The Sheffield Scenester

As we entered the upstairs of The Grapes I was quite taken back to see it decked out with a sweets theme. There was even a ‘tuck shop’ in the corner and a competition to guess how many sweets was in the jar! The large gingerbread men on the back of the stage illuminated with fairy lights had a cheap but effective style that made people smile as soon as they saw them. It wasn’t quite the opening scene in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory...but it was pleasantly different and made the ambience friendly and welcoming.

The first band up was a smaller gathering of the Repomen (who we’d seen previously at the last Little Man Tate gig), their opening track ‘Slaves’ was instantly captivating, especially for one girl who tried to sing along with the mic...unfortunately she did forget some of the words...but it was rather an impromptu performance on her part, but the small crowd loved her efforts and carried on enjoying this energetic start to the night. Their 2nd song ‘Stella’ which was wrote in 1989 and described as having a ‘good vintage’, included some great percussion from a simple tambourine, which alongside the double bass gave the song an interesting depth. The tambourine eventually was thrown into the crowd, which many people just stared at and even backed away from it...but eventually someone picked it up and gave it some. There was a good party atmosphere and the mood quite high...it must be all that sugar! The next song was an acoustic version of ‘Flicker’ which was very catchy and instantly singable. Next up was an interesting version of ‘Dietrich’ which usually has a magnificent trumpet sound pumping in between the verses...it still went down a storm even without a real trumpet...the girl in the crowd (who sang earlier) created a very realistic trumpet sound as backing! The 5th song ‘Love Me’ was another music transformation...punk as acoustic..?! Yet again the crowd became amazed as Denzil threw himself off the stage and landed face first on the floor...but he wasn’t hurt because he then jumped back up on to his feet and pogoed around the room stirring up the small crowd into a bit of a frenzy! I must admit I thought I’d seen all the Repomen’s antics by now and we were only five songs into their set! But no...Next...Denzil announced the next song was all about sweets and chocolates and offered the entire crowd a chocolate. After the song Denzil said (looking at the empty box) “hmmm....there must be more than 22 of you here tonight, because that’s how many chocolates were in the box!...unless someone took loads the greedy b*stard!” With that, the set continued to impress and amuse the crowd. Then just before ‘Lauren Bacall’, Ric’s guitar made a really weird screeching noise...which stopped everyone in their tracks, Denzil asked Ric what the strange noise was and he showed everyone a great big hole in his guitar where the lead used to be?! So it was actually quite a funny sight to see him giggling away, still trying to play it! That wasn’t the only issue...the mic dropped down too, which lead to Denzil dropping to his knees trying to carry on singing and be heard! This mayhem had the entire crowd in stitches and everyone really lapped up the spontaneous entertainment. The last song of the set was ‘Parallel Schizophrenic’ where Ric jumped down from the stage and carried on playing his broken guitar, still giggling and obviously enjoying the moment...and it has to be said...the song still sounded brilliant and everyone sang along to the unusual lyrics. I have to say this was a brilliant set...music...humour and chocolate, what more could a person want?

In between the sets, ‘sweet/chocolate’ themed music was being played...even the opening soundtrack to the ‘Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory’ film was played. Also during the set change over more sweets were given out, I had a ‘Fizz Wiz’...it used to be called ‘Space dust’ when I was a kid....it’s the stuff that crackles in your mouth. I have to say...I could literally feel the holes being formed in my teeth within seconds of consuming it!
Next up was Dr.Robeatnik with his intriguing instrumental set. I have to admit...I was looking forward to this because it promised to be so unique. And he didn’t disappoint...the set was full of amazing chords/riffs and the use of his loop pedals was just fantastic, he combined so many sounds, it was as if a full band was playing on the stage behind him. He also used his guitar body as a tom-tom drum (similar to KT Tunstall), which obviously gave his music a rhythm you don’t normally get with an electric guitar. I wasn’t sure of the names of each track, and to be honest I was so impressed and absorbed with watching his skill, listening sort of took second place...I’d need to see and listen to him again to determine what’s what with the different tracks. What I do know, is the diversity one single musician displayed within a 30 minute set. I did think about the possibility of introducing a vocalist at some stage to break up the instrumental sounds...but then I thought – it’s probably not needed...I suppose bringing in a vocalist would then make the set into something else, and it could even remove the spot light from his ‘mouth dropping’ amazing performance. I heard loads of influences during the set; Spanish, Greek, Asian, Native American, African and even some Breakbeat sounds...it was very experimental with some astounding spiralling , melodic tunes. It has to be said, this was an incredible feast for your ears. The crowd often cheered loudly and clapped enthusiastically, obviously proving this to be an excellent set.

After being treated to a spot of George Formby...and ‘My Boy Lollipop’ it was now time for Cats:For:Peru. Yet again this was a set I was so looking forward to, I’ve read quite a bit about this band and I loved their video in the 2 Weeks 2 Make It competition...seeing them live was definitely next on the agenda.

The opening bars of ‘Poindexter’ had quite a playful sound to begin with which then changed dramatically into a more serious proposition when the solid drum beat kicked in... The keys and guitars followed suit and joined in with the long intro...causing some futuristic sounds , which then took another musical twist as the next track ‘Nonde Milk’ seemed to be mixed seamlessly into the set. The determined vocals of AF resonated through the mic....great energetic start! The applause and cheers said it all really....but just as we were revved up for the next track...there was a pause in the musical proceedings to announce the winner of the sweety jar competition. Needless to say we didn’t win...But we weren’t too far off the winning amount! The set then tried to continue...but unfortunately more gremlins affected the set as AF was having problems with his ukulele, so he asked the crowd, “has anyone got a spare ukulele turning peg in their pocket..?” Obviously no one had...he then noticed Geoff taking photos of him struggling with the ukulele and said, “don’t photograph this..!” which caused a ripple of laughter around the room. He ended up using a pair of pliers to turn it...it must have done the trick because he was back playing it within minutes. Next up was the song about the previous government called ‘Manifesto’...apparently it was wrote when he was a lot younger, so it has sh*t lyrics. I have to say...it sounded fine to me...and the music was foot tappingly good! Another song which had a political message was ‘Open House’, it’s about tolerance and the immigration policy...there was a funny moment when the band questioned AF’s use of the word ‘Tolerism’ (instead of ‘Tolerance’)... “Is that even a word..?” he was asked (well according to my spell checker...no it ain’t!) Yet again a ripple of laughter went around the crowd with some funny banter, making this another entertaining set. The set finished with ‘I Am The O’ which had a brilliant solid bass start and a thrashy guitar sound which blended well in the unusual combination of sounds, this encouraged some of the crowd to bounce and sing along to the screamy vocals. The song came to a dramatic end as a guitar was dropped. This was a brilliant set which finished to the sound of loud cheers.

This was one amazing night’s entertainment; it had everything really...and kept me buzzin’ all weekend!

Words & Photos by Gail & Geoff Buckthorpe