When: Thursday 22nd March
Where: HMV Forum, Kentish Town
Why: Why would you NOT?
I’m writing this to you sitting in a kitchen that smells of
burnt hot cross buns, for that is what I have just done. I’ve managed to scrape
off the worst of the charcoaly bits though. Wow, this is real life gritty stuff
I’m broadcasting to you all…
I’m here to tell you about the
Shins, who I saw last week at the HMV forum in Kentish Town. It’s a really
cool venue, with very enthusiastic security guards, who thankfully didn’t pat
me down AND let me sneak in my sausage roll as long as I promised not to eat it
(a promise I regret to say I did not keep). I had never heard of it as a gig
venue, but I think its general music scene tends to err on the grungy side,
which would explain me never having been there (and the tight security…). It
was built in 1934 as an art deco cinema and later adapted to be a music venue,
and its tremendously camp interior, mainly involving gilt gods and warriors,
was beautifully preserved and extremely entertaining.
We were sat on the benches up on the balcony, and had an
excellent view of what has to be the most disturbing support act I’ve ever had
to witness. We were treated to a band who, after some extensive googling thanks
to them failing to introduce themselves or even speak more than ten words the
entire time, I now know are called Clinic. The phrase I
typed into that well-known search engine was ‘band who wear surgical masks’,
for that is what they did for the whole of their act. At least the masks went
with their matching scrubs. I don’t know if any of the songs had a medical
theme; it was difficult to hear the lyrics over the screeching guitars, not to
mention the full-volume chatting that was going on throughout the entire crowd
who were (entirely reasonably) not at all interested in the terrible sounds
that were being hurled at them from the stage. Seriously not good. They were
jarringly mis-matched to the jingly jangly indie-rock of the Shins; a contrast
second only to the time I witnessed an intense electro duo called Specificus
support at a Darren Hayes concert. As they left the stage to a smattering of
applause, I found myself thinking that at least they’ve found each other…
But begone, negativity! All fear and patronising thoughts
flew from my mind as my flatmate and I moved on to another drink and the wonder
that is the Shins bounced onstage. I have loved the Shins since a friend
introduced me to ‘New Slang’ at uni, and since then they have been a staple of my
musical world. ‘Chutes too narrow’ is one of my top albums of all time, and
their brand new offering ‘Port of Morrow’ isn’t bad either. I’m also a fan of
James Mercer’s breakaway band ‘Broken Bells’, and there is a definite element
of their sound in the new Shins album. The gig was just pure good quality
stuff. They aren’t the most charismatic of performers, and not especially
chatty (although we did get an interesting anecdote about Mercer’s time at an
English boarding school in his youth), but their music speaks for them. Their
energy and precision was superb, and Mercer’s vocals were just immense. The man
just has the coolest voice ever. I am so thrilled to have seen them, as I
thought they had properly gone their own ways for good (which to be fair they
kind of have, but James Mercer is keeping the name going at least, and it’s him
you want to see, if we’re honest…).
If you want to learn a bit more about the Shins, there’s a
360 documentary on them currently on 4oD (only until Saturday) which I recommend,
and also make sure you have a listen to ANY of their stuff. They are wonderful.
One final piece of good news: my mate has started up a new
blog about theatre and cakes (two of my favourite things), which you will find here, and @cakespeareuk
on Twitter. She is very funny and has the best taste in cakes of anyone I know,
so I highly recommend you have a look.
Over and out.
Brixpig x
No comments:
Post a Comment