Before I go any further with GDFAF #3, a public service announcement about the Barfly venue in Birmingham. You know that door with the huge “Barfly” flag hanging over it on Digbeth High Street that often has a queue outside? That’s not the Barfly. The Barfly is around the back of the Sanctuary club so head down Milk St and turn into what looks like a delivery yard. That’s your entrance. Do this and you won’t miss the first support act, like I did tonight. Also bear in mind that the Barfly shares security with the Sanctuary club so the bloke at the door will treat you like a dodgy pisshead/druggie clubber rather than the fey indie muso kid you are.

So it turned out that I’d actually been to this venue before. It’s the back room of said Sanctuary and it’s been through a number of changes over the years. I first went there when it was hosting the Gods Kitchen hardcore techno club nights back around 1998, all painted black with Giger-esque faces on the wall. A bit later I was at the Sanctuary itself at one of their indie nights with some old Uni mates and the back room had been painted bright red and incorporated into the club itself as their 80’s room. My mates loved it, but they were too young to really appreciate the horror of such things. And now it’s black again and serving as a pretty standard but nice and airy gig venue. I quite like it – there are enough nooks and crannies along with a neat balcony and plenty of room to spread out and dance but it doesn’t feel like a barn like some halls do.

Like I said, I missed Sabotage Left, the first support, having stood in the wrong place for half an hour and then being blocked by the overzealous bouncer who wouldn’t let us in until they’d finished for some ungodly reason. But they’re a local band so I may well bump into them again.

The other support, Distophia, were very good. The problem with bands who are very good is it’s hard to compare them to anyone else -the reason they’re good is because they’re unique in some way. Reviews posted on their site cite My Bloody Valentine a fair bit which I can kinda agree with but only at a stretch. I got more of a Husker Du vibe with elements of the Retro Spankees (specifically a tendency to yelp). They produced a robust wall of guitar noise with much twiddling of nobs and feedback but never to excess, along with, well I want to say harmonising vocals but that sounds a little soft for what was produced, more along the lines of American nerd-punk (think Weezer, but only a bit) with lots of shouting amongst the soaring. Which was also their aesthetic, a random assortment of blokes with no unifying style or attitude – very nice. And they frequently moved off the stage and played in the crowd which was a good thing. I like it when musicians do this. Finally they had their drums at the front which was quite refreshing (why, when there’s space, do bands stick the drummer right at the back?) and meant I finally got a photo of a drummer that isn’t a blurry smudge of darkness.

Distophia are also local and will certainly be mentally bookmarked for as worthy of seeing again. In fact I’m slightly bemused as to why I haven’t heard of them before since they’ve been around for a while. But that’s the point of this fortnight – to fill in those gaps.

And so to the headliners, Polysics, who it appears have quite a following, which again made me wonder how I’m managed not to hear of them before. I’m mean, I’m hip to the Japanese new music scene. I know my Pizzicato Five and my Cornelius. I own the Sushi 4004 compilation. How dare they pass me by! I joke – that there are bands of this quality touring the world for me to discover with no media-warped preconceptions is a damn good thing. I confess I was initially drawn to them by the red boilersuit costumes. The last time I saw a Japanese band in dressed in red boilersuits was Yumi Yumi last August who were very good so using that incredibly scientific criteria of ethnicity and attire I figured they’d be worth the £9.00 entrance. I was right. They were utterly brilliant.

The first thing to get out of the way is the Devo influence. Yes, it’s there, acknowledged and blatant, and it’s not a problem. There’s also the fact that they’re Japanese which makes them fascinatingly alien – you never know how much is normal and how much is odd, especially as they filter western freak-rock through their Tokyo punk-pop sensibilities. There are layers of subversion that are too complicated to dissect so it’s best just to go with it and dance. Which is not a problem as they’re one of most danceable acts I’ve seen in a long time, mashing up pogo-punk with electro-noize and catchy Nintendo-style tunes.

Also refreshing was a well thought out stage presence. To the right is Fumi wielding her bass with attitude (and, it must be said, great hair). Then on the left is Kayo with the synth standing utterly still throughout with the occasional robotic movement. Then bounding across the stage like some manic game show presenter is Hayashi playing up the stadium rock role with glee and getting away with it. The red boilersuits and black-strip shades both add to the slightly alien feeling and made their stage personas stronger giving a sense of spectacle sorely missing from most gigs.

Some highlights then:

• Hayashi collecting rucksacks and handbags from the audience, putting them all on and continuing to play guitar.
• Kayo suddenly producing pompoms.
• Hayashi grabbing someone’s pint of beer and downing it in one.
• Hayashi getting the biggest guy in the audience to pick him up and carry him into the throng… while he played guitar.
• Kayo playing the recorder during one track which unexpectedly ended as a delicate duet between her and Hayashi
• Kayo pogoing and hitting a box at her apex which produced a boooiinnnggg sound.
• Kayo singing through a vocorder and a normal mike at the same time.
• The incredible cover of My Sharona. Yes, it’s hard not to do an incredible cover of My Sharona but even so.
• and much much more…

The audience reaction was wild. It wasn’t particularly rammed but that left more room for dancing which was infectious. But I can’t finish this review without mentioning the tiny Japanese girl who stood right at the front completely still just bending her knees a fraction to the beat. When everything got really hectic she nodded her head maintaining a remarkable stillness while everyone else went manic.

I should mention where I got the title for this series of posts from – a few years back Steve Lamacq released his autobiography, Going Deaf For A Living which I never read but the title stuck with me. Since my ears have been ringing now for three days straight I think it’s been worth ripping off.

A couple of people have linked to this series and said nice things, which was kind of them. If you do link here, best to use this link which has all the GDFAF posts in chronological order.

Coming up:

I’ve been informed the Voodoo Glow Skulls may well be worth going to see on Monday and the gig has been downgraded to Bar Academy. Whether the ticket price has also been downgraded from £7.00 remains to be seen but if it has I’ll be there. If not I’ll be bombing around town looking for alternatives.

Tuesday is still up in the air. Maybe Nural at the Barfly, maybe Warlocks (sounds intriguingly dodgy!) at Bar Academy.

I’ll be attending the Melt Banana gig on Wednesday with most of the members of Una Corda – I’ll be the relatively short weedy one in that bunch for truly they are men.

Thursday will be the “new bands night” at the Flapper, Friday is the genius of Mr Jeffrey Lewis and I have no fucking idea what I’ll be up to after that. Suggestions are welcome.