The Sheffield Scenester

It was a Monday night. It was SOYO. And it was a night filled with brilliant, local talent, what more could you ask for!?

The night kicked off with a fantastic acoustic set from Ollie Kings. With a well chosen set of six brilliantly executed songs he brought a real smooth atmosphere to the rapidly filling room. Choosing to start the set with soothing, melancholy songs such as ‘Better in the End’ and ‘A Thousand Faces’ he told tales of love and loss. A great contrast was brought about in the form of an excellent acoustic rendition of ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ by the Arctic Monkeys which was word and note perfect! This was tastefully followed by ‘English at Heart’, a slower and soulful song which really demonstrated Ollie’s vocal and musical abilities and led nicely into ‘The City’. He ended on a high with the classic Paul Weller song ‘Town Called Malice’, a great upbeat way to bring his set to a close.

MIME were a band that I was not familiar with, until now, and it begs the question as to why! Their fast paced and insistent style, which contrasted nicely with Ollie King’s mellow acoustics, filled the room with an exciting atmosphere. They began their set with the strong and steady ‘Funny Thing’ which enticed the audience with its fast pace and Lewis Rowlands’ distinctive vocals. With songs such as ‘Diamond Necklace’ and ‘Wouldn’t Say No’ they pulled out all the stops giving a loud and powerful performance which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. As is common with a lot of bands MIME had chosen a good selection of songs to showcase their abilities, contrasting their heavier songs with the slower and more profound ‘Dog Eared Soul’ and the lights dimmed appropriately as they played the grungy ‘Be Here Now’.

They went out with a bang, choosing to end their set with the fast paced ‘Plastic Fantastic’ which went down brilliantly with the audience. I’m glad that I have been introduced to MIME as this is definitely a band that I will be keeping an eye on in the future as I think that they have a lot of potential.

They may not have been together very long but The Velotones are already a respected band on the Sheffield music scene. With an easy-to-listen-to style that appeals to a lot of people The Velotones brought in the crowds and as they began their set with ‘Together Forever’ it soon became obvious that their fans were out in force. The slower and steadier ‘Take Me Home’ proved just as popular with people singing and dancing along and drummer Kris Senior’s strong rhythms and Mathew Hall’s serene vocals in ‘Let It Go’, had a similar effect.

With a repertoire of songs averaging around 4 minutes each this is a brilliantly fulfilling band to have the opportunity to see and they definitely proved this with their last song ‘This Is Rock n Roll’. With its thick bass and drums and its fun, upbeat and catchy style it had people dancing at the front and singing along at the tops of their voices. After their performance it is not hard to see why they are a highly thought of local band and it is certainly not surprising that they have such a big fan base.

Blue Lip Feel, who are relatively new kids on the block with their latest line up, blew the room away with their alternative sound. Starting the set of their first big gig with ‘Sideways’, a song written the day before, was risky but it went down a storm! With their loud and insistent sound and Oliver Tooze’s captivating vocals the crowd was begging for more. They played a well rounded set of seven songs including ‘Oh Johnny’ and ‘Don’t Make Me Pilot’ and showed great range contrasting catchy, upbeat songs with some deeper, darker material. ‘Tulips to the Top’, a personal favourite of mine, wowed the audience with its rolling drum crescendos and strong echoing vocals.

The catchy, classy songs ‘Quaker’ and ‘Midnight Oil’ really gave Blue Lip Feel the opportunity to show their fantastic musical skills, such as guitarist Thomas Payton-Greene’s energetic guitar solos.

They finished the set with the melodic ‘I’ll Never Know Who’ featuring young rapper Nathan Gordon and the song’s popularity just proved that alternative indie and rap really can work in harmony!

Blue Lip Feel have really hit the spot with a quirky sound that is unlike that of the majority of young local bands in Sheffield at the moment.

Headliners of the night The Monicans were on top form as usual choosing to introduce the set with the cacophonous ‘Fear Goes’, an appropriately tension building song which launched them into a brilliant 8 song set. They played all the favourites, such as ‘A Beacon’, with its chunky rhythms and the punchy ‘Into the Rows’ and gave it a heavier feel, in comparison with their gig at The Green Room. As usual The Monicans gave a crowd-pleasing performance and guitarist and vocalist Paul Beard impressed everyone by playing his guitar with a violin bow in the slower number ‘So Unsure’. The catchy ‘My Love’ once again proved very popular and had the audience chanting and singing along with its memorable lyrics and throughout the set more and more people gathered in front of the stage to show their appreciation of The Monicans’ fine-tuned performance. They brought their set, and the evening, to a close with the exciting and upbeat ‘Horizon’ which was a brilliantly energetic way to round off a night of outstanding music!

Review and Interview by Felicity Crook
Photographs by Mickelmas Youngus

We caught up with The Monicans just before their brilliant performance.............

Sheffield Scenester: How long has the band been together?

Paul: About three years I think it is in total but with Lee it’s only been about 6 months so…
Lee: bit longer
Paul: well yeah, getting towards a year mark yeah

Sheffield Scenester: How did the band form?

Paul: It was me and Heather originally back home, in Perth obviously not here, well we just got together with a drummer and started jamming it’s kind of a long story, we ended up here anyway then we formed with Lee because our original drummer who had come over with us he wasn’t interested in staying any longer. We were ready to move on basically he wanted to go back to Australia, because he lived there as well, and yeah we needed a new drummer… we sort of had to suffice ha!
Lee: I was the next best thing

Sheffield Scenester: What influences your music?

Lee: There’s definitely some Nirvana, some Pixies in there
Paul: Yeah a lot of early 90s, not necessarily grunge but the whole sort of punk movement that came out Sonic Youth and Nirvana and those sorts of things, but then a bit of old school as well like Pink Floyd and stuff like Zeppelin I guess

Sheffield Scenester: What about any local bands?

Paul: Well they’re starting to influence, I don’t know, are they? We like a lot of stuff like the heavier stuff like Violet May, Wet Nuns that sort of stuff but then there’s so many here.

Sheffield Scenester: What were the highlights of 2010?

Lee: Leadmill definitely
Paul: Oh yeah Leadmill was probably the top one, Tramlines was good, in its way, but I think probably the whole event of Tramlines was a highlight for me…
Lee: Bomb fest was a good gig; I think that was probably a turning point for us to be honest
Paul: Yeah we played up in Barnsley at Bomb fest
Lee: Started to feel like things were gelling at that point I think
Paul: Yeah audiences were starting to sort of pay attention because I think we were getting tight and all the rest, as you need to do…
Lee: For any gig
Paul: but I’d say the Leadmill still was number one.

Sheffield Scenester: What have you got planned for 2011?

Paul: Well the Leadmill again, that’s a big one, the biggest yeah, otherwise we’re just looking for touring and festivals and all that kind of thing
Lee: small Scottish tour planned
Paul: Yeah we’ve got a Scottish tour in April as well which should be good, with The Salvo, that should be quite good fun.

Sheffield Scenester: Where would you most like to play a gig?

Paul: I’d say just a festival like Glastonbury would probably be one for me, yeah just the big stage at a festival would be great!
Lee: Just to get the opportunity to play to a big crowd of kind of random people would be great.

Sheffield Scenester: And finally, what’s your favourite song at the moment?

Lee: I’ve listened to a lot of Dead Weather lately
Paul: I’ve been listening to a lot of Black Lips, but I don’t know what the best song would be, but I’ve been starting to get into them anyway, that’s a band for you at least.

The Monicans will be playing the main stage at The Leadmill on Friday 25th March with support from The Hosts, oblong and Blue Lip Feel.