GDFAF2: The Bleak, Sweet Lilly, The Tates

The first thing that happened when I got off my bike at the Jug of Ale in Moseley was I discovered for the first time in my life I had pins and needles in my bollocks. It’s a very strange and not particularly pleasurable sensation and though it went away fairly quickly I mention it purely in the spirit of Gonzo journalism because it might be important. Who can tell.

GDFAF #2 then, which consists of me going to a gig on my own to see three bands I’d never heard of. Both these things were novelties, the latter part of the plan, the former an unfortunate side effect of going out every night for a fortnight. In retrospect I’m not sure why this is such a big deal – if there was a band I really really wanted to see then it wouldn’t be an issue, but spending two and a half hours in a pub with no idea what I was going to experience was somewhat daunting. There’s also the issue that when I go with someone I tend to be the optimistic one. Chum will say something derogatory about the band and I’ll counter that they’re not so bad. Without that sounding board I was more likely to just go with the negative, especially when surrounded by people I would be instantly stereotyping as vacuous wankers. So bear that in mind. But don’t bear it too much in mind because I’m pretty sure I’m on a road to accuracy with this one.

Consider this: a Saturday night at one of the main small venues in the city, where countless great bands have played brilliant sets. You’d expect something special, or at least a reasonable level of quality. It would seem your expectations should be lowered. Even allowing for the fact that this was bonfire night and most self-respecting thrill seekers were off watching the bangs and lights you’d hope the local music scene (and they were all Brummies) would do better than this. It was a night of skillful mediocrity. There were brief moments of inspiration but on the whole, nah, I wouldn’t have bothered mate.

First up were The Tates who played to an audience of about eight people including me and the lead singer’s girlfriend, but unlike The Goods yesterday they were gracious about it and thanked us for listening. They played a kind of soaring pop-punk with moments of Oi and they wouldn’t have been out of place at a punk festival or biker rally. They weren’t doing anything new or radical but they got the job done in an honest, competent manner. And there’s not really much more I can say about them.

Next up was possibly the lowlight of my recent gigging career. Sweet Lilly were a covers band who didn’t do any actual covers. My first reaction was throwback Manchester rock. I mean, I liked Oasis and Cast and especially the Stone Roses at the time but c’mon, is this stuff really still necessary? At one stage they even riffed off The Levellers for christ’s sake! Of course it was all note perfect and performed with the delusion that this is the kind of thing bands are supposed to do but there was no spark of originality or wit whatsoever. Also of note was how just before they started the room was invaded by all their mates who immediately left as soon as they’d finished. I guess since these bands get paid a token share of the door if that then playing a gig at the Jug purely to entertain your friends is fair enough. For sure, most bands try and pack in their chums (at least until they get actual fans) but it would be preferable if they’d just hire a room somewhere and keep it to themselves rather than inflicting their asinine tedium on my soul. Towards the end of the set they opened with a Stone Roses riff which morphed into an Oasis vocal with lyrics that said absolutely nothing at all. I found myself realising why no-one goes to gigs unless they know the band – you find yourself at the whim of people who can play guitar but have no idea what a guitar is really for.

So after that abortion the headlining band had better be good. No, they’d better be amazing. I’d braved fireworks and the threat of a light drizzle to come here tonight. The Bleak started with a song that sounded a hell of a lot like Led Zep. They then followed this with a Jimmy Hendrix cover, then a song which owed a fair bit to Pink Floyd. After a while they covered the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

Ah well…

To their credit they were definitely enjoying themselves and it was interesting to see what were essentially a bunch of kids playing around with this sort of stuff and not taking it at all seriously. I was ready to write them off as another bloomin’ covers band when in the middle of one of their own songs the two guitarists stepped off to the side for a drink while the drummer did a fucking drum solo! Not even your dyed in the wool cock-rocking metal band would have that sort of audacity! They then finished up with a big fat instrumental blues jam which was, as you’d expect, perfectly competent and probably the best thing I’d heard all night but is it really headlining material?

I’ll say it again – this was a Saturday night at one of the main venues for local bands in Birmingham, a venue at which I have attended some of the best gigs of my life by some of the most interesting groups in the area. As a showcase for Birmingham this was very poor. Maybe we can blame all the fireworks displays for taking the custom elsewhere (the pub was noticeably quiet compared to yesterdays crush) but I’m not here to be generous. I’m going to 14 gigs in 14 days. My patience is limited.

Coming up tomorrow are the Polysics at the Barfly, a new-ish venue I’ve not been to yet. They’re Japanese. This is promising. As is the blurb: “With wild costumes and a pulsing, energetic live show, they perform technicolor pogo punk in a variety of languages including Japanese, English and their very own ‘space language’.”

Wednesday I’m pushing the boat out and spending a whole ten pounds on a ticket to see Melt Banana at the Custard Factory. While not strictly a small gig I would be a fool to miss it.

Friday is Jeffrey Lewis at the Jug which will be my third time seeing him. This will be excellent, I promise you.

The other gigs (which you can follow on my Upcoming page) I have no idea about. Here’s hoping I’ve hit the low point early on, eh?

(Monday is still empty. There are expensive gigs at the Academy and not much else so I’ll be looking for a pub with “live entertainment” unless someone has a better idea.)