Johnny Foreigner make me smile. As they swagger around the stage, there’s a sense of belonging and ownership of this Drummonds stage. Guitarist/vocalist Alexei doesn’t need plectrums, his fingers bouncing frenetically up and down the fret board, before melodic bursts of distorted hooks ruggedly grab and violate you. Yes, I feel violated by this band. Drummer Junior is a machine, switching to keyboard time to time before solid beats with regular burst of raw energy start the ringing in yr ears for the rest of the night. And this bassist is amazing, not only to look at (hey, that’s not debasing her, all of this band are very, very good looking), but she carries herself with charm and charisma. Not only pretty damn good at hitting the low notes, she shares vocal duties with Alexei, both harmonising with him, and screaming bloody murder when she wants to. The songs they play are pretty exceptional. Yes, ‘Wide Terrified’ is an example of this, a catchy pop song which sounds how the X-Certs should. In fact, this is how all music should sound. Fantastic stuff.
¡Forward, Russia!, pretentious name and song titles aside, are usually a very enjoyable listening experience. I’ve seen them before, and they got everyone dancing. Even the sound guy. Give Me A Wall was one of the better albums of 2006. So tonight, excuse me for being a little under whelmed. While Tom shrieks and wanders into the crowd, a mad scientist with a doctorate in …whatever genre you want to pigeonhole this band into, the band in general lack something tonight. An enthusiastic audience? Possibly, the crowd tonight are a pretty lazy bunch – dancing is either missing or reluctant for most of the audience. So that’s perhaps a factor. No, there’s something wrong, I can’t quite figure it out. A piece of ¡F,R!’s energetic jigsaw is missing. Maybe it’s the sound engineering, but Johnny Foreigner sounded fine. Or, it’s the songs. ‘Don’t Be A Doctor’ is epic, and angular, but it seems like the band have lost their fun side. The “hits” like ‘Twelve’ sound fairly disjointed and sloppy. Don’t get me wrong, I like this band, but something’s missing tonight, and all in all the performance is a little disappointing.
I won’t be a doctor, since I can’t make a clear diagnosis on this performance. I feel like House, only, an hour’s gone, and I haven’t solved the problem yet. It’ll take a while for me to find the root of why I’m disappointed by this band, even though I’ve located the symptoms. Until then, I’ll listen to Johnny Foreigner, and wonder why I hadn’t before.
//Euan Davidson