This gig was part of a nationwide set of gigs at small independent venues meant to fill the gap left by this being a fallow year for the Glastonbury Festival. It was called Everywhere At Once and was in over 500 venues across the country.
The particular one I went to was in a venue which was new to me - the Blue Posts in Soho. It was running Friday night and all day Saturday. Having tickets for Two Door the day before I could only go to the Saturday line up. Which appealed to me as headlining was Sweet Unrest. Or so they were when I bought a ticket. By the time it came round they had been replaced by ART.
Another problem I had was when this gig started. My ticket said 7:30 but in view of the number of acts I knew it must be earlier. The pub website said nothing. I looked at the event details section on the ticket site and that said doors open Saturday at 12:20. So I turned up at 1pm. The barman seemed to think 7:30 but asked another member of staff and they said 3. Too late to return home, so I went to the National Gallery for a couple of hours, culture vulture that I am.
Returning mid afternoon I found the actual venue for all these bands above the pub is, if anything, smaller than my living room. There is no stage - bands just played at one end. Fortunately opening act Screens were only a trio. Lead singer Joe came up and introduced himself as I was pretty much the total audience. Friendly guy, close to my stature, next to a very tall guitarist - an unlikely looking pairing. Drummer obscured at the back. A short set - Joe said they were a new band all having played in other bands previously, so hadn't built up a following yet. Standard indie fare. I thought this might set the trend for what followed, but no...
Next up were Bugbear, another conveniently compact trio. But they were, to my ears, dreadful. Art school project is how I would describe them. Pretentious lyrics and lacking melody. Just no.
But note from photo that not only is there no stage, but the whole venue has leopard skin pattern carpet. The O2 it is not!
I didn't think I had heard the next act before, but as soon as they came on stage I realised I had. The lead singer of Soaked, as you can see below in the hat, is quite distinctive in appearance. And in personality. They had just added a band member so were playing as a four piece with the skinny drummer I believe formally being a guitarist. He sounded pretty good, and started a trend over the evening of drummers playing shirtless. The place was like a sauna, and although it professed to have an air conditioning unit at the end of the room, that appeared to be for decoration only. At one point between acts I went and sat under it. I realised it did have a function. While it produced no cold air, it did drip water....
Soaked were loud and enthusiastic. And stuck around all day to support the other acts. I will leave it there.
Toy Parlour were a chunky, hairy four piece, which stood out from the basic collection of skinny kids who made up the vast majority of this gig. While visually not the most appealing, the lead singer actually had a very decent voice and they were probably the best act so far, although the lead singer did look quite pissed off at playing in the sweatiest place on earth to an almost empty room.
I would struggle to convey how much I disliked the next act. With no real sound foundation for it, I had assumed I was in for a day of indie bands. I didn't expect this young woman to rap to a backing track. Given the paucity of audience members, she eschewed the "stage" and took up the middle of the room, engaging anyone who looked engageable, which was basically the members of Soaked. In the first place I don't appreciate rap, but this was much worse because it was so in one's face, and she was so ... gestural
Including at one stage falling to the floor and having a squirm. At another leaving the room dramatically (and disappointingly returning😃)
That performance finally over (I would have given up on it were I not trapped - she was between me and the only exit!), up stepped Blow Dry. The lead singer, at least, was Australian. She had some decent banter. While falling into my general category of indie, they just didn't seem very good.
Another four piece band which because of the nature of the space meant two of them in the limelight so to speak and the lead guitarist and drummer very much in the shadows. Although this image doesn't show it too well, the guitarist was a very heavily tattooed young man, including almost all his back which looked to me like a tattoo deliberately large and dark to cover up a previous tattoo!
At least I knew I was on safer ground when it came to Swindled as I had seen them before and thought they were good. But also thought, since they were from Sunderland, that I wouldn't be seeing them again any time soon. But lo and behold here they were. Now when they first turned up I did think that at least, unlike the previous time I had seen them, they would be playing in t-shirts. But no, when it came to the performance all but lead singer and drummer had changed into suits. Utter madness. The place was hotter than a Finnish sauna (or the Victoria line which I would soon have to endure too). To make matters worse, they are a five piece. It was a squeeze to put it mildly.
Honestly, they were really good. Easily the best act of the day. Lead singer has very decent vocals, they look good and have real personality. What the fat bloke in glasses on guitar at the back (I hope he won't take offence) lacks in looks he makes up for in being super nice, funny and friendly. The drummer didn't join the shirtless drummers of the day but almost did so by unbuttoning his shirt to the waist (With much internal joshing about him lacking chest hair).
They just came over as a very nice bunch of blokes. Which made it frankly embarrassing that they came all the way down from Sunderland (and would be driving all the way back that night) to play to an audience that had now dwindled to single figures. I could see in the lead singer's eyes that he was trying not to look at how few people there were before him. The trouble with these small gigs is that very often the audience is made up of friends coming to see a band. So I think the previous act had some friends who then disappeared. And this lot from Sunderland were clearly not going to have an entourage, leaving the place more deserted than ever. And tiny as the venue was, it was never full.
At the end, as I was standing at the front as always, I just felt the need to apologise to them for coming all this way to play to an empty room, as if somehow it was my fault! Although of no consolation, I commented how much I had enjoyed them, and having seen zillions of bands over the years, I certainly rated them highly, even if not their target demographic.I think they appreciated that tiny bit of positivity, and felt it was the least I could do.
(And given I have a mate who lives in Newcastle I would love to see them up in the north-east sometime, just as a surprise!)
Last up, for me, was the Sick Fix from Manchester. They venture down quite often - I think this was the fourth time I had seen them - so the boys recognise me to talk to. Tonight they had slimmed down to a trio as one of the guitarists was sick. Well, it saved on space!
Now the nice bit for me beforehand is I got chatting to their manager (who it turned out was also the drummer's granddad!). So I learned a little about the boys. I also found out that they were under age - the bouncers downstairs wouldn't initially let them in to play at their own gig!
Grandad did much of their sound check himself, in the absence of the boys who had disappeared to get some food. And then their short actual sound check involved the lead from Soaked charging in rather for his own benefit - Leo could barely get to his own mic!
But then off they went. How to describe the Sick Fix? Bit like the Libertines. Loud, brash, punk like, exhilarating, fun. Certainly some arrogance (as their manager was the first to say), but that comes across as casual swagger. Lead singer Leo is the character, outgoing, chippie, think Liam Gallagher but a bit more upbeat and less of a tosser. What is often termed "attitude". But I also had a nice chat with them afterwards. Always seem to talk to Leo.
Unfortunately as will be evident below, as it got darker outside they decided to use even less light inside, so these photos are more crap than they should be, sadly for what in their own way, are quite a photogenic band.
Ted on drums, the manager's grandson, discarded his top fairly early on - well drummer is the most strenuous role.
Leo followed suit soon after. I told you it was like a sauna!
Then at the end, grandad/manager summoned them (well principally his grandson) forward to do some photos "for social media"
I hope he doesn't mind, but I pinched this one from their Instagram account. Once again I felt bad at them travelling all this way for little gain but an Instagram photo. But I really enjoyed them, and told them so. Especially Ted on drums, and not just sucking up to his grandad. I was told that unfortunately he really knew how good a drummer he was. And apparently a decent guitar player too. I suppose well placed arrogance! But I was intrigued that I hadn't noticed what a great drummer he was from previous gigs, possibly because with three guitarists ahead of him he was just noticeable. But I genuinely feel he makes the difference to them.
Another act I will definitely see again if and when they venture back to the capital. So I had not exactly had much fun most of the day, although did have a few enlightening chats with the promoter, but ended with two very enjoyable sets, so I won't complain. There was another performance to come from ART headlining, but I decided to quit to get home for England v Panama. Maybe not my best ever decision, but at least this place was a lot easier to escape from that Crystal Palace. It seems it helps when the crowd is 25 rather than 25,000....
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