I suppose you never know what you’re in for when you go to a gig in a nice wee sweaty eccentric venue like Sneaky Pete’s. You might see hipsters with intriguing shoes making terrible pop-rock. Or weird rap metal delivered by the mightiest bin-men Falkirk accommodates. But even if Mystic Meg & Derren Brown had a love child endowed with the foresight of a thousand Yodas, they couldn’t have known what they were in for tonight.
First of all, it’s good fortune krauty-synth lovers DTHPDL even make it tonight, as one of their camp is so ill he gets carted off stage immediately after finishing, driven straight home, and instructed to drink hot Ribena whilst watching CBBC (they say there is no cure for the common cold, but what can’t saccharine juice & a Rastamouse sesh cure?) Anyway, ’twas a valiant effort, because they smash out a set with skyscraper synths, nebulous guitars, and a rhythm section tighter than size 10 shoes on size 11 feet. OOFT.
After that epic kraut-rock journey into the dark, sickly soul of a nearly dead & overworked semi-professional musician, things only get stranger. Hidden Charms take the stage with an intense, insular concentration. Cocooned in their perfect 1960s hair-dos, and facing away from the audience, they create a tense and creepy introduction, like Syd Barret holding a meat cleaver.
Eventually they explode into a set of ’60s inspired tracks, with punching bass, classic Hammond organ stabs, and lots of gyrating. It’s like they’ve been living in Cambridge in the 1960s all their lives, but I’m not sure that’s possible, so it’s a bit suspect. Their last song is a good outro, and darkly tropical. But more in a Ribena mixed with Sunny D kind of way, rather than a knife wielding maniac on a beach trying to make you a drugs mule kind of way. They are just too sweet and retro to make you feel like that.
YAK, on the other hand, are much more unpredictable & in your face. They have the kind of singer who would give you the warm invitation to play synthesizer on stage with the band, and then (falsely) allude to you dogging with them in the toilets too. Awkies when your GF is standing there. Anyway, I’m sure they were joking.
Although the trio may be somewhat compromised of their pre-gig duties by a day out touring the Weatherspoons of Edinburgh, allowing the roadies to heave up the widen pallet-sized FX pedal board onto the stage, whilst rolling around on the floor, it certainly doesn’t blight their musical talent.
Thunderous bass riffs like pneumatic drills collide with tight powerful drums; guitars are scraped on the scaffolding holding the ceiling together, and the stage is even abandoned at points for more noise-blues cacophony amid the audience.
It was akin to watching a film where Jackie Chan bursts out on stage by accident, shouts some random abuse, suddenly pretends to be in the band to escape Yakuza nutters, realises he is a phenomenal noise rock guitarist, goes mental, and ends up smashing a delicate analogue synth, multiple drums, & the bass guitarist’s groin in a kung-fu rock’n’roll meltdown. Very unpredictable, and very, very exciting.
- Neil Landstrumm - 16 March 2016
- Ben Klock - 28 December 2015
- Yak / Hidden Charms/ DTHPDL - 8 December 2015
“a rhythm section tighter than size 10 shoes on size 11 feet.” – recent review of my band @DTHPDL supporting YAK: https://t.co/YyVJp1U7mi
Went to a gig at prime venue, @sneakypetesclub in Edinburgh & loved it, so I made these words appear on my computer. https://t.co/NPi0evkblE
RT @davetheguide: Went to a gig at prime venue, @sneakypetesclub in Edinburgh & loved it, so I made these words appear on my computer. http…