THE DEN, FALMOUTH (6TH MAY)
MY ELVIS BLACKOUT, THE ASTRO FIRS & ABSENT
(Another personal review by Adam Puckey)
'THWACK!'
That was the sound my head made as it connected with the floor. At the front row of the Absent/Astro-Firs/My Elvis Blackout, I was dancing harder than I had danced for some good solid days. I was sober. I was having a comedy American Pie style dance-off with a blonde boy in a pink shellsuit named Joe. I was wearing Gembly's ex-boyfriend's sailor suit jacket and I was, you might say, 'loving it'.
Adam here.
We arrived at the stannary via the medium of public transport. The experience has steern me toward a renaming of public transport to 'Pubic Transport'. My advice is this. If you are intending to travel from Chacewater to Tremough Campus in Penryn, you have never been there before, you can't drive/don't have a car, it is raining, you have no way of getting home and it is the Sunday night before a Monday morning of a bank holiday weekend, and your alternatuve option is a warm night in with a beautiful member of the opposite sex, food, wine, films, hugging and general beguiling wonder at the beauty of it all, stay at home.
Unless....
You are going to watch The Astro-Firs.
They were good. But I'll get to that in a minute : )
It was an interesting trip, but Gembly and I were determined that our first date was to be something worthy of many, many longwinded and humourous anecdotes for both ourselves to regale to eachother, and for us to each use to entertain vast crowds of strangers and friends alike in pubs, clubs, bars, cafes, supermarkets, hospitals and workplaces abound.
I feel we generated something of this kind.
I decided to go and watch The Astro-Firs after they put out a motivational and humourous bulletin listing the reasons I should not sit at home on Sunday night, but should in fact go and watch them play a set.
I replied in erstwhile fashion, proclaiming that I was going to be there, and would they be so kind as to pretend to whichwhatever lady I happened to have on my arm that we had been lifelong friends in order to help me with any nefarious romantic plot I may have (ahahhahahaa).
The response they gave me was a yes. Ace.
In the concurrent few days, I became enamoured of a lady whom we shall refer to as Gembly, and 'stuck-in-on-msn-on-a-saturday-night' conversation resulted in her being my date for the night.
So we arrived. We had intended to dress up as Luke Toms (even taking the time to fashion moustaches from bits of brachen, leaf and twig we had found around and about chacewater) but somehow ended up with me wearing the aforementioned sailor suit and Gembly in jeans, a top and a jacket. We were wearing sunglasses in a darkened room though. And we were the oldest people in there by about five-hundred years. We chatted to some passionate student types who studied broadcasting and media, one of whom had a radio show, all through the set of the first band, who were called 'Absent'. They were a five piece, with three guitars, bass and drums. They were pretty good, and I went up and danced comedically at the end, noting at the back of my mind that one of their guitarists was a girl.
Girl guitarists are cool.
When they finished I went up to their bass player and arranged a sweaty hug between him and Gembly (she has a thing for bass players), and we went to the bar to wait for The Astro Firs to start. Feeling a bit bad that I had promised to dress as Luke Toms, I decided tonight's dancing was to be top notch. The lads (a four piece with two guitars, bass and drums) rocked into it fantastically quickly, with (and this is something I wholeheartedly approve of) all of their songs played about 2/3s again as fast as the recordings. The vocals were crisp and varied, and the whole thing was very...
very..
LOUD.
Don't ask me what they played. Or in what order. Or even for how long. I enjoyed it. So did the swaying teen crowd. So did Joe the be-shellsuited dancer.
I shall instead inform you of the variety of dance moves that were performed. I started with a toe gripped back spinning mini stage dive followed with a roly poly up into a running man. Beer was spilt. There were laughs. Dancing Joe countered me with a forwards crawling s bend disco caterpillar move.
It was amazing. I had to change tack. His skillz far outweighed my own. As with so much in my life, where I lacked the skill, I had to go for the laugh.
I leapt at the space Joe had just left into my own version of the caterpillar. I opted to allow my body to smack into the floor with a slap and stay there unmoving until people came to pick me up, then jump up into a foray of napoleon dynamite/carlton from the fresh prince of bel air skimming superbeats.
That was the plan anyway.
What actually happened was me totally misjudging where my hands were, sandwiching my ear between the floor and my head, cutting me ear, seeing a blinding flash and getting a concussion.
I howled. I held my head. I ran about.
Gembly gave me a cuddle.
Then.
I.
Bloody.
Went for it.
Dancing Joe and I did not stop til the end of the set. There points at which hair and spit were flying, we were performing a selection of gymnastic rolls (well he was, I was just kind of shuffling around in my sailor coat trying not to collapse) and hopping over each other. It all got a bit 'Ozfest meets Soultrain'.
There aren't many Indie bands that can make that happen. I judge a band solely on how much I am entertained, be it through the dance factor, groove factor, comedy, clever little hooks that make me chuckle, or downright intertextual lyrical genius.
The Astro-Firs found the little pin in the hand grenade of my behaviour and pulled it out with the teeth of rock 'n' roll. For a group of lads who are still very young, it was mightily impressive.
They finished. I sat down with Gem, who was naturally mightily impressed with the whole shebang (sitting off to the side with composition and some of her dignity intact), who told me how wonderful I was, and that she was having a good time (That is also a good thing about a good band - they do help the old love buzz). I offered to bring her up to hug Jos the bass player (the person I had been communicating with on myspace) but I think Gem's fratern with Absent's sweaty lad had put her off the idea, and we hung around for My Elvis Blackout to start.
Now I don't know what it is about them, but I don't get it. The riffs are cold, the energy is missing, the lead singer reminds me of Suggs from Madness (although perhaps that is a good thing). I saw them once before at the John Peel night in Bunters last year. I got bored and wandered off. It was the same here. Maybe I just catch them at bad times. The crowd seemed to love it, and were dancing away just as much as with The Astro Firs. I am also a big subscriber to the idea that familiarity brings comfort and enjoyment. They are a uni band, on uni turf, amongst a crowd of fans and friends, and they were doing what they do very well indeed (don't get me wrong, it wasn't rubbish), and I think that gives you a power over the crowd that can carry you where your music can't.
I recommend going to see them just to find out for yourself though, cos what the hell do I know? I am just a Big Gay Horse.
I recommend going to see The Astro-Firs more though.
And watch out for 'Absent'. They have something about them.
As for me, I am a big fan of Gembly...
Ad.
That was the sound my head made as it connected with the floor. At the front row of the Absent/Astro-Firs/My Elvis Blackout, I was dancing harder than I had danced for some good solid days. I was sober. I was having a comedy American Pie style dance-off with a blonde boy in a pink shellsuit named Joe. I was wearing Gembly's ex-boyfriend's sailor suit jacket and I was, you might say, 'loving it'.
Adam here.
We arrived at the stannary via the medium of public transport. The experience has steern me toward a renaming of public transport to 'Pubic Transport'. My advice is this. If you are intending to travel from Chacewater to Tremough Campus in Penryn, you have never been there before, you can't drive/don't have a car, it is raining, you have no way of getting home and it is the Sunday night before a Monday morning of a bank holiday weekend, and your alternatuve option is a warm night in with a beautiful member of the opposite sex, food, wine, films, hugging and general beguiling wonder at the beauty of it all, stay at home.
Unless....
You are going to watch The Astro-Firs.
They were good. But I'll get to that in a minute : )
It was an interesting trip, but Gembly and I were determined that our first date was to be something worthy of many, many longwinded and humourous anecdotes for both ourselves to regale to eachother, and for us to each use to entertain vast crowds of strangers and friends alike in pubs, clubs, bars, cafes, supermarkets, hospitals and workplaces abound.
I feel we generated something of this kind.
I decided to go and watch The Astro-Firs after they put out a motivational and humourous bulletin listing the reasons I should not sit at home on Sunday night, but should in fact go and watch them play a set.
I replied in erstwhile fashion, proclaiming that I was going to be there, and would they be so kind as to pretend to whichwhatever lady I happened to have on my arm that we had been lifelong friends in order to help me with any nefarious romantic plot I may have (ahahhahahaa).
The response they gave me was a yes. Ace.
In the concurrent few days, I became enamoured of a lady whom we shall refer to as Gembly, and 'stuck-in-on-msn-on-a-saturday-night' conversation resulted in her being my date for the night.
So we arrived. We had intended to dress up as Luke Toms (even taking the time to fashion moustaches from bits of brachen, leaf and twig we had found around and about chacewater) but somehow ended up with me wearing the aforementioned sailor suit and Gembly in jeans, a top and a jacket. We were wearing sunglasses in a darkened room though. And we were the oldest people in there by about five-hundred years. We chatted to some passionate student types who studied broadcasting and media, one of whom had a radio show, all through the set of the first band, who were called 'Absent'. They were a five piece, with three guitars, bass and drums. They were pretty good, and I went up and danced comedically at the end, noting at the back of my mind that one of their guitarists was a girl.
Girl guitarists are cool.
When they finished I went up to their bass player and arranged a sweaty hug between him and Gembly (she has a thing for bass players), and we went to the bar to wait for The Astro Firs to start. Feeling a bit bad that I had promised to dress as Luke Toms, I decided tonight's dancing was to be top notch. The lads (a four piece with two guitars, bass and drums) rocked into it fantastically quickly, with (and this is something I wholeheartedly approve of) all of their songs played about 2/3s again as fast as the recordings. The vocals were crisp and varied, and the whole thing was very...
very..
LOUD.
Don't ask me what they played. Or in what order. Or even for how long. I enjoyed it. So did the swaying teen crowd. So did Joe the be-shellsuited dancer.
I shall instead inform you of the variety of dance moves that were performed. I started with a toe gripped back spinning mini stage dive followed with a roly poly up into a running man. Beer was spilt. There were laughs. Dancing Joe countered me with a forwards crawling s bend disco caterpillar move.
It was amazing. I had to change tack. His skillz far outweighed my own. As with so much in my life, where I lacked the skill, I had to go for the laugh.
I leapt at the space Joe had just left into my own version of the caterpillar. I opted to allow my body to smack into the floor with a slap and stay there unmoving until people came to pick me up, then jump up into a foray of napoleon dynamite/carlton from the fresh prince of bel air skimming superbeats.
That was the plan anyway.
What actually happened was me totally misjudging where my hands were, sandwiching my ear between the floor and my head, cutting me ear, seeing a blinding flash and getting a concussion.
I howled. I held my head. I ran about.
Gembly gave me a cuddle.
Then.
I.
Bloody.
Went for it.
Dancing Joe and I did not stop til the end of the set. There points at which hair and spit were flying, we were performing a selection of gymnastic rolls (well he was, I was just kind of shuffling around in my sailor coat trying not to collapse) and hopping over each other. It all got a bit 'Ozfest meets Soultrain'.
There aren't many Indie bands that can make that happen. I judge a band solely on how much I am entertained, be it through the dance factor, groove factor, comedy, clever little hooks that make me chuckle, or downright intertextual lyrical genius.
The Astro-Firs found the little pin in the hand grenade of my behaviour and pulled it out with the teeth of rock 'n' roll. For a group of lads who are still very young, it was mightily impressive.
They finished. I sat down with Gem, who was naturally mightily impressed with the whole shebang (sitting off to the side with composition and some of her dignity intact), who told me how wonderful I was, and that she was having a good time (That is also a good thing about a good band - they do help the old love buzz). I offered to bring her up to hug Jos the bass player (the person I had been communicating with on myspace) but I think Gem's fratern with Absent's sweaty lad had put her off the idea, and we hung around for My Elvis Blackout to start.
Now I don't know what it is about them, but I don't get it. The riffs are cold, the energy is missing, the lead singer reminds me of Suggs from Madness (although perhaps that is a good thing). I saw them once before at the John Peel night in Bunters last year. I got bored and wandered off. It was the same here. Maybe I just catch them at bad times. The crowd seemed to love it, and were dancing away just as much as with The Astro Firs. I am also a big subscriber to the idea that familiarity brings comfort and enjoyment. They are a uni band, on uni turf, amongst a crowd of fans and friends, and they were doing what they do very well indeed (don't get me wrong, it wasn't rubbish), and I think that gives you a power over the crowd that can carry you where your music can't.
I recommend going to see them just to find out for yourself though, cos what the hell do I know? I am just a Big Gay Horse.
I recommend going to see The Astro-Firs more though.
And watch out for 'Absent'. They have something about them.
As for me, I am a big fan of Gembly...
Ad.
posted by CLGR at 10:48 AM
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