Ben Childs / Mike Scott: Purple Turtle
Posted by jamie on Jun 30, 2010
Ben Childs / Mike Scott
Purple Turtle, Camden, London
27th June 2010
Jamie
There was something ever so slightly apologetic in the way that Ben Childs explained to me that his new CD, a split EP with Mike Scott, wasn’t being given away for free. It’s a bit of a blur, thinking back through a few ciders to a rushed conversation in the fuzzy, warm half darkness of Camden’s Purple Turtle, and, as I do so, it’s tough to think back beyond the overpowering feeling of elation from the show itself, but I’m sure that he actually looked me in the eye and said “I’m sorry” not once, but twice.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ben a few times, and, though self assured enough in person, and, of course, with a back catalogue stunning records and live shows under his belt, it’s somewhat disarming that he could come across in this way. He could, after all, be forgiven a degree of swaggering rock star arrogance: quite the opposite, in fact, in keeping with the atmosphere throughout the show, he’s refreshingly down to earth and up front.
The Purple Turtle have become a lot more chilled out, we’re told, since a recent change of ownership, and, what with the sudden local heatwave and the debatable disappointment of England’s humiliation at the hands of Germany of all teams, this afternoon, there’s only a few people scattered around the venue when we arrive.
A pleasant social stroll through tropical Camden town, and an urgent quest for food later, we arrive to see the second act, another male solo acoustic artist whose name I missed, finish his last song, take the plaudits and then leave.
Surprisingly it’s Ben who takes the stage next, as he and Mike have chosen, for the first time, we understand, to chop and change and to share the headline spot between them, taking two songs each. Ben’s first is a gutsy rendition of Sonic Boom Six’s the Reckoning and then his song about Barney that isn’t Honesty. I forget what it’s called. It’s a really strong performance – his ability as a singer and guitarist have ever been in doubt, and the songs, of course, are excellent, and ably embellished by Luke Yates on violin. There’s an urgency about Ben, in particular, on stage, and, early on in particular, the performance is pretty emotional. His whole family have come to see him, it emerges, and Sister, the first of three tracks from the acoustic Babyboom EP, is dedicated to his sister in particular. There’s one later for his Mum, too.
As Ben performs, Mike sits hunched, stage left, on a step. For the geeks, Mike takes stage left, with his own mic stand, and Ben the middle and Luke on the right. After the Reckoning and the song that wasn’t Honesty (that’s really going to bug me), he rises slowly to his feet and greets us with a crisp, dry wit and a little introduction before opening with All I’ve Done Since I was 21 and a couple of little jibes at Luke. Something, I think, about him looking like someone out of FalloutBoy, or something. There follows a moment that jars us all in to a painful consciouness for a second, as Mike explains the meaning behind his second song – his second song – about a friend who would have been here tonight had he not been murdered by a bunch of pikeys on Halloween. In the stuffy, musty gloom it’s a sombre moment.
The show gathers pace, Ben returns for Get the Devil Off My Back and the aforementioned Sister, continuing the two-songs-each routine that is slightly odd but works well, allowing space for a bit of banter and helping the evening to ebb and flow a but more than perhaps it would have done otherwise. Of the two performers, Mike is noticeably more comfortable in stopping to chat to us and link between his tracks, and tells jokes and stories, mainly about Luke. In an inevitable nod to the World Cup he rubs it in that Luke is half Italian and half English and has therefore seen his two teams eliminated inside a week. Much funnier is the one liner that follows: that Luke is the world’s only ginger Italian. Oh well. He also uses that dark, dry, sardonic delivery to really labour the punchline in his introduction to That Bitch Took A Random Guy on Holiday to the Czech Republic Without Me Knowing, the song about his ex wife that does exactly what it says on the tin, and that’s the joke of it. It’s perfect for him, as is a wry observation about the increasing presence of larger bottles of beer in mainstream shops and mainstream drinking culture. It’s dark stuff, but he’s astute and the observations, in his speech and in his songs, are true and relevant and he forges a strong connection with his audience, holding us in a hushed silence before shocking us in to cackling darkly. He’s a great foil for Ben, and in many ways the opposite of him.
Settling down, Ben plays Folk Like Us with The Day that Gerry Died and the more recent Florida Song, impassioned throughout, and using this to underpin a powerful set. Next to Mike, he might not have the off the cuff patter or the practised ease of someone who has fronted bands for a long time: Laila and Barney do almost all the SB6’s stage banter, and it’s meticulously planned so that all the other bands are thanked, tours and releases are plugged and the set as a whole gets its beginning, middle, climax and end. This isn’t like that, but that’s by no means a problem, as the immediacy in Ben’s voice and manner, and the energy that grows in to his performance nevertheless give him a commanding stage presence. They’re very different as performers, but the quality that’s on show from both of them is exceptional.
It’s left to Ben to wrap up – he plays an old Richard Thompson song and then a Gaslight Anthem one, Asher Baker climbing on stage to sing a verse of The 59 Sound, and then another old one Not Yet. Ben’s best mate and best man, whose name is Ollie and who correctly guesses that noone will recognise him, also gets up to play one song with an American girl in a polka-dot dress before Ben finishes off the night.
CD will be reviewed quicksharp. We’re hoping to add photos of the gig too, but waiting on permission. Thanks.
Mash Attack: the Dublin Castle
Posted by jamie on Jun 23, 2010
Popes of Chillitown
Justice Force Five
Mash Attack
The Second Line
The Dublin Castle, London
19th June, 2010
The first that Bananatown heard of Mash Attack was a polite yet excited email via our contact page. I’d written up the Kids Can’t Fly EP Strength in Numbers, and, also based in Southampton and playing a similarly energetic take on the ska-punk thing, the guys thought we might want to come and watch them. They were right: instantly, we were desperate to see them play. Sadly, though, their show, headlined by [spunge], was right in the middle of my holiday.
When, at long last, the guys arrived in London, then, we were so set. Tip-toeing through train-loads of Wembley-bound Green Day fans, I was still sure we’d picked the right show. It was a big call, though, and the last wander through a balmy North London summer evening towards the Dublin Castle was made with just a hint of trepidation. This had better be good. Bug Bear hold their gigs in the back room, so the first step inside was like a lot of pubs right now: not a spare seat in the room, but eerily silent and with all eyes on the screens showing Denmark’s 2-1 victory over Cameroon.
It must have been a relatively last-minute thing, but one other band had been added to the bill. I owe them an apology, but, not having known, we missed their set and I didn’t even catch their name. In the darkness, a muscleman in a checked shirt and see-through earplugs (I know) pointed to the wall and signed that we were about to watch The Second Line. In a lot of circumstances, this lot wouldn’t really be my thing: they play a nice enough branch of the sort of indie that seems to be everywhere right now, but hold the attention of a still sparse early crowd by performing with palpable sincerity: they’re clearly very good musicians, and, though clearly a little bit shy, they deliver a good set of songs well, picking out some stunning harmonies along the way. It’s never actually mushy, but they play at quite a sedate pace. That they remain so earnest throughout is what really holds the attention here, and they’re very engaging to watch.
On the hunt for more cider, I opted not to disturb a bartender deeply engrossed in a book, her bright red hair covering her face as she pored over a paperback on the bartop. Easier to go to the main bar – and, of course, you get to check the score. 2-1 still.
Lining up confidently across the stage, Mash Attack are a different proposition, and, though they haven’t played in Camden since that giant fire a few years ago, are obviously happy to make themselves at home. It’s amusing when, telling that story about the fire, Simon on bass shouts out “it was me!” that started the fire. He’s quickly hushed up, but there are more amusing stories: for some reason I’m sure they said something about badgers masturbating, but I couldn’t say why. I wouldn’t make that up, though. Presumably it’s because one song is about fox hunting. As it’s against hunting, it gets a massive cheer.
Mash Attack are excellent, and sound huge for a fourpiece. It’s a short set, they’re third on the bill, but it’s packed with hooks and their songs run off in unexpected directions in a way I’ve not seen since we first discovered the Scrub. It’s very exciting, and quickly gathers a small knot of skankers that grows and grows over the course of a frenetic set. There are some huge basslines in there and they’re not shy of rocking out either. It all holds together very well: they’re proficient and confident performers and happily sprint through a spiky set of punk/ska songs that I’m all set to fall in love with. Kept out of the skank pit by a leg injury, I was at the front of the queue for the band’s new EP Learn and Evolve. It will, of course, be reviewed here soon.
What happens next is a complete surprise, and one of those lucky moments that helps you to realise all over again just how much you actually do love music. We had unwittingly seen The Justice Force Five’s Captain Courageous out to set up his band’s kit in a way that I’m used to seeing Barney Boom out doing stuff with wires and mics and that. At that stage we were all pretty confused that he had a red mask painted on to his face. Later, though, it all became so very clear, as did the fact that I’d spotted what I thought was Skeletor next to me at the urinal.
As the rush through a crowded dancefloor and bound on to the stage, it all fits in to place. If you’ve never seen them before, and I hadn’t, you absolutely must. I beg you. The Justice Force Five call themselves “your friendly local superhero rock band” – and, if you can picture that, do exactly what it says on the tin. I won’t spoil the story, but all of the superhero stuff is there: the spandex, the capes and the complete backstory. There’s even a duet with their arch-nemesis (the Skeletor guy) in which he ends up dying, his face covered in blood, in glorious rock-opera fashion. This shouldn’t work, but it does, and it leaves you gasping. For this to work, let’s face it, they had to pull it off completely, but they do that with aplomb and it’s simply fantastic, they completely steal the show for that short time. Musically they’re excellent, a sort of epic rock thing with a keyboard player (the timetravelling scientist Doctor Amazing) and two guitars. They also have a sixth member, a man/cow hybrid called General Bovine, who, it turns out, is lactose intolerant. Hilarious.
In their own words, once again, the Justice Force Five “kick ass like Van Damme and rock like Van Halen”. That sums it up pretty well: this could easily have gone wrong and come across as vaguely kitsch, but they pull the stunt off incredibly well, and really are superheroes for forty five minutes. And they’re a very great band, as well. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t watch six guys in spandex rock out badly. It’s brilliant, incredibly good rock theatre, and executed perfectly. The whole performance races past a room drunk on adrenaline. Some, of course, were prepared for what they were about to witness, but are as carried away with it as the rest of us innocent bystanders. It’s simply an incredible show.
The Popes of Chillitown take the stage in an effort to restore some sort of normality to proceedings, and cope admirably with the nightmare task of headlining after the JF5. It’s their crowd, and, if possible, it’s even more packed now, shoulder to shoulder throughout so that anyone after the bar or toilets has to climb along the benches at the back. The band step on to the stage, the only empty floor in the room, and set about turning the whole place in to a frenetic, bobbing, squashed up, skanking heap of bodies. This is a first for me, but they’ve brought a big crowd and get a rapturous response. One downside is a technical hitch of some kind that prevents them from premiering their new music video during the set, but they play the song anyway, and it’s well received. Another new song, the amusingly named Tooting Ska Moon that does sound Egyptian and is about the moon when seen from Tooting, apparently, is also an instant hit. Exhausted, any number of cheeky wisecracks from the Popes of Chillitown all managed to escape me. Quite how they managed to squeeze in any chat at all is remarkable, as the night, as I remember it, was a non-stop dash through choppy, feet-skanking, dancefloor-mashing ska style hits. This lot are a six-piece, with two guitars and a sax player, whose parts are enjoyable and a welcome addition to an already impressive set of songs and a thoroughly enjoyable show. This was a totally blind date for us with these guys – we actually knew nothing abut them, but our whole crew are completely converted. There are two encores, and in them the Popes of Chillitown finish off first with a cover of the Selecter’s On My Radio and then finally with the Outhere Brothers’ Boom Boom Boom. Wonderfully surreal, but performed well and lapped up by a delirious pit, it’s a perfect end to an excellent night out. Delighted, we eventually leave after being forcibly hugged by a man who smelled of farts. That aside, though, it’s been a treat from start to finish, one of those dream shows that make you want to write something cheesy like “a good time was had by all”. Change that to great and you’ve pretty much nailed it.
Less Than Jake: UK tour
Posted by jamie on Jun 10, 2010
This is surely the best news since, well, since the last Less Than Jake UK tour.
European and UK tour announced
Full dates (including Europe) here | Tickets available here | Support is from Zebrahead
4-Nov-10 UK OXFORD O2 ACADEMY
5-Nov-10 UK NORWICH UEA
6-Nov-10 UK BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY
7-Nov-10 UK LEEDS O2 ACADEMY
8-Nov-10 UK LONDON HMV FORUM
9-Nov-10 UK CARDIFF MILLENIUM MUSIC HALL
10-Nov-10 UK BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY
12-Nov-10 UK PORTSMOUTH PYRAMIDS
13-Nov-10 UK NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY
14-Nov-10 UK PETERBOROUGH THE CRESSET
16-Nov-10 UK MANCHESTER ACADEMY
17-Nov-10 UK NEWCASTLE O2 ACADEMY
18-Nov-10 UK EDINBURGH PICTURE HOUSE
Just. Can’t. Wait.
Ben Childs / Mike Scott: UK tour
Posted by chips on Jun 4, 2010
The heroic Ben Childs is off on tour with serial touring-man Mike Scott. Again, dates all on the facebook thing.
Hostiles: UK tour
Posted by chips on Jun 4, 2010
The Hostiles will be on tour during the World Cup. Full dates on the facebook event here, but it DOES come to the south of England, in case, like us, you’ve been pining for this day. Joy to the world, etc, etc..
Slam Dunk: thank you and sorry
Posted by chips on Jun 4, 2010
Slam Dunk have issued this statement of apology for the overcrowding and access issues at last weekend’s festival in Hatfield.
