I had picked up Working Mens Club, a Yorkshire band, on the internet. They didn't seem to be playing anywhere in London, but I saw they were playing the Bullingdon in Oxford. And of course Oxford is east to get to. Plus I have friends who live just a few hundred yards away. So I got tickets and my mate Quen was happy to come along too. Indeed he knows a local promoter and helps out there sometimes.
Now if you have visions of the Bullingdon Club as some posh dining club, well it might be, but the Bullingdon on the Cowley Road is a million miles from dinner jackets and champagne. Its a dive. Truly. Capacity of 2-300 maybe in what is basically a dark basement - think dungeon with sound and light system. I described it to Quen as industrial chic decor, but they forgot the chic. It could do with a good clean, and toilets that drained, but you don't go to gigs for the soft furnishings. It was small, good sound and we were right at the front.
Surprise of the night was the support act, Lazarus Kane. Now I assumed at this level (tickets £9) that the support would be pretty awful, or at least raw. In fact it was thoroughly decent. A little bit of post gig research revealed that Lazarus Kane - the lead singer - is an American (well that bit didn't need research as his accent gave him away!) who was resident in England in an attempt to break our indie market. Essentially we probably have a better market for this stuff than anywhere else. Anyway, we really liked them. They could, literally, do with a bigger stage. The small stage was incredibly cramped with both their gear and the equipment of the main act, plus of course the six protagonists. In addition to Lazarus, must make a shout for the female vocalist (playing second keyboard on the far side) and one of the guitarists who kept trying to squeeze in at the front to do some rock posturing. But all in all very entertaining.
And then on to Working Mens Club. Best way to describe them musically is a bit akin to a cross between the Fall and Joy Division, and as a big Joy Division fan it is no surprise I picked up on this lot. I am not sure that I would say they will make it big, but I do think they will make it bigger. People will pick up on them as they do more gigs and get into festival bills. They do have a certain swagger (unlike the support act they said not a word to the audience - just bashed out their songs. And lead singer Sydney Minsky-Sargeant (great name!) has a quite magnetic stage presence, even without any banter, or flamboyant histrionics.
I might just note at this point the slight micro-climates at gigs. Quen and I were standing front left of the stage and were more than happy in our coats. Sydney however felt best to whip off his t-shirt only a few yards from us. I think stage lights make a big difference....
I stayed with my friends overnight and headed back to London next morning. Just to note that Oxford is of course on the Thams floodplain. Photos below were taken from Magdelen Bridge, but not of the river channel - below is supposed to be grass.
No comments:
Post a Comment