 80's rock. But the last song does have sparkles of lyrical genius which makes me smile. “I'm as clueless as the next guy and he hasn't got a clue”

Something weird about where the singsters are standing tonight, tucked away at the left side of the stage, with bass players whilst standing central, not taking advantage of big chunky stage frontispace.

Favours for Sailors, the second band on, look remarkably nervous before they start, but it turns out that's just the way they look. I was concerned also that the bass player had a chord sheet laid out at his feet.

They sounded like the original Radiohead, Pablo Honey era, guitar and prickly raging with teeth, kind of like 'Anyone Can Play Guitar'. I'd thought they were overly concerned with checking sound levels with the soundman between the first few songs, but it paid off, they were great.

Even the weird between song banter after one where the lead guitarist and bass player both lost their picks.. “Even professional make mistakes, my dad's a teacher and he makes mistakes... Cooking with whiskey, well, its not really cook, its pouring... Cooking's like fancy pouring anyway.”



Popup headlining, as confident as usual, rather nice gentle and mature music, their constant gigging getting them a following of early middle-aged school teachers dancing courageously and singing along.

Their last song was a bit of a corker, riff ripped from 'Babylon's Burning'.



Bands
Popup
Favours for Sailors
4 or 5 Magicians

Twee As Fuck: The Felt Tips, The Just Joans, Stars of Aviation - The MacBeth

Last Night From Glasgow,

Finally The Just Joans have come back to London. Early doors I hand over the CD's I've been making up for them all week and point out Thorsten Sideboard to Dave the lead singer, I'd introduce them, but other than backlinks and awkward eye contact I don't know the guy.

I'm in the chippy next door to the venue and I spy Row Plimp and Katie the backing singers. Cracking chop suey.

So people turn up, huge swaths of the London internet indie royalty, hungry for the album but I've suddenly lost Dave.

First band on are The Felt Tips who shared minibus duties with the Joanses. I'd heard them on the NQRS podcast and they're really nice but tonight they're plsaying as a three piece, acoustic, electric and bass guitars, no drums, they're on top form. Songs about relationships, not so much wholesome as my uncley advice.

We're stood right at the front, with photofolk and it sounds beautiful, gentle even. Between songs the crowd are restless. Their banter big ups the Joanses, which kinda puts them unde pressue.

The Just Joans grasp it well, the last time I saw them as documented here, they were a smaller rawer act, but now they've blossomed into a great big sexy gritty fruit. Whereby if they were a movie, Ken Loach would direct,

They have this magical ability to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. They hit the pressure point to turn my legs to jelly every time. I look around and wonder. Do you feel the same thing, do you remember the times. Oh god, I'm sorry, why did it turn out this way.

Its always been a really personal thing to me, the Just Joanses, some car journey many months ago just me at midnight playing the tape Adam gave me for the first time, somewhere on southside of Glasgow, I don't remember who. How many other people here feel the same. On the door they're actually selling copies of the Just Joans cassette tape.

The song Bellshill Station is about yer boyfriend moving away from glasfgow to London, and I've always become a pool of mush before I find out how it ends. I broke up with my Glasgow last week. Its still raw.

At the back of the room I catch a glimpse of "Helen", not her real name, its Holly, she was the girl in Glasgow's best mate, who's now just moved to London, we're all fans of the Just Joans and it good to see her. I'm surrounded by friends and relics tonight. If I wasn't made of jagged stone I'd be in tears.

But Helen's here and we're sharing memories. The Just Joan's are the perfect soundtrack as I glance around.

Katie and Row's vocals catch the room off guard, people staring at the stage enraptured, different memories, but the same emotions.

Helen's quite drunk, or seems quite drunk and the Stars of Aviation take to the stage. I've been talking them up to Helen with their singalong songs and talking in Frenchy goodness and so many instruments on stage and all the goodness. But time passes and we've had three of four drinks and the Helen is getting strangely affectionate which is so inappropriate and I'm just wanting to hide in a familiar corner and scribble about bands, invisible and epic.

Time passes and I stagger to the door to chat to Uma Thurman about album sales and where the Joanses are staying tonight, Helen wanders off and a few minutes later a girl wanders over and asks me,

"Were you here with a girl in a red dress?"

"Yeah"

"erm, she's kind of fallen over"

So I wander back in and find a small crowd of people around Helen, feeding her water and keeping her from slumpuing onto the floor.

The guy holding her head looking at me and after a few seconds asked if I was on Bowlie.

My teeth gnash and grind, I snarl a little. There's mixed bag of feeling for that internet messageboard and despite this site, the phenominal success of my nuddy art site, the record label, the video webcasts of yesteryear, the third place and Glasgow, tonight feelings run fresh and raw. How much more successful could the Just Joanses be if I could have brought them to London last year, if the fans who follow them now caught them a year earlier, and the shot in the foot was Bowlie and me being banned from there...

"yes"

Ben, recognising me from the Bowlie Alldayer 2004, as mentioned recently elsewhere.

Ben is a hero not just an alias. Whilst I am a suspect for spiking Helen's drink in their heids, he's got her student card and is tracking down an address hwe can get her to in safe hands.

I'm texting and calling the girl in Glasgow slightly too slowly. I find black hack taxis but none who'll take her in her drunken and spewing state. Ben and his friends are nursing Helen, holding her heid out of her pool of vomit. I'm making a mess of trying to get her to drink water, they find a way to a minicab place.

They keep her company in a taxi safely home. I'm staggering the streets about 3 hours away from where I stay, wondering what happened to the night that started so well, why night's like this always turn out badly and who I ought to be apologising to.