Highstone, Kestral and Houndshark at the Elephants Head

Another free gig at the Elephants Head. Thought I should share this view of the venue. As you can see its on a corner, and bands play in the front window. The annoying part of that inside is you can see people peering through the window, or just acting the fool, right behind the band you are watching.

The other, new, problem with this venue is the air conditioning. As in several places, it is far too strong. The particular issue, as I found here, is that it is at its most effective, ie at its most Arctic, right in front of the stage. So, the acts want the audience to come forward to fill the space in front of the stage. But unless you are wearing a coat, this is not a comfortable experience. I suspect the acts don’t realise this disincentive to intimacy.

 

Anyway, the reason I came to this gig was to see Highstone, my latest new discovery band. Third time I have seen them in a month. I assumed from the billing, because they were first mentioned, that they were headlining, but actually they were on first. Lucky that (a) I always come early (b) I take the ticket doors open time with a pinch of salt and (c) totally ignore the neon sign outside of which the pub must be very proud. The tickets said 7pm, the neon sign says “live music from 9pm”. In fact, Highstone came on a little before 8.

 

So, what makes Highstone my new discovery? Well, I just think these guys have such potential. The obvious start point is that they fall into my taste spectrum, basically an indie guitar band. Then they tick off the other basics, they seem competent musicians (they could even be great ones – just being honest, my ear isn’t sufficiently refined to tell a competent guitarist/drummer from a very good one), they are a good-looking bunch (not male models, but that isn’t their job), and, from having spoken to them, seem nice blokes. But the real reason I say they have such good potential is the lead singer’s vocals. He could adapt to pretty much anything, from being loud over raucous guitars to subtle on a quieter number. All they need are good songs, and a following. To be fair, they did attract the best audience of the night (or possibly just the most hardy prepared to brave the air conditioning!) Catchy songs and a platform are, unfortunately the hard parts. But then other bands I usually see on these sort of bills don’t have the ability they have, so they are one step further up the ladder than most. They could be great, or disappear into obscurity. That is the thing with potential – it can fulfilled, but there are no guarantees.

 

I will see them again, although annoyingly their next dates are when I am in Edinburgh, and they only seem to have published bookings into August. While big bands post tickets far too far in advance (like maybe 6-12 months in advance of their shows), these smaller acts don’t book far enough in advance for someone like me not to have already have events in my diary.

Middle act was Kestral (not my mis-spelling – their's). Another 4 piece with three guitars and a drummer. And actually again pretty good with a strong lead vocalist (although he had a slight pissed off demeanour, possibly because he was playing to a smaller audience than he deserved).

Headliners (or at least last act on the bill) were an outfit called Houndshark. I was somewhat prejudiced against them on appearance alone, not least two of them with painted faces. Just felt like they were taking this too seriously for a free gig in a pub. I didn’t much like their sound when they got going either. Unfortunately, I had seen two great, experienced, sax players in Skaface only a few days earlier, so the comparison here with someone just blasting out on a sax was poor. 

I gave them a few minutes in the freezing zone at the front before heading to the more temperate zone towards the rear of the pub. (In the photo below you can see what I mean about the "freezing zone". There were actually quite a few people in the audience - just none in front of the band getting the full blast of the air con.) 

 

And then I lasted only a couple more songs before deciding that going home would be more rewarding than listening to any more. Not every unknown band is a hidden gem waiting for discovery. But two out of three decent bands for free is hard to complain about.
 

Astrocats, the Potato Peelers, Silvercain, Psychic Pollution, Please and Iris KS at the Hope & Anchor

A spur of the moment gig. Sunday evening and nothing particular to do. Saw this "All Dayer" gig at the Hope & Anchor in Islington and thought it might be up my street. In fact I doubt it was up anyone's street. Not necessarily because it was bad (although I think it was to an extent) but because no one's music taste would be broad enough to encompass this miscellany. Almost to prove my point, I was about the only person there who stayed "All Day" (All day started at 5:30pm. That is just evening surely?). Only others that were there almost all day were a couple of members of one of the bands

Just for starters, Iris KS. A young Spanish woman playing keyboards. Lovely voice (sang in Spanish), charming in slightly broken English, but you could tell she was a classically trained pianist. If this was a tapas bar in Andalusia you would think this nice. But on a rock bill in a pub basement in London? And when she started with a song about a sheep about to be devoured by a wolf, and began making baa noises, well you felt this must be a parody. (Followed by a song from the wolf's viewpoint where the crowd were encouraged to howl like a wolf) She even did  an improvised piece where she asked the audience for a key and a theme, and just played something. Clearly very talented, but so out of place

And for one song she asked if anyone could play drums and one of the musicians that had come in for sound check volunteered. (Charlie reappeared at the end of  the evening as the guitarist for the headline act!) 

If that was an unpromising, but at least novel, start, things didn't take a turn for the better with the next act. I would like to say something positive about Please, but I would have to lie. They looked and sounded awful, with no banter to relieve the position. Lead singer had terrible voice. To make matters worse, this was really my genre. But done so badly.

The two guitarists from Psychic Pollution were the two chaps that I said stayed throughout the day. I am sure they are nice lads. But this was pretty horrible to listen to. Very basic drumming - God those drums took a beating. I often say I like new bands to include at least one cover, so the audience that knows none of their own songs can at least hear them playing something the audience is familiar with in the band's style. We were treated to a thrash metal version of the House of the Rising Sun. Let's just say I never want to repeat the experience. 

And then up came Silvercain. This was a heavy metal trio, very much not my type of music. But at least I could appreciate that they were good at it. And then halfway through the lead singer announced that this would be their last ever performance, thanking all the people there that had been following them for coming. I would guess the audience at this point was around twenty to thirty. So they had not accrued much in the way of followers. But certainly a number of the people there had only come to see them and left immediately afterwards. A bit of a mark of the All Day show - most of the audience had only popped in for half an hour to see their friends.

Note the swap of guitars to a super one! This guy could really play a guitar well, even if what he produced with it was not really to my taste.

At this point the audience swelled significantly for the Potato Peelers. They were the act that people had come to see, and I lost my place at the front to youngsters who wanted to dance. Well, bob.

They are sort of a rap act. Well not really, more an indie rock band but instead of singing the lyrics are all spoken. Or shouted. I will leave it at this: I really didn't like them. The crowd did. And at this stage for the first time it was almost a crowd as opposed to a few souls.

Finally the headliners - the Astrocats. I had never heard of them, or any of the bands on this roster. I just think that if I go to one these shows I will find at least one band that I think good. By this stage of the evening I was losing hope. I had pretty much hated everything that had gone before. But finally a band I liked. Strong voice from the lead singer. Three guitars. Proper indie rock. Justly headliners. But....

But the audience had now dwindled to a dozen (yes I counted), two of them members of the Psychic Pollution. I guess because the tickets are only a tenner, people think nothing of just turning up for their band and leaving immediately after. And given the disparate nature of the bands on this bill I could understand it. But felt sad for a good band putting in a lot of effort to play to such a sparse audience. I would see them again anyway.

 

This lanky lad was Charlie, who had chipped in on drums at the beginning of the gig. The lead singer announced that he had become a new permanent member of the band. And while looking gormless and lugubrious, he also put in most of the effort on stage, bouncing around. I enjoyed the incongruity!