The Sheffield Scenester

I knew I had arrived too early for this gig when I found myself to be the only person there, still by the time the first band had arrived on stage a reasonable crowd was milling around the bar. Having set themselves up on stage Shamble Street, as they were called, opened with the song ‘Kingmaker’, a good indie pop start to the evening, rather in the early Kaiser Chiefs mould of things, this was followed by ‘Wake Up And Shape Up’, a much lighter affair altogether. In fact this song was the one that seemed to drag everyone away from the bar and around to the stage, as not only was it a very catchy and at times frothy tune…it strung together some clever delicate licks on guitar to keep you entranced. Lyrically it may have been a bit depressing, but as the title suggests it is about trying to get someone’s life back on track and you can’t do that without pointing out a few home-truths. This seems to be the general style of writing in quite a lot of their material, a lot of feeling sorry for themselves or pitying some poor unfortunate soul, but on the bright side they don’t go at it like Radiohead, they’re just a group of ‘glass is half empty’ kind of songwriters! Overall the mix of acoustic guitar and electric’s razor sharp riffs works brilliantly, while Tom Scurr on lead vocals has an almost sad desperation about his voice which suits this style perfectly. In between songs he was quite happy to banter with the crowd who were obviously impressed with the material, so much so that the bar seemed a distant memory by now, for me it was an outstanding start to the evening, they will in fact be playing the Soundclash all day event on August 13th, an ideal time to catch them!

MIME were up next, a band from Yorkshire, roughly meaning two are from Harrogate, one is from Leeds while the singer Lewis Rowlands is the only homegrown talent, no worries though a band is a band! The room was filled with a drum pummeling intro before giving way to guitar and bass just as Lewis walked on stage with a shout of “C’mon!” From this point on it was indie punk all the way, in your face with the subtlety of a hammer-drill to the jugular! Not only did they bring attitude to the O2, they brought quite a crowd with them too, as was evident from the amount of cheers that went up to the opening bars of ‘Wouldn’t Say No’, a real romper stomper of a tune. By the time the second track, ‘Lies’ started, all hands were in the air clapping along as this slice of punked up indie rock blew us away. The song ‘Diamond Necklace’ stayed true to their hard core punk beliefs as it opened with a PIL bassed-up rhythm…before dropping into a vintage Buzzcocks speedy riff while Lewis just kept up with everything…even while he threw himself about the stage! At this point it has to be noted that aside from the pounding our ears were taking courtesy of a pretty formidable drum, guitar and bass, the vocals as delivered by Lewis weren’t exactly shy on the old Richter scale; this kid certainly has a set of lungs on him, even those that had never seen them before seemed slightly awestruck at the talent on display. Now having proved he can belt a song out, the question remained could he control it…..??? and sure enough the slowest song of their set ‘Dog Eared Soul’ was there as the perfect test, but no worries he rose to the occasion and gave a considered and triumphant performance. Finishing with ‘Plastic Fantastic’, a classic retro punk song of their own, wound up a brilliant set from a truly entertaining band.

Watching the 48ks set themselves up on stage I was rather struck by the fact that a rubber chicken was strung from one of the mic stands, now there was an unanswered question if ever I saw one! Still it would have to wait as they started straight away with the song ‘Time And Again’, a song with the same energy and drive of ‘Chelsea Dagger’, so straight away these guys had the crowd on their side. They seem to have brought their own bunch of groupies with them…they had a backing percussion section in the crowd, as tambourine and co-ordinated dancers joined in nearly every track they played. Up until now the set had mostly been a sort of hybrid offspring of rock ‘n’ roll and indie with a good rock steady back beat overlaid with some slicing riffs on guitar, at times even a bit of Hank Marvin influence could be heard. But as they approached the end of the set, things began to develop into a darker and heavier style, the song ‘Valentines Day’ epitomized this with its pummeling kick drum and a rasping guitar, in the same vein as the heady days of Golden Earring. It didn’t seem to bother the crowd as they just cheered louder and louder with every new track, even when it came to the final track ‘Marching Feet’, which really was a heavy and bass ridden number. It’s almost as if they looked at a whole chunk of music between the 50’s and 70’s and said “Yeah we can do that!” and sure enough they did with a really original slant on it as well. Oh by the way, turns out the rubber chicken was just a gimmick to help you remember them by, as if the music hadn’t done that already!

Walking out to The Stone Roses ‘Waterfall’ would be a brilliant entrance for any band, but tonight that honour fell to The Magi who were tonight’s headlining act. Opening with the strangely titled ‘Tinned Beans & Corned Beef’ they began as they meant to go on, with a quick tilt of the hat to Kasabian, the guitars kicked into top gear and an entrancing but rhythmic slice of indie dance was born. No set would be complete without the familiar and resoundingly classic opening riff of ‘Fear Of Psychosis’, so sure enough this was played fairly early on in the set and as expected the crowd went wild for it. As they had an extended set tonight we heard quite a bit of old and new….so it was good to compare the likes of ‘Female Rhymes’ with its quick rap, mid-song, courtesy of bassist Ed, to the more Clash inspired ‘We Never Did It’, a song about someone in prison. Personally I am more inclined to go for their newer material as it seems to have greater scope. When it came to the final song of the night, ‘It Doesn’t Matter Anyway’, for reasons unbeknown to me, some guy got up on stage, emptied his pockets and began doing what looked like a workout routine….(the sort you might find on a keep fit video) throughout the song, that was until he knocked over lead singer John’s beer, at which point he grabbed his stuff and bolted. Very strange indeed…???!!! But it did cap a very entertaining evening with three bands that I’ve never seen before, but would happily see again!

Words by Geoff Buckthorpe
Photographs by Mickelmas Youngus