Live Review - Southsea Fest 2010

Bit of a delay in posting; sorry about me. I've just taken over control of the work's newsletter (woo) and have also decided to start a rom-com screenplay (unfinished) even though I also have a book (unfinished) and a sitcom (unfinished). Anyway, this was originally posted on mINtSOUTH.com in September. Unfortunately the site got hacked into and everything was lost shortly after. I'm not sure if they've put this one back up yet.

Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in September 2010
Words - Suzy Sims
(c) mINtSOUTH.com

SOUTHSEA FEST - 2010

We’re padding the streets of Southsea in well-worn Converse; head down, looking at maps, fiddling with camera lenses and wondering if the band we’ve just seen is the same as given on the running order. Southsea Fest venues don’t need signs or markers to show where they are. The entrances are illuminated by the shining beacons from a dozen cigarettes being puffed outside the doorway. An excitable friend runs up to us with open arms in Wine Vaults, where we’ve come to check out Brothers. With music in the background, she leads us to the Sailor Jerry stand for tattoos and cocktails – an excellent choice of sponsor, because everyone loves a good rum. mINtSOUTH’s team leave with an anchor for the matelot, and a swallow for the classy bird.

It’s been said many times before, and I’ll say it again – Portsmouth is not known for its music scene. The name most people are excited to see on the list is Pulled Apart By Horses (Leeds), who’s not-so-secret-secret-gig was recently announced. It is however good that people are getting off their arse and doing something to showcase the best local acts through Southsea Fest. Originally set up as a charitable event to help a young artist with lymphoma record an album (and indeed charity is still at the heart of the day, with a healthy donation to The Ellen MacArthur Trust), it’s now a highlight in the festival calendar for the people who are too cool or too broke for the bigger name events across the Solent.

It’s early in the day, yet the Edge of the Wedge is still filling up nicely for The Attika State, as part of the BSM and Alcopop stage. It’s hot in here already, just a little temperature taster of what the Pulled Apart By Horses gig will be like. The music is warm and spicy with some cheering melodies.

Over in Little Johnny Russells, Zoo In The Sky is fronted by the ever present Huw Olesker. His Mohawk brings him punk power and ska beats. Without it, he would be helpless. Summer is extended in the pub during the band’s set.

The day passes in a blur, helped along by an unfortunate habit of arriving at a venue to catch the last minute of a band, and then a half an hour break before the next. We caught the end of punky rockers The Exposed who are deafening the Deco with some loud drums, and spot the next troupe of insanely paisley and animal printed shirts, which we take to be Bad For Lazarus, who are having lengthy technical difficulties. In the end we give up and head to the Kings Theatre, managing to sneak upstairs and catch a sweet balcony spot for The B Of The Bang. I haven’t seen them before and found their jaunty lo-fi slightly downbeat but quite pleasant, but thought they struggled to make an impact.

Most people were heading to the Kings, partly because it had soft seating (the venues are so rammed, sometimes it’s nice to pause and actually see the bands you’re listening to) and partly because The Strange Death Of Liberal England are local darlings at present, with positive album reviews across the land. This is no scruffy pub gig. The Show, for that is what it is, opens with two scarlet-coated military drummers marching to the stage before the band arrive, all mock serious poses, air raid sirens and beautifully sweeping songs. There’s something about the sheer majesty of an orchestra that can help magnify the dramatic elements of a melody. TSDOLE are a theatrical highlight of the day.

After a near miss, when mINtSOUTH try to leave the venue the same time as the band and almost end up at the back of their victory parade behind their soldier drummers, it’s time for a break at the Balti House and another perusal of the timetable.

mINtSOUTH breaks ranks and The One With The Dead Camera Battery ends up at the fast and fun Stagecoach and Tall Ships, who he was particularly taken with, claiming the hypnotic tunes left him enthralled. Meanwhile, The One With The Notepad drifts aimlessly around the Wine Vaults and Porters, again eyeing up the rum cocktails, then heads up Albert Road. I’m not sure where I am or what is playing. I feel lost. There are snatches of rocky chords and fuzzing bass, brief glimpses of bands above people’s heads. Blasts of pounding indie rock echo down the street, as someone – possibly Lucifers Gold? - play at The Festing. The gig venue is separated from the normal Saturday crowd. Downstairs, a tall man in a Scooby Doo outfit and his other costumed friends talk by the jukebox while elsewhere the band play on.

On heading back to the Wedgewood Rooms, we bump into a friend again, who had to escape Pulled Apart By Horses due to heat exhaustion, and is currently winding down. A random taps mINtSOUTH’s reviewer on the shoulder: “Excuse me, my friend says you just pinched my bottom.” No. “It’s quite a good bottom, though.” Again, no.

We flash our wristbands shyly at the doorman on the Edge, who shakes his head and indicates that there is a queue of at least half a dozen people. No PABH for us tonight. We’re also gutted to miss Islet, as by all accounts they were fantastic.

Instead we turn our attention Wedge-wards. I was impressed with Bleech. Singer Jennifer peers out from beneath her mane, rocking away without care, surrounded by cloudy grungy and Nineties Britpop influences.

NME wrote something of a ridiculously poor review of the Little Fish album, possibly because they didn’t realise the group are first and foremost a Live Act. Tonight they are a Live Act surrounded by balloons as it’s the drummer’s birthday. Juju never disappoints and like the girls of Bleech, is a rocking alpha female who is obviously enjoying her time onstage but isn’t too precious to scream or pull crazy faces. Top notch.

The Xcerts are full of furious stop-starts and plenty of punkish pop energy, just right for a Saturday night. They also have a number of fans singing away, hands aloft; always a cheery sight. It would be nice to catch Goldheart Assembly, but there’s been a delay in going onstage and South West Trains wait for no man, so it’s time to step into the shockingly chilly air and trudge back to the station.

Our Southsea Fest 2010 Experience is over – but for many of you, the partying carried into the early part of Sunday morning. Good on ya.

BANDS YOU WOULD TOTALLY SEE BASED ON THEIR NAME ALONE

Head Full of Yoko, Dr Skrivenski’s Pandorium, Smokey Bastard, &U&I, Skibunny, Klezma Villanova, Tricorn, Itchy Teeth, Attack! Vipers!

OVERHEARD RECOMMENDATIONS – EAVESDROPPING ON THE STREETS OF SOUTHSEA

“The best band that I’ve heard today is that 12 Dirty Bullets.”

“I can only see two or three names I recognise, I don’t know who anyone is!”

“I’m really hoping to catch King Charles."

“Islet were well exciting.”

“What did you think of Pulled Apart By Horses? They were immense.”

http://www.southseafest.com/

Interview - Pulled Apart By Horses @ Great Escape 2010

Previously published on mINtSOUTH.com in June 2010
Words - Suzy Sims
(c) mINtSOUTH.com

INTERVIEW - PULLED APART BY HORSES @THE GREAT ESCAPE 2010

We first spot Pulled Apart By Horses – Tom (vocals / guitar), Robert (bass), James (guitar), minus Lee (drums) who’s on paternity leave - as they’re sneaking around Brighton Dome, attempting to catch The Cribs in mid-soundcheck. When this fails, we lead them to sit in the park, surrounded by happy toddlers and a man playing the bongos in the near distance. It’s perfectly summery, outdoor beer weather. Let the interview begin:

mINtSOUTH: This is probably going to be the least professional interview you’ve had all day.
PABH: “We’ll we’re the least professional band in the world, so it’ll be fine!”

mINtSOUTH: Can you tell us a fact about yourselves?
Tom: “Robert John Lee - his original name is Robot John Lee, and he’s actually a robot that was made in the mid Nineties. And he runs on oil.”
Rob: “And I was not a body double, but the actual actor that played Robocop.”
James: “You can see the jaw structure there, look. If you shaved Rob’s hair, he’s got a metal helmet.”

mINtSOUTH: The Great Escape... Are you going to have time to stick around and see many bands?
Tom: “It’s really hard because we’re playing at 9 and there’s a few bands we want to see that are all around that sort of time. It’s really annoying.”
James: “We’re really good friends with Blood Red Shoes. They go on at half nine and we go on at quarter past. But we’re going to run over and say hi.”
Rob: “I really want to watch the Cribs. We can get away with it now because normally if Lee was here, our drummer, he’d probably hit us.”
James: “There’s Chickenhawk, they’re playing today. Try and catch them.”

Tom: “The Great Escape’s awesome. Although last time we played it was such a blur. We played at the Sallis Benney at 7pm, and then played the Pav Tav at 12am to a load of drunk people whilst being drunk ourselves, and then the next day played The Hope at 12pm still drunk. By that point we were just on the edge, we had just completely lost it but that added to it.”
James: “Because it was the first time we’d done Great Escape and been down here for it, i think we were having a little bit too much fun as well. There wasn’t much sleep had last year, but a lot of drinking, staying up.”

mINtSOUTH: What can people expect to see from the Pulled Apart By Hoses live experience?
Rob: “There’s the obvious bits which is sweat, sometimes blood. Sick doesn’t happen anymore.”
Tom “Well it does occasionally rear its head.”
Rob: “If you eat an hour before you go on. James usually adds to his collection of knee injuries [James shows off a horrifying bruised scab]

Tom: “That started off with seven stitches. And then we played a couple of gigs at the Camden Crawl.”
James: “There’s only 3 left now. This occurs regularly.”
Tom: “He’s got the knees of a cheap prostitute, from the amount of times he’s landed on them. We are a live band like, since day one we’ve just toured relentlessly and played about 400 gigs in the space of about two years.”

mINtSOUTH: I saw you a couple of times last year, when you were at Southampton Joiners and there was a lot of jumping into the crowd.
Tom: “It’s kind of like unplanned chaos, and that’s the fun of it, Just wait to see what happens and go with the flow. One thing is about Brighton, for a few of the first gigs we played here we realised the crowd are a bit too cool for school sometimes, like everyone just stands there at the back. But last year it was a lot better. It’s probably because people didn’t know us then.”

mINtSOUTH: I think Portsmouth can be worse, you get people stood there arms folded not clapping.
James: “I think it was the Wedgewood Rooms - that was a strange one.”
Tom: “Everyone’s just standing there and you’re like ‘Oh god, this is awful, everyone hates it,’ and then people come up to you after and they’re like ‘Oh that was amazing, we really loved it.’ And you’re like. shake a leg then, go on!”

Rob: “Like Tom said before it’s a case of how the crowd interaction and getting in the crowd is because we consider the crowd to be as much part of the band as we are. A lot of people know the end riff we generally finish on so we’ve had a lot of different people just get onstage. Sometimes if we’re on tour with a band or we’ve got a tech we haven’t used before, we’re like ‘Right, you’re playing.’ We did it in Europe with Blood Red Shoes. Laura-Mary and Steven got up to play at the end of ‘I Punched A Lion’... and Laura said she was more nervous to do that than to actually play the gig herself. I jumped over with my bass like ‘LET’S ROCK OUT! WOOO!’ And she was like ‘Aaargh!’ The other thing we were going to say, we hate that whole idea of there being a barrier between the crowd and the band.”
Tom: “I fucking hate barriers.”

mINtSOUTH: The thing is, the more famous you get, the bigger the gap.
Tom: “I remember we played at Audio with Sky Larkin and it was just a crappy barrier that was set up. I opened it up and then this guy came and shut it, so we ended up pushing it on the floor.”
James: “He was furious, that guy.”
mINtSOUTH snapper Rob: "From a photographer’s point of view, I do like the barriers."
Tom: “That makes sense. Well it’s not going to keep you safe with us lot. We’ll just climb all over it.”

mINtSOUTH: What are your plans for 2010?
Tom: “We’ve got some big plans actually. The first single is coming out on June 14th and we filmed an Evil Dead style rip-off music video for it, and the album comes out a little bit after that.”
Rob: “We’re doing PukkelPop in Belgium so that’s going to be ace.”
PABH: “What else is there – Glastonbury, Truck, Heavy Fest.”
Rob: “{Offset} is pencilled in.”
James: “It was really good though last year.”
Tom: “Although between the main stage and where the crowd were, it felt like it was about a mile. When we were playing I jumped off the stage and I was going to try and get to the crowd and it took me like forever. I was just like, yeah I’m getting there! I’m getting there! And by the time I got there, I couldn’t even sing.”

James: “I think after the summer there’s talk of us doing another tour but maybe a bit bigger than this one we’re doing in June.”
Rob: “And working on album number two. We can’t wait to get another album out.”

mINtSOUTH: Album.
Rob: “I misread that as All Bum first.”
Tom: “It’s self-titled. We were thinking of things to call it and we looked at the song title list and it was like no, our songs are too ridiculously titled.”
Rob: “When we sometimes write out the setlist and we can’t be bothered to write out the full length of the songs, it’ll just say stuff like Fuck, Crap, Meat, Hammer, High Five...”
James: “You get people picking the setlist up off the stage and being like ‘What?’”

Tom: “We [recorded the album] just after Leeds Fest. We had a tiny slot to just bang it out really, but that was the best way for it because we weren’t too precious about it, we just wanted to capture it. We did it in eight days in James Kenosha’s recording studios in Bridlington. Lived off microwave lasagnes from Tesco, and went nuts basically."
James: “I keep on saying it’s like a document of the past two years of being on the road.”
Rob: “And with it being our introduction to the record buying public – all two of them – we want to make it an honest account of what we sound like live and as a band and it’s really kind of stripped back.”

mINtSOUTH Have you gone for any special vinyl editions?
James: “I was adamant it’s got to be on heavyweight vinyl.”
Tom: “We got 11 different artists, some are our friends and some are artists we just really loved, and got them to illustrate each song from the album with the lyrics. Should be a nice little package to hopefully persuade people into buying the album.”
Rob: “It’s a nice thing to own. They’re probably going to download it anyway.”

mINtSOUTH: But they shouldn’t?
Tom: “Depends what you do with it. I download stuff then if I really like it I’ll get it on vinyl anyway, just to have the artwork at the correct size.”
James: “If you download all their stuff, you should go and watch them live. Or buy a t shirt, or a single if you’re skint.”

Tom: “I hope that’s the way that people do it now. I think you get a lot of kids, it’s really good that they’re getting into music that they wouldn’t normally just because it’s available for them, but at the same time I think that the new generation of kids just take it for granted now. They’ll just download the crap out of anything.”
Rob: “You’ve got to look for the positives of it. I guess it puts a lot of emphasis on live bands now which has done us a lot of favours. I should probably go and reintroduce myself to my friends and family at some point.”
Tom: “Say sorry to our girlfriends.”

mINtSOUTH: What do you associate with Brighton?
Rob: “Music, playing gigs, getting very drunk and not being able to remember most of it, but knowing that I should go back because I did really enjoy it... but not being able to quite remember what I enjoyed.”

mINtSOUTH: The more tattoos the better the drummer? Discuss. This was more one for Lee who’s not here.
Tom: “Lee’s like the fastest drummer in the world.”
Rob: “I would say that tattoos and drummers go hand in hand, but our drummer’s only got one hand.”
James: “He was born with a kind of disfigured hand. He’s got missing fingers and half a thumb. He’s got this tattoo and it’s amazing.”
Rob: “One says LOVE on his fingers, and the other says NO ROOM FOR HATE. What it should say is, PENTHOUSE SUITE FOR HATE WITH CHOCOLATES ON THE PILLOWS. He’s an angry motherfucker. But we love him.”

Tom: “I think it gives us a bit more credibility. Like the only thing I’ve got on my body is hair and moles. It looks a bit more interesting when you see some colourful ink on someone’s skin.”
James: “And it’s cool because his tattoos are a document of his life. He doesn’t get them for fashion reasons or anything like that.”

mINtSOUTH: Final one. Gorilla Vs Bear – who would win in a fight?
Rob: “That’s what we’re talking about!”
James: “I think it might be the bear. The bear’s going to be a lot taller.”
Tom: “Maybe a bear that hasn’t eaten for a little bit. Angry dudes, aren’t they.”
Rob: “It depends what context you’re in, because if you’re talking like Yogi Bear versus King Kong, he’s got no chance. King Kong’s got him. I think bear, hands down.”
James: “Bear wins. Gorilla dead.”

Pulled Apart By Horses

Diary - The Great Escape, Brighton 2010 - Part 1

Originally published on mINtSOUTH.com in May 2010
Words: Suzy Sims
(c) mINtSOUTH.com

DIARY - THE GREAT ESCAPE, BRIGHTON 2010 - PART 1

THURS 12th MAY

BRIGHTON. Beautiful, seasidey, hip and trendy Brighton. Once again the Great Escape is upon us. Three days of much music and not enough sleep lie straight ahead.

We arrive in the city just in time to sit down in the sun for a chat with a very buoyant Pulled Apart By Horses. Then follows some time spent doing Media Things, such as checking out the available space in the press area, working out who’s covering what on the extensive schedule, and wondering if there is any free lager hidden in one of the side rooms (There was. And even better, there was cake too).

“We are Funeral Party. And you are the audience,” announce the band performing in front of the Doughnut, one of the Relentless Street Gig venues for the weekend. The sun is shining and as it’s early, many wristbanders opt to stay on the beach to listen to the perfectly fiddly synths. One girl nips over to take a photograph. She has a £3.49 bottle of cider poking out of her satchel. The band finishes by hurling their tambourine into the waves behind. The music is pretty good though, and promised more top times for the rest of the weekend.

It’s then time to locate Jam in time for Hungry Kids Of Hungary, whose melodies are sundrenched and juicy, with a definite Sixties vibe. They provide a bright and refreshing start to the night. Someone in the crowd is trying to impersonate an Irish accent – which was a little bit out, seeing as the band are actually from Australia. (Insert Family Fortunes incorrect buzzer here).

HKoH is followed by the carefree and optimistic sounds of Pearl & The Puppets, whose music seems poised to soundtrack something indie hip like The Inbetweeners. Unfortunately mINtSOUTH’s reviewer is unable to see either band due to the anti-paparazzi fug emanating from the smoke machine, and the fact that we are a good two foot shorter than everyone else. However both bands sound very enjoyable and easy to warm to.

Skipping along the seafront, we eventually come to Concorde 2. The bar staff are gawping at a screen showing something unusual taking place in the main hall. In neon headdresses and flowing robes, female choir Gaggle are doing their best to hypnotise the crowd by singing in rounds... singing in rounds... singing in rounds, about nasty men and the like. The rockers in the crowd look confused and slightly disorientated, apart from one man in leather trousers who is doing some bizarre dance with his gloved hands, like he’s trying to roll a pea deftly along his arm and fingers without dropping it. Gaggle are entertaining if you like fancy dress and musical theatre. I don’t.

Thankfully a few minutes later, Pulled Apart By Horses stride onto the stage to let launch some shouting and heavy rock. There’s sweat, swearing and a distinct lack of shirts. The crowd are bobbing their heads and enjoying the banter. We have a stand in drummer tonight as the usual tattooed one is at home for family reasons, however he does a fine job of keeping up with their mighty pace.

Then it’s onto The Walkmen... oh no, it’s not. Stranded somewhere that’s not Brighton due to the volcanic ash, the band are instead replaced by Little Comets, who turn out to be one of the highlights of my festival weekend. I heard Adultery on MySpace a couple of years ago and found it slightly annoying. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Little Comets are oozing summer elements and plenty of singalong opportunities. Their instruments / stage gear also includes a saucepan, and a very strange shaped thing that some guy keeps hilariously yelling “ARMADILLO!” while pointing at it. “From up here, it sounds like you’re saying ‘I’m a dildo’,” the band counter drily. They sound like indie pop with a bit of ska and it’s all very splendid and danceable.

The evening takes a downward turn as I head to Fionn Regan’s show at the Terraces. He’s really good, so people keep saying. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the programme and thought I was listening out for a Fiona, so my bad. His set was wholesome folk fun, spoilt somewhat by the noise in the venue, as people couldn’t see anything more than six rows back so weren’t bothering to listen either. Regan tried saying “Shhh,” but that was never really going to work. It was too crowded to hear any banter or nuances in the music. The final track really picked up speed, but by this point it was too little too late to get my attention.

The evening finished as all good evenings do – by befriending a tramp. Shaun likes to stand outside music bars and listen to bands play songs by The Libertines. He especially likes it if they wave at him. If you see Shaun, say hi.

Live Review - Rolo Tomassi, Grammatics, Pulled Apart By Horses

What. A. Line. Up. I begged for this gig because I really wanted to see PABH. I'd even bought one of their t shirts, though I didn't wear it on the night because it would have comfortably accommodated me and about three other people. Damn crazy t shirt sizes.

Previously published on mintsouth.com in May 09
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
(c) mintsouth

ROLO TOMASSI, GRAMMATICS + PULLED APART BY HORSES @ SOUTHAMPTON JOINERS 02/05/2009

You have to expect the unexpected with Rolo Tomassi, that’s all I can say. The nice sounding name reminds me of sweets and treacle, though the band is actually named after a character from LA Confidential. However if you come to one of their gigs expecting sweet confectionary, you’re certainly in for a rude awakening.

First onstage were Pulled Apart By Horses, the band I was most looking forward to tonight. I have something of a soft spot for the Leeds scene, and PABH’s singles promised raw and brash tunage. The very first note set the whole floor quivering and the band emerged from beneath their hair to provide incendiary rock. Singer Tom Hudson, clad in a bright yellow shirt, takes the mic and calmly plants it in the middle of the venue, splitting the crowd in two. Guitarist James Brown does a musical Spiderman onto the ledge in the corner and later mouths ‘I love you’ at one of Rolo Tomassi, who come to the rescue when the bass suffers technical difficulties.

Songs tonight include ‘Meat Balloon’, ‘The Crapsons’, ‘I Punched A Lion In The Throat’ and ‘High Five Swan Dive Nose Dive’. If that’s sounding a bit heavy, the band also throw in a smattering of high fives for everyone and offer their favourite Sonic The Hedgehog cheats.

The final song sees the lads in the crowd swarm straight for Hudson, smothering him and his guitar in a bear hug. As the band say tongue-in-cheek in ‘Meat Balloon’, it was awesome, radical, and totally bodacious. Dude.

It was something of a nice breather to have Grammatics back at the Joiners and sandwiched between the two loudest acts. Also from Leeds, singer Owen Brinley, wearing a necklace made from shells, announced the band had “missed like five hours of Come Dine With Me tonight, so count yourselves fucking lucky” they’re here. Emilia Ergin’s powerful cello can leave an audience spellbound and silent and the band’s quirky, jump nature is an enjoyable break from the ear-bashing.

The band was here recently supporting Red Light Company and judging from the number in the crowd singing along to their album tracks, they were definitely worth coming back for. Grammatics have a cool and melodramatic touch to them, but they certainly punked up the last few minutes of their set. Songs tonight included ‘The Vague Archive’, ‘D.I.L.E.M.M.A’ and ‘Shadow Committee’.

After a short break for the onstage changeover, Rolo Tomassi introduced themselves with expectant stares and some feedback that was at exactly the right frequency to melt the wax from your ears. Formed in Sheffield in 2005, Rolo Tomassi have gone on to develop a reputation for powerful live shows, which won them a spot at last year’s Download. They also stopped off at SXSW a few months ago.

The band is fronted by the attractive demon that is Eva Spence, a wide-eyed and charming love who looks peaceful but is quite clearly possessed by something evil. When she opens her mouth you are never quite sure if you will be greeting by sweet and soft tones, or a throaty roar of fire, a la Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow.

The tunes are unpredictable in places, switching between what sound slightly like jazz lullabies and thrash synth metal. The setlist tonight included ‘Film Noir’, ‘Seagull’, ‘Abraxus’, ‘Oh, Hello Ghost’ and ‘I Love Turbulence’. At the end of ‘Curby’ the bassist is crowdsurfing, the guys in the mosh pit look knackered and there is a sharp odour of sweat in the air. “What a band!” yells one bloke. “What. A. Fucking. Band.” The devil certainly has the best tunes; and the loudest.

http://www.pulledapartbyhorses.com
http://www.grammatics.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/rolotomassi