THE FRONT ROW

Just like the ‘Glorious 12th’ is a landmark for those ‘huntin’ and fishin’ types, so the first Bank Holiday of May is a significant date in the gig-goers calendar. For many it represents the start of the Festival Season, and for some that means a trip to Liverpool for Sound City.

Sound City has undergone a few changes in recent years. The closure of larger venues like Grand Central Hall and the Arts Club have meant that the majority of the event is now held in Liverpool University Guild of Students building. It was an ideal setting for the Saturday and Sunday having a small outdoor stage, an emerging talent stage, and the large main hall with ample room for headliners Reytons and Maisie Peters. However, as a nod to the good-old days, New Music Friday followed the old multi-venue format, allowing punters free-rein to roam the pubs and clubs around Liverpool’s live music quarter in-and-around Bold Street.

After collecting my wristband from Phase One I walked the short distance to Zanzibar to see the first artist of the weekend proper – Kaiden Nolan. Nolan used to be the main force behind Manchester indie outfit Scuttlers. Considering he was the opening act of a big weekend, and was on at the odd time of 5.20, there was a decent sized crowd to witness Nolan’s energetic performance.

With his black tracksuit, cropped hair, and highly danceable indie rock/pop tunes Nolan distils the essence of artists like Miles Kane. Highlights of his all too brief set were his latest single There Are No Futures Here and Move, a funky little tune that Nolan has described as an amalgamation of ‘Foals and The XX, with 80’s disco’.

As I headed up Seel Street to the atmospheric environs of Liverpool’s ‘Bombed-out Church’ and the cellar venue at Jimmy’s, it was turning out to be an evening of reinventions. Pet Snake is the new project of Evelyn Halls, also of this parish, and previously known for her work in Clean Cut Kid.

Pet Snakes’ sound drifts between dreamy indie-folk and country-rock, ideal vehicles for Halls’ vulnerable lyricism. Halls has a wonderful, yearning vocal style that fits perfectly with her songs about ‘finding light whilst living with depression’ – Lotus – and ‘finding strength through heartbreak’ – Jacket.

There is a serious amount of talent coming out of Wigan at the moment. Top of the pile you’ve got The Lathums. Coming up behind you have Flechettes and The Facades, and the reason for me staying in Jimmy’s – Stanleys. If you enjoy your guitar bands at the janglier end of the spectrum then Stanleys are the band for you. The rhythm comes courtesy of Rob Hilton (drums) and Harry Ivory (bass), but the sparkling, swirling, jangling guitar riffs, with obvious trigger points from The Smiths, The La’s, and The Stone Roses are provided by Jake Dorsman.

Vocals to songs like Look Back, What’s Been and Gone, and A Better Life come from Tom Concannon. On the night Concannon’s timbre and vocal delivery put me in mind of Julian Cope in his more subdued moments, passionate but not fervent. He had a relaxed stage manner, completely at home pacing the stage, occasionally leaning on his mic-stand, singing not at the crowd, but with it in an almost fraternal way.

Judging by the number of Saltire flags in the Jimmy‘s crowd it would be fair to say that quite a few fans had travelled south for the performance of Edinburgh trio Retro Video Club. The band have an unusual set-up – twin guitars weft and weave over a hardworking drummer. Guitarist/singer Liam Allison makes no attempt to hide his Caledonian roots with his resonant and honeyed vocals.

The band like snappy titles to match their equally snappy tunes. Songs like Psycho, Disaster, Dangerous, and Chemistry are vibrant, classic 3 minute indie rock bangers in the manner of The Vaccines and Spector. Final song Boys Like Me with its clipped guitar riff intro, building drums, easy to join in chorus, and clap along drop, ticked all the boxes to be classed as anthemic, and was a fitting end to a memorable set.

Time to move on to another venue.

Step 1. Head to subterranean EBGBS with its hidden steps and low, arched walls just waiting to injure the unwary punter. Step 2. Get yourself a big metaphorical margarita jug and mix in equal parts Bikini Kill, Rage Against the Machine, L7, and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Shake very vigorously and jump around for 30 minutes. That’s the recipe for a Shelf Lives set. It’s a vibrant, enticing cocktail of punk, hip-hop and electro sounds.

Jonny provides loops, beats, rhythms and abrasive guitars. Sabrina is responsible for angst ridden vocals, effervescent energy and stares. She has an unerring ability to encompass an entire crowd in her 1000 yard stare, while simultaneously seeming to bore into your individual head. Perhaps that’s why she wears sunglasses indoors – a safety feature. Their set was a sensory bombardment that started with She Gon’ Kill Ya and Shock Horror, continued with the eponymous Shelf Life and concluded with Skirts and Salads.

The Kazimier Stockroom looks like the type of space where a couple have had a disagreement over it’s decoration and function. One partner wanted a fairy-light strewn gazebo, the other wanted a sensory deprivation chamber. However, If you wanted to end an evening on a high then it was the place to be. Trampolene main man Jack Jones has the soul of Dylan Thomas and the mouth of John Cooper Clarke. His wistful, witty lyrics give a poetry to the mundane and a beauty to the commonplace. His interaction with the crowd in the Kazimier Stockroom made everyone feel included, and he seemed to spend as much time dancing and hugging the crowd as he did on stage.

The band opened their set with Sort Me Out and Shoot The Lights. Trampolenes’ sound is polished Garage-indie a-la The Libertines. Jones with languid style, mop-top, and Fila Borg tracky-top embodies the indie element, while Wayne Thomas with his Brian Jones hair-cut and low slung bass wouldn’t look, or sound out of place in the Stooges or Ramones. Outwardly Jones is a storyteller. His songs are stories, and in-between songs he tells tales about those songs. ‘I’m a big fan of The Beatles. So I had this idea. I’d incorporate the titles of three of their biggest songs into one of mine, and it couldn’t fail to be a hit. I was wrong’ said Jones before playing Imagine Something Yesterday.

Most poignant point of the night came when the band played Beautiful Pain and dedicated the song to the much missed Scouse doyen of new music Janice Long. As the rest of the band left the stage, Jones once more stepped into the crowd, he shepherded in his flock, and finished the evening with a recital of his Pound Land poem. An ideal ending for those of us who were about to leave Sound City and face the beautiful squalor of the fag end of the ‘Stag and Hen Do’s’ around Concert Square on their way home.

Ian Dunphy.