M3L, Truebeat, Popes: Gravesend, 20th May
Posted by jamie on May 18, 2011
Good-time Gravesend ska-punkers My Third Leg have joined Truebeat and the Popes of Chillitown on the Krakatoa show at Gravesend’s Red Lion on Friday.
See it on facebook here.
True Beat, Popes, My Third Leg, Chapter 11: Nambucca
Posted by jamie on Apr 27, 2011
True Beat, Popes of Chillitown, My Third Leg, Chapter Eleven
Nambucca, Holloway Road (London)
16th April, 2011
Jamie
First things first, lest I forget later on: thank you to I Heart Promotions for the pictures tonight, and apologies to Love Spuds for not having hung around to see them.
Nambucca is a sleek looking indie bar in an otherwise unremarkable stretch of Holloway Road in North London. Despite having street-mapped it, the nondescript nature of this part of road meant that before I’d walked anywhere near far enough down a straight road I was already starting to question my map reading skills. Thankfully I used to win awards in the Scouts, and my belly found its own gravitational pull to a little cafe where openers Chapter Eleven were grabbing last minute burgers and hips. They looked really good, actually.
Once at the door, there’s a bit of confusion as to when the gig starts. Chapter Eleven were getting antsy before the show as they’d been telling all their friends that doors were at 8pm, only to arrive and find out they were playing at 8. Cue a flurry of text messages and a minor panic. As soon as we all got inside, it turned out that they were in fact due to play at 8.30 after all. There was no float to take admission costs, so it’s a good job nobody missed the start waiting for their stamp, and that all those folk arrived for doors after 8pm.
Whether it was the confusion or the change in stage time that was caused by the promoter apparently being upstairs watching the highlights of Manchester City getting lucky in the FA Cup semi-final we’ll probably never know, but it all turned out to the good: almost everybody arrived on time, and, at exactly 8.30 in the evening, we were welcomed to “the biggest show Chapter Eleven had ever played”. Yup, all twenty of us.
As a relatively late addition to the bill, it’s unsurprising that the place is just starting to fill up as the first band start their set. Slightly more surprising is the repeated use of a venue’s smoke machine during a candid and strikingly sincere acoustic set. It’s probably a bit out of place, but it did give Hassan something to chatter about. Just in case there was any need. It’s a short opening set of just seven songs, but what for those few minutes it’s a wonderfully moving set of beautifully crafted acoustic folk/reggae songs that win the growing crowd over with their perfectly arranged twin vocals, thought-provoking lyrics and the heartfelt sincerity of their performance. This is one of their very first live performances, but in the main it’s an assured, confident performance interrupted only by indecision over the setlist and Hassan’s intermittent arguments with the fog machine. One short song is a rare moment of comedy in a setlist that’s otherwise more focused on social commentary and cathartic release of frustration for its songwriters, but it’s all enjoyable nonetheless, and those of us early enough to join the double horseshoe of hushed folk around the front have been treated to something of rare beauty.
The mood changes dramatically when, after a brief pause, My Third Leg take the stage. They’re a fun bunch of lads and are understandably in good spirits after playing a barnstorming set in support of evergreen scene-stalwarts [spunge] just down the road during the week. Before they put the room through its paces, their drummer Paul had to come and apologise to me: “we wanted to give you a CD to review, but we’ve sold out completely. Twice. We pressed a load of extras for the [spunge] show but that was an amazing show so we got rid of all of them as well”. So I don’t know how good the CD is, but, perhaps inevitably in the circumstances, there’s an album on the way and we’ll surely get our hands on that eventually. Watch this space for that.
In the mean time, My Third Leg step up to take control of this sleepy pocket of North London and put it through its paces. They’re a four-piece, with two guitars and all bar Paul on sticks joining in on vocals to give a ballsy, bigger-than-usual take on the conventional ska-punk thing, unsurprisingly driven mainly by those dual guitars. There’s plenty of upstrokes for skanking, and plenty of legs obediently skank to them like as many yo-yos running on momentum, yet still at the whim of some sort of omnipotent master-being, in this case four lads from Gravesend.
One lad called Ben is having his birthday here and gets his share of wishes from the band during their set, which is a lively affair powered by short, spiky songs and notable for a high-speed cover of Sublime’s Date Rape.
A few minutes’ peace are spectacularly shattered when The Popes of Chillitown take the stage in a room that’s filled up as the sun started to go don outside. Instantly, they get the party started (again) : that little semicircle opens up in front of the stage between bands proves convenient, and, rather than bringing us all two steps forward a la My Third Leg, Austen just steps over the monitors and jumps right in to it on his own. During the first song. Blame Game kicks the set off with a bang, and there’s precious little time (or even room) to look back after that: pretty soon in to Dalking Man, up next, that space is gone, and, as it gets more and more hectic down here, Austen’s forced to retreat back on to the stage. Probably safer.
The Popes play the ska/punk thing with a lot more going on in it: they’re a six-piece, with Liz the only horn player here. Newcomers to the level of depth and variety in their music could perhaps be forgiven for being a little taken aback at what they’re witnessing: it’s pretty eclectic, and a little bit bonkers. At the same time, though, it’s instinctively engaging and catchy, and tonight the songs are performed so insistently that all the evidence suggests it’s impossible not to throw yourself right in. Buy One, Get One Free and Tooting-Ska-Moon, as ever, are particular highlights, but this is a live show that fits together pretty seamlessly, gliding quickly up through the gears and then racing through the songs as well. It’s bedlam by the end of it: Howl is a riot, and first one and then two Popes join us on the dancefloor for Holding Out for More and finally Badman. These guys have got the moves as well.
Our last train leaves early, so I didn’t get to watch the final act, Love Spuds. In effect, then, for a clutch of us, True Beat were acting as headliners. They’re ideal for the role, actually, as well: again they’re a four-piece with two guitars and no horns, but their sound’s a lot closer to the poppier end of two-tone than, for example, My Third Leg. True Beat have a lot of write catchy, skankable pop songs and pack them full of hooks: they know what buttons to push to make you have a good time, and they push them well and a lot.
A lot of their material tonight comes from last year’s album Back to Square One, but there’s room for a joyous romp through 54-46 and to finish with new single Shanty Town. In between they romp through their own peppy, catchy little songs with grins and an infectious kinetic energy that makes songs like I’ve Just Got Paid and Cherry Lips frankly irresistible.
If you’ve not seen these guys in concert before, it’s something of a surprise that the material from Back to Square One, for example, is performed with a rougher, punkier edge to it that makes good songs in to great fun. Maybe it’s personal taste, but I really enjoyed that and preferred it to the way they’ve recorded the same songs on what was already a very decent album.
It’s a polished, efficient set that goes down well with a delighted crowd, who, by now, are drunk on the first signs of summer as much the plastic pots of Strongbow, and True Beat are obviously having a good time as well.
That was it for me, and for a few of us who were here now, and a steady flow of folk made for the exits after Shanty Town. My apologies to Love Spuds and anyone who came here hoping to read about them: hopefully we’ll hook up another time.
Popes / Truebeat: UK tour
Posted by jamie on Apr 14, 2011
Our mates the Popes of Chillitown and True Beat are off on tour together, starting in London this Saturday (16th April). Artwork and all the dates to follow.
Have a look at this from our inbox:
Hey guys, Austen from Popes of Chillitown here!
Celebs. They’re great, aren’t they?
Here are those dates if you need to copy and paste them anywhere:
April
16 - Nambucca, London
20 - Edge of the Wedge, Portsmouth
22 - Duke of Cambridge, Hounslow
23 - Redhouse, Sheffield
24th - The Sailing Club, Llanfairfechan
May
19th - Hobgoblin, Staines
20th - Leo’s Red Lion, Gravesend
21st - Folkestone, The Chambers (Skabour Warmup)
Kippertronix
Posted by chips on Apr 26, 2010
A is for Ape, the Hostiles, Truebeat and the Steady Boys are all among the bazillions of cool bands at May Day Kippertronix fest this weekend. See the full line-up here.
True Beat: Back to Square One
Posted by jamie on Jan 10, 2010
True Beat
Back to Square One
Self-released
Jamie : 10th January 2010
It’s difficult not to like True Beat. I met Tom (guitar, vocals) on myspace a few months ago and he seems a thoroughly nice chap and there’s a lesson here, if I can find it, about writing passwords down. Obviously, though, try and keep them in a safe place or just don’t be as forgetful as me. When things go wrong I can get quite the skatty chappie. All of which means it’s something of a surprise, then, when their debut full-length Back to Square One lands on the doormat out of the blue. A thoroughly pleasant surprise all the same, mind, and in the two days it’s taken me to sit down and write about it I’ve scarcely stopped humming the infectious melodies to myself.
Back to Square One is a cheery, cheesy stomp through ten tracks of joyfully retro guitar-led ska-punk. True Beat are a four-piece band with drums, bass, two guitars and two vocals and play a peppy, upbeat variety of almost second wave ska similar to Bad Manners or the Beat, but without horns.
Someone in Big Cheese writing about DeConstruction festival aaaaages ago, that “[spunge] are the first band today not to feature horns”. True Beat don’t sound like [spunge] but the formula is similar, I guess: heavy on upstrokes and ska style basslines, and plenty of chances for anyone who fancies it to shout and chant along to well placed “oi”s and “whoah-oah”s as well.
It’s easy-going and good fun, and great for dancing to. The two vocals mix nicely together and are usually pretty upbeat too, although there’s a few choice words for the inland revenue, perverts on busses and those ads that say “have you had an accident that wasn’t your fault?”. Most of that’s pretty funny, too, and the likes of Payday, 28 Percent and My Distraction (the TV Song) will have you singing along joyfully. Their lyrics are well observed and very amusing.
And in a nutshell, that’s this album for you really. Good, old fashioned style ska played by a classic four-piece line-up. It’s cheeky and cheerful and great for singing along or shaking your booty to. It’s funny, good for a skank and giggle and is basically everything you’d want in a record. Well worth picking up.
