The Sheffield Scenester

Another scorcher of a day as the Indian summer slowly winds down, with a lot of people probably throwing BBQ’s all over the city I headed down to the O2 to see Arkham Karvers headline tonight’s Soundclash. Not having seen these guys for what seems like ages, the fact that it was their EP launch night seemed like a good enough excuse to me, after all, it would be rude not to!

The opening support was Great Deeds, a local three piece whose prime influences claim to be a strange concoction of jazz and punk....though I’m pretty sure punk is the more dominant in this oddball relationship! The first track of the night, ‘Chainsaw’ pretty much proved that as the drums virtually steamrolled everything else out the way, but that was more of a general fanfare to announce their arrival. Their first real track ‘Believe You me’, while still pretty fast and pokey, full of stabbing riffs against a slightly tamer drum, was still punked out indie, but as for the jazz, can’t say I really picked that up. Managing to squeeze about eight songs into a half hour set was no mean feat but with each one being short, sharp and straight to the point they pulled it off, and to be fair it really was quite a melodic and harmonious set all the way through. Tom on drums, seemed to be in his element as he flailed away at the kit before him, but out of all the mayhem at the back of the stage came a steady high tempo rhythm which gave Chris, on guitar, and Ben, on bass, a solid foundation to build a respectable set of tunes around. The song ‘Numbers’ turned out to be the highlight of their set, kicking in with a heavy bass before Chris and Tom joined in, it did have distant echoes of Pulp mixed in with everything which probably gave it that familiar hook to make it popular with any newcomers. Even so it was still a good track on its own with some outstanding guitar work thrown in as well, definitely a band worth watching out for again.

With the room beginning to fill as Kids With Radios took to the stage, it was good to see a few fans around the front of the stage. But as soon as they started to play it was easy to see why as well, these were a totally different kettle of fish, from the opening track, their songs had enough fun and bounce to them that people began dancing along. But as the set progressed there was a noticeable change in both style and substance.....the phrase ‘a game of two halves’ sprang to mind! Basically what began as an intelligent and danceable collection of alternative indie tracks slowly matured into a more profound, darker and thought provoking style. Mixing the opening riffs of Automatics ‘Monster’ with some brain melting chords that even the likes of Muse would be proud, you could tell straight away that these guys had no qualms about evolving their sound onwards and upwards. One of the early tracks, ‘Corner Cries’, ran at a delectably jaunty pace, throw that together with a catchy chorus and you were left with a great little number. Moving on towards the end of the set and you have ‘The Excuse’, packed with edgier chords and a more volatile rhythm this was the perfect culmination to an outstanding collection. The crowd responded with plenty of support and no doubt they converted a few new fans, I can happily vouch for my own inauguration as I found myself foot tapping along for practically the whole thirty minutes while a host of others danced beside me.

Next up was Alberteen, a band whose bass player, Ade Berry is in fact the uncle to Arkham Karvers Greg Smith and so without further ado they began. Based in the Leicester and Nottingham area they were a totally new band for me and coupled with the fact that they were obviously a lot more mature than the rest of the bands on tonight’s bill, I was quite looking forward to their set. What I didn’t expect was a near flawless performance combining the haunting beauty of Roy Orbison’s vocals mixed with the underlying eeriness of the soundtrack to Blue Velvet. This was truly a master class in song structure and execution, then as if to rub salt into the wound, lead singer Phil Shaw, whilst not the most charismatic of front men exhibited quite a dry sense of humour when announcing their songs. For example, he proclaimed the song ‘Water Teeth’ to be a song about “Water and dentistry”, a strange concept but those of us in the audience who were, shall we say as mature as the band, enjoyed these little gems! Admittedly they may be better suited to a crowd a lot older than the one present, but despite that everyone in the room, young and old, were mesmerised by their performance. Then again with songs like ‘A Girl And A Gun’ to beguile the audience with it was easy to see why, as one of the most addictive guitar hooks just claws away at you throughout. They were indeed a pleasure to behold, a phenomenal pleasure if truth be known, in fact I’d go so far as to say they’d give The Hosts a good run for the money, so if at all possible get out and see them!

And now it was time for Arkham Karvers, so with lights down and what sounded like a 1950’s movie clip played the band in, I really should of asked what that was about because in all honesty vocal soundtrack’s never seem to work since they inevitably distort in these venues. I do love musical ones such as the Pulp Fiction intro or A Clockwork Orange, a memorable one was a spaghetti western soundtrack used by Section 60, but the use of a vocal track seemed to leave the audience slightly bemused as opposed to all hyped up, which I believe is the desired effect! Not to worry though as soon as the band took to the stage and opened with a few of their well known tracks, ‘Alaska’ being without a doubt easily the crowds favourite (mine as well I must confess since I sang along to it without an ounce of shame). The EP tracks ‘Ocean’ and ‘Circles’ – their closing track of the night – both went down well with the crowd but even so they were plagued by quite a few technical issues on the night which seemed to knock them off their usual full stride. One highlight though was when lead singer Dave performed an almost folk version of the song ‘Diamonds’ with Greg on acoustic guitar, but on the night they weren’t quite at their best which is a pity since generally their shows have the type of energy that other bands can only dream of, still I guess everyone has off days!

It was fair to say that Alberteen stole the show for me, and Great Deeds I will definitely see again, but by now it was time to head up to Brezza’s for the after show party, after all yet again....it would’ve been rude not to!

Words and Photos by Geoff Buckthorpe