I am always skeptical about going to local gigs featuring only unsigned bands which take place in dingy basements – especially dingy basements that I did not know existed. I know Dry used to feature bands regularly, but this was before I ever moved to Manchester. However, when the prospect of seeing Nephew again arose, especially as we managed to miss out on their gig a week earlier due to a plumbing disaster at home which led to lots of water everywhere, a very cold house and a very stressed out The Ledge, we were both keen to see what they’d been up to and what, if anything, had changed besides their lineup.

The first band on were called something like the Pixie Slits or the Pickup Sticks or the Pathetic Crisps or something vaguely like one of those guesses. I honestly have no idea and as we missed all but 3 of their songs, if they introduced themselves when they first came on stage we did not hear it. More’s the pity as they were fairly good. They sounded like they’d grown up on 1990’s American indie rock like Nirvana and Pavement and would be right at home on the typical American indie rock station. It felt very familiar to me but nonetheless sounded quite good and they certainly looked the part. I was surprised because I’d expected the first band on in a venue like that to be shambolic. At least that’s what past experience of these sorts of shows has comprised. Unfortunately we didn’t get asked to join their mailing list and while we did see a list of band names on the way out I was very tired and it just did not register so I guess I’ll never know – unless someone reading this can tell me.

Next up were Nephew with their new bassist. I keep forgetting between shows how epic and dynamic they sound. For some reason I keep expecting much more quiet bits but last night I got more loud bits. It was absolutely soaring. Although the vocals were a bit drowned out in the mix, the violin and mandolin sounded beautiful and the riffs kept coming, much like target practise, hitting square in the chest and causing gasps of delight. The first time we saw them I thought they sounded a bit like The Unbelievable Truth. The second time they made me think of Elbow. Last night, although I can still hear bits of both those bands in their melodies and delivery, they struck me as pretty much unique, all full of forceful, fluid melody and sincerity which could fill a stadium given the chance, although I do prefer the more intimate setting myself. When the media finally catches onto this band I’m sure they’ll be massive.

Third on the bill were the rather oddly named Being 747. They set up their instruments wearing overcoats and ties, looking like they’d come from work at the bank. Just before starting to play they traded the overcoats for white lab coats and lab safety goggles. We’re still not sure why, but it made us think of Clinic and was mildly amusing. It might have slightly detracted from the fact that they write some pretty good songs. There was one about ordering prescriptions on the NHS and one about monkeys and evolution, maybe that’s what the science lab gear was about, I don’t know, but they seemed to be fairly straightfoward punchy Britpop. They seem to have been around a while and were talking about their new album so I suspect the next stop is a closer look at their website to see what the deal is, and to maybe hear some more songs. Unfortunately, last night, the drummer, Paul, was quite visibly feeling very unwell and they had to cut their set short. I’m sure we’ll catch them around again though for a proper set.

The final band looked like a bunch of schoolkids fronted by a twenty-something hippy. I thought they introduced themselves as The Nigellas but it was something different but similar sounding. Again, I can’t quite remember. We only lasted 2 songs and a half though. The vocals were abysmal and it really seemed a mishmash of too many things. They went from sounding like Editors/Bloc Party to sounding like Ash to sounding like a lot of shouting. Honestly, I don’t really care what they were called based on what we saw. I did feel bad because everyone left after Being 747, and I suspect the promoter knew this would happen and put them on at the end, but as with all new bands I guess it’s a part of paying their dues and hopefully their catalogue and their performances will improve over time. The Ledge did reckon their drummer was very very good.

On the whole I was pretty impressed with the range of bands, especially as I was not expecting much, which only leads to my growing belief that we should spend a lot more time at these small, local gigs because we’ll probably discover some really great stuff.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 25th, 2006 at 3:29 pm by JustHipper and is filed under Gig Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.