Rip It Up: Pocketbooks, Davey Strange, Goodnight I Wish, Harvey Williams,The Postcards, Lodger, Theoretical Girl - The Socia

The Londonist website has a weekly gig round up, all the must see shows of the forthcoming seven days, with ticket prices from £8 (Pete and the Pirates) to £45 (Yazoo). This grossly misrepresents live music.

Tonight I am at The Social for Rip It Up, the Edwyn Collins/ Orange Juice tribute night, entry is 50p.

First on are Pocketbooks with a cover of "Consolation Prize". Andy the singing chap is a bit more fey than Edwyn was, and over on guitar Ian really gets into his guitar noddling. When they finish, the audience rise as one with the muttered cry of "What? Only one song each?".

How long ago was that Stephen Merrit / Magnetic Fields tribute night? That was a fair three songs each, it gave the bands time to find their groove. I'm apprehensive about the rest the night now.

I've just bought me a new notebook to write these reviews in, and have just given myself a papercut.

Davey Strange is on stage next, I don't know what the song is. I only know two Orange Juice / Edwyn Collins songs, maybe two and a half; Rip it Up, Girl Like You, and that Adidas one.

'Goodnight I Wish' were on next, a two piece, took ages to set up.

I just realised, my mobile phone is out of battery and I've no memory card in my camera, so no blurred black n white piccies tonight. Its all a bit of a shambles.

Not only are the bands all playing one song sets, but there's a 20 minute changeover time. Luckily some bands have dropped out, otherwise we'd be here all night.

Next up is Harvey Williams playing Dying Day. Tender keyboard /piano driven number, from a bearded seated gentleman. Kindof slow and not sure now it fitted with the faster songs DJ Ian from HDIF played before and after.

There's a familiar crowd in tonight, all HDIF, indiepop and Twee Ass-Fuck.

Ooh, next band have a quick turn over time, two guitars, bass and drums. They are The Postcards, playing Consolation Prize, mincing it up with spot on Edwyn vox. A bit boomy bass heavy where I was stood,but it was too crowded to move about much.

Not convinced by this new notebook, recycled paper, from Paperchase / Borders on Oxford Street. The paper's too dark to see writing on when I'm lurking in the shadows of a gig and the covers are too floppy to rest on. They flex unless you're resting on a hard surface. There's fucking hundreds of pages mind, so I could be stuck with this for a while.

The Lodger, have travelled all the way down from Leeds to play their one classic Orange Juice song, Can't Help Myself. Last time I saw The Lodger was at The Windmill in Brixton, it wasn't my cup of tea so I retired to the beer garden to chat to Tricity about Bowlie and ex-girlfriends spreading rumours.

Tonight though, its a spot on cover, with guitar all ajangle like the past 25 years were but yesterday.

Somewhat surprisingly the final act on stage tonight is Theoretical Girl also doing a cover of Can't Help Myself. I find myself wondering what happened? How come no one did Girl Like You or Rip It Up, or thatone about Adidas shoes. Did all the bands just assume someone else would do them and avoided the obvious? Was it a conscious effort to avoid the crowd pleasing favourites? Didn't anyone want to please the crowd?

Theoretical Girl's version was a shimmering backing tracked take on it with the girl playing a chorused up twelve string electric and jousting with her own pre-recorded backing vocals. It sounded like a misty dream sequence.

Ian HDIF and Twee Ass-Fuck DJs are pencilled in to take the crowd to closing time so I make a sneaky getaway, with a mind to record my own Orange Juice cover... here

Bands
Pocketbooks
Davey Strange
Goodnight I Wish
Harvey Williams
The Postcards
The Lodger
Theoretical Girl

Arctic Circle, My Sad Captains, The Lodger - The Windmill

I figured I could just get the underground to Clapham North and ander across the fields rather than change at Stockwell for Brixton. So it was a bit later than planned when I wandered into The Windmill halfway through some geeky looking twelve piece.

The place is pretty crowded and the music is pleasantly melodica drenched. There's a guy in the middle of the stage, halfway bacl, who seems to be using a left-handed egg-shaker, one of only 60 ever made by Stagg Music, these guys music take sickly sweet indiepop seriously.

Boy and girl singing and backing vocals too, but the lead bloke singing is a little fuzzy. I would have had the bloke on the right doing lead vocals instead.

For the last the song the wee girl singer straps on what appears to be a 4/3 sized bass guitar and rocks out.

If it wasn't the weekend before pay day, I'd buy the CD.

So what brings me to a How Does It Feel promotion, so soon after resolving to never again back in February? A friend off of the internet suggested it and besides, tonight I have no ticket for Joanna Newsom at the Albert Hall.

My Sad Captains on next. I thought it was going to be Brave Captain, alas.

A five piece with Tim Wheeler on bass, Fish from Ally McBeal on purepop lead guitar, Stephen Merchant on guitar and vocals and Felicity Fey on keyboard, violin and girl "bar bar" backing vocals. At first I had them pegged as a Lightning Seeds style pure pop band with neat keyboards and a sound that probly comes across as warm and rich on the recordings, but here despite the soundmans' best efforts, its a little rough.

The bestest songs come in the middle and are available on 7" vinyl (damned poorly planned pay day)

By the end of the set I'm of the mind that they're tonight's answer to The Great Money Trick. I wonder if Ian HDIF would be interested in having them on.

The final act of the night, The Lodger, looks either like John Waz with floppy hair, or Leeds's answer to Martin from QuestionableContent, but seemed vocally remarkably like Ian Brodie from The Lightning Seeds, but a little more guitary though.

Not quite interesting enough to stick around for, so I head into the beer garden to smoke and chat.

Reviews
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Photies
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