....a midweek review!
Sooo, in my display of "Support your NWB's on your nights off" I pootled along to the Talbot in Burnley on Friday night to see The Vibe, who I hadn't heard of but who are graced with the Stig of this here parish on bass. I knew they were Burnley based and that they did a fairly mixed set but I had it in my head they were all old gimmers for some reason and probably shouldn't have told them this on meeting them as I'm fairly sure it's not a standard form of greeting but Rain Man has nothing on me when it comes to committing social faux pa's.
Anyway, old geezers they are not, nor are they your average rock band. In fact I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of them or that their reputation hadn't somehow preceded them as they were simply awesome (I hate that word even more than the word "whatever" but it's just so, like, appropriate, innit).
Their set comprises a mix of classic rock and modern indie/punk/post punk rock. In fact just about every genre of rock. At first I was worried that they may be mixing too many genres but my concern was wholly misplaced. Every song carried their own stamp and that stamp weaved it's way throughout their sets in such a way as to make everything both cohesive but original enough to be satisfying, yet not so out there as to offend any purists in the audience.
In fact they succeeded in being that most rare of breeds - all things to all people, but never at the expense of originality, energy and personality. They even threw in a handful of entirely unrehearsed songs at the end of the night as they were asked by the Landlady to carry on playing until 12.30 to satisfy the crowd's demands (a crowd that grew steadily, and stayed, as the night went on)....every new bands' nightmare when you've only really built up enough material for 2 standard sets plus encores. But in true professional "lets put on a show" style their added songs were indistinguishable from the rehearsed stuff proving that you're in the presence of true talent when the end result is even greater than the sum of its parts.
Good humour was in abundance. The band interacts well, but not cloyingly, with the audience, the skills present in the *cough* younger members of the band were confidence inspiring. They play with a charisma and self assuredness that leaves you never doubting their ability but doesn't come close to bordering on arrogance. I was in awe of the drummer and, at the risk of sounding horrifically up myself, it doesn't happen much when I'm watching pub bands in my vicinity. The singist was sporting a very creative line of body art made from gloss (could have been emulsion though for anyone wanting to try it at home) paint and was very handy on guitar. Lead guitarist looks barely able to sprout facial hair but some of his lead breaks and the ease with which he delivers them would make far more egotistical guitarists green with envy. And Stig on bass was a revelation. He told me he'd only done about 3 or 4 gigs with them but you wouldn't have known. The driving bass lines were completely in the pocket and performed in just enough of an animated way as to be appealing to the eye but retaining the right amount of "I'm the bassist it's my job to stand at the back and be cool" factor.
Criticisms? Yes, of course, no one is perfect. The lighting could have been placed better - it was shining almost exclusively on the backline which kind of put the singist and lead guitarist in the shadows somewhat (which might have been their plan as they were unaware until the last minute that they were being recorded). I didn't think "Tie Your Mother Down" worked simply because I suspect it was in the wrong key for the singer's voice. And one of two of the "busy" drum bits in some of the "classics" felt a but misplaced but I'm probably just being a jealous old harridan. But that's about all I can think of on the negatives, other than the fact they're not gigging on every one of my nights off.
Venues, book them, everyone else....support them. They're not gimmers, and they're GOOD!
Videos to follow soon....