THE FRONT ROW

I only got to taste the bread in the three show Birkenhead Live sandwich. I saw Skinny Living headline a few weeks ago, missed out on the meaty filling that was The Royston Club and Rianne Downey, but this last show of the project did more than enough to surfeit my musical appetite.

Opening artists of the day were Liverpool three piece Dovegate. The band take their name from a prison in Staffordshire (but aren’t exactly sure why?). Their style appeared to morph from song to song. Contagious Lies had the jaunty swagger of The Coral. Time We Lost had a simple melodic naivety to it reminiscent of BMX Bandits. Their most overtly political tune Brand New Day had the angsty energy of The Jam – they were even lined up on stage in the correct order – Weller, Buckler, Foxton. They finished a set that kept you on your toes with their only single release to date If We Run Out Of Love.

With Harriet Rose and The Harriet Rose Band there were no-more shifting sands of styles. With a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, melodic songs with catchy hooks, and soaring vocals we were firmly in indie/country/Americana territory. Harriet opened her set with the upbeat Disco which was followed by The Table a song whose feisty lyrics were delivered with just a hint of vitriol. She put the band through their paces with a song called Empire, which sounded like a Johnny Cash tune played at escape velocity, before concluding with Good Time Honey.

I’ve known about Liverpool five-piece Columbia for a while but never seen them live. They’ve stated that they are ‘obsessed with being a proper old-school Rock ‘n’ Roll band’. Well, they’re heading in the right direction. Oasis are obviously an influence – there’s a clue in the band’s name. There’s an element of ‘stand-up straight and get the job done’ Bonehead and Guigsyness from most of the band, but lead singer Alex Sheppo is a different animal. He’s a bit feral – in a good way. During one of the early songs Living’ A Lie – a song that sound like an Undertones/Oasis mash-up – he insisted that those in the venue’s palleted seating area flap their arms up and down. They duly obliged.

Between new single Memory Lane and The Potion Sheppo spotted someone trying unsuccessfully to blag their way in, ‘Oh, security. Let go of him. He’s with me. Let him in.’ Once the offender was let in, Sheppo added with a smile and twinkle in his eye ‘Look at that bouncer. He hates me now’. I really enjoyed Columbia’s set, as well as having some ‘proper rock ‘n’ roll’ tunes, it had just they right amount of chaos. Their set ended with the song that first brought them to my attention when it was included on the excellent Brits &Pieces compilation CD – This Life.

There’s something infectious about the music of Nottingham’s The Chase. It’s a showy, catchy, indie mix of ska, punk, glam – flecked through with a mischievous music-hall undercurrent. Singer Tyler Heaney enters the stage wearing trademark leopard skin jacket and the set started with You’re The Encore No One Asked For. Trumpet was a ska tinged fiesta that had the crowd two-stepping or bouncing (depending on individual ability).

Live To Die marked a change in style, no less rumbustious, but more straight-up indie banger – (it actually reminded me of Red Rum Club’s Honey). There was a vigorous nod to the band influences as they effortlessly covered Ghostown. Bonzo Bonanza was a spookily theatrical tune with circus overtones. Following on from I’m The Man, a tune Heaney knowingly dedicated to himself, the set ended in a ‘chukka-chukking’, ska-fuelled frenzy with La La La.

Another local(ish) band on the bill were Liverpool quartet The Kairos. They have a distinctive sound that melds the gnarlyness of garage-rock, the intensity of alt-rock, the energy of punk, and sprinkles it with melodic particles of bands like The La’s and Cast. Their songs are powerful, rowdy and brooding. Vocalist/guitarist Tom Dempsey sings from the depth of his boots and lead guitarist Lewis Chambers does a great line in frenzied solos and anthemic riffs.

Their set began in booming fashion with The Thick of It and continued with the title track from their recent EP Better Late Than Never. The pace of their brief set was relentless as they powered through POP, Lazy Lethargic, and Time Keeper. There was a slight change of direction with new song Suspend where The Kairos seemed to have discovered their funky side and bass player Owen Forrester got to flex his fingers. The set concluded in the same boisterous manner as it started with the wailing Teetotal.

I first saw Andrew Cushin some years ago at The Brudenell in Leeds. At the time he was as an acoustic guitar wielding solo artist. Immediately you could tell he was going places. Since then he’s got a band, gone electric, rubbed shoulders with Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher, and just completed a tour of the US supporting Louis Tomlinson. Tonight he was playing the yard in Future Yard, Birkenhead.

He opened with the stomping You Don’t Belong and the theatrical Catch Me If You Can. There’s a change of pace with Dream for a Moment before we’re in ‘la, la, la, la, la, la, la’ terrace sing-a-long anthem territory with Wor Flags. Cushin does anthemic well. But he’s not a one trick pony. His passionately delivered, deeply personal songs like Waiting For The Rain and Where’s My Family Gone, in the right setting will moisten a glass eye. Cushin’s debut album is due for release in September and Sam Fender must surely be looking over his shoulder as his title of Geordie Music Top-Boy is at serious risk.

As the evenings headliners took to the stage to the Theme from Grandstand a little drizzle was falling from the darkening Birkenhead skies. However, if there is one band who can lyrically, musically, and metaphorically bring out the sunshine then it’s The Lottery Winners. Their brand of Poptomistic indie guitar music is bright, shiny, uplifting and all-inclusive. After a brief hiatus due to drum-kit issues (filled by singer Thom Rylance telling the crowd about his new pants) The Fab-Four from Leigh kicked-off their set with Worry, the opening song from their recent number one album Anxiety Replacement Therapy.

Before bass player Katie Lloyd takes over vocal duties on Sunshine Rylance highlights an Andrew Cushin faux-pas where he incorrectly referred to Birkenhead as Liverpool. ‘Who’s a famous band from Birkenhead then? he enquires of the the crowd and receives a flurry of answers before picking-up on The Coral. ‘Do we know any Coral songs?’ he quizzes his bandmates before they launch into a well rehearsed, and well joined-in with version of Dreaming of You. He probably didn’t trust the crowd to know all the words to Knobheads on Quiz Shows by Half Man Half Biscuit.

The Lottery Winners love a good collaboration, there are a couple on their number-one album, Money (Shaun Ryder), and Let Me Down (Boy George). Only the latter gets an airing on the night but with Boy George being absent his vocals are taken over by guitarist ‘Man Rob’ Lally. Following the advice laden Letter to Myself comes another big sing-a-long moment with Much Better. The bounding Sertraline get’s the crowd bouncing and looks certain to become a set staple.

The finale of the set consisted of a brief cover of Caravan of Love, and a version of 21 for which the band were joined on stage by Skelmersdale singer-songwriter Jamie Wooding. 21 is a baggy-beated testament to youth. However, on the evening it became a testament to hard work and endeavour, with the words of the chorus changing to ‘This is how it feels to be…number one!’.

Ian Dunphy