Black Lips impress on first night of Brighton's three day music binge
The Great Escape 2009 review
Friday 22nd May 2009
The Great Escape has made its name for showcasing new British bands and now new global talent to industry professionals and music fans alike. Alongside hundreds of gigs there are also daytime talks on many issues regarding the music industry and how its changing. Growing each year, its spread to over 30 venues with something for everyone, but mostly with guitars.
After a brief walk around Brighton, to see what's going on, the town appears to be pretty quiet on the Thursday afternoon but finding something to eat is made easy with all the chippies in town to choose from. Ending up down by the beach, the Relentless stage gets its mobile daytime gigs under way with the Panama Kings. A bit of sunshine, a beach, and some good indie-rock, what better way to start a day? Following the stage to the nexts stop, Haunts keep the indie tunes rolling along to a good beat, gathering a good crowd (with plenty of shoppers).
Friendship start the night for me with their two-piece experimental rock. Looping and layered guitar riffs, odd smatterings of vocals, they take you by surprise with slow intros building up into a distorted fusion of noise. Pulled Apart By Horses come on after with a more punky hardcore sound. Keeping to a simple song structure, the metal guitars hold the songs together with grinding riffs. Its hard to fault them just for brilliant song titles 'E=MC Hammer' and 'I punched a Lion in the throat'!
Jumping venue, I get to Digital just as Emmy the Great goes on stage. The short set has her running through her album tracks with seemingly little effort. Whether the sound wasn't quite right, or the dripping ceiling was distracting nothing quite clicked in the performance.
A little disappointed, the need for some upbeat music kickes in. Dananananaykroyd are the perfect remedy over at the Levi's Ones to Watch stage in Audio. If happy hardcore didn't describe dodgy dance music it would be great for Dan-ayk. Why have one drummer, one singer and one guitarist when you can have two of each! The shiny clean guitar sound over the ruckus of drumming and sometimes frenzied singing (shouting) make for a bizarre experience. Joint singers Calum Gunn and John Baille Junior share the drumming duties from song to song, keeping the stage-show moving. Deciding to make it as interactive as possible, guitarist Duncan Robertson get the audience strumming chords, while the bands usual diving into the crowd, hugging and singing keeps the entertaining throughout the set.
Black Lips follow up and then begins the destruction. The first stage diver manages to take out one of the monitors early on, then the barriers are the next on the list with everyone in the room pushing forwards. The raw garage rock tares Audio apart with the fans making up the rest. Admitting his love of England, guitarist Ian St. Pe. announces "I spent last night in jail. You know. The thing I love about England. You get a cell to yourself! Its great." The care-free attitude comes across in the music and seems to be their way of life – have fun and find out what happens later. Shaken, covered in beer, sweat and a little saliva it seemed like a good time to leave, thoroughly impressed with the first day of a three day music binge.
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