Robyn Writes

Less Than Jake – O2 Academy Birmingham, 9/11/08 (a review by fightclubsandwich)

I went through a lot of pain for this Less Than Jake concert. I had menstrual queasiness pretty badly for most of the day of the show, and consequently only ate a piece of toast and a packet of crisps instead of, um, actual meals. The weather that evening was positively nightmarish; I genuinely thought that I might get frostbite in my feet since I couldn’t feel them at all, my shoes were just filled with numbness and a weird, pins-and-needles sort of feeling. Then, once I took the train into the city, I had to walk to the venue through puddles that were deep enough to qualify – technically – as lakes, wearing two vests, a sweater, two jackets, a hat, a scarf, and my hood up too.

That I went through this much to see the concert should maybe give you a hint at the sort of partiality that you can expect of my “review”.

I am a pretty big Less Than Jake fan, and this night was the third time that I had seen them. The first time I ever saw them, I took a train from Cardiff to Bristol, just for the show. I am afraid that this review would fail so spectacularly at any attempt at objectivity that I may as well just discard any attempt at such pretences of neutrality and just admit that there will be fangirlish gushing.

The support bands, I can, however, review fairly. The first two bands were Imperial Leisure and Beat Union, in that order, and both made really great support acts. Imperial Leisure in particular, got the crowd skanking so enthusiastically that I can’t say I’ve ever seen such a reaction from the first band at any show. I suspect that a good portion of the crowd did come for this band, rather than the headliners. I can certainly see why they would. Imperial Leisure were the sort of band that you see once, and then think “yeah, if I heard that they were playing another show somewhere near me, I would definitely go, it’d clearly be a fun time”.

Beat Union were also pretty good, but let down by poor sound. I couldn’t make out a word that the lead singer said, and very few words that he sang. On the other hand, they were the best dressed band of the night, no doubt about it. Their sound seemed to be more influenced by second wave ska than Imperial Leisure, and, I guess, The Police, since they played a lot of chunks of popular songs by The Police. They totally laid to rest all the misgivings we had after finding out that they had played previously as a support act to Good Charlotte, though unlike the band that came before them, I would suspect that they sound better on recordings than as a live act.

Next came Pepper. Now, I had heard of think this band before the night of the tenth, so their popularity may have earned them a longer slot than the others, or perhaps I just found their set so utterly miserable that it just seemed to stretch on and on forever, but this was just an illusion. Musically, these guys were pretty easy to sum up. Do you like Sublime? If you said yes, then you’ll like this band, most likely. I, personally, went through such a massive ska phase between the ages of sixteen to eighteen, consuming so very much of the genre, that frankly, I’m almost completely desensitised to ska. More accurately, I’ve become desensitised to mediocre and unoriginal ska, so frankly, Pepper’s set bored me half to death. I danced a little, but was mostly just because it was more fun to dance than to not dance. I kept my faith in Less Than Jake, and that’s what got me through.

It wasn’t just the music that irritated me about Pepper’s set, but whether or not to judge them on other factors may be seen as unfair practice by some. I mean, it was mentioned that the band was from Hawaii, but to appear shirtless onstage in Birmingham in November? It just felt a bit contrived and a bit like posturing, though the room was admittedly, very warm from all the moving bodies. Also, the band constantly referred to “pussy” and even had some sort of gross hand gesture that supposedly signified a vagina. This was lame for so many reasons, not only it crude, (hey guys, guess what? Vaginas are attached to people! People standing in your audience right now, who don’t appreciate being objectified!) and slutty, (can you imagine a female artist coming onstage and saying “I love cock”? The uproar would be unimaginable) but also, I was just crabby about being reminded that I was on my period every five minutes, and that just took away from my enjoyment of the whole time.

And eventually, we had Less Than Jake. Just typing their name feels like the keyboard is massaging my fingers, after being forced to relive Pepper’s set in memory. Less Than Jake’s first song was All My Best Friends Are Metalheads, during which you could not hear Roger’s voice at all because everyone was singing along so. Damn. Loudly. It was amazing. Incidentally, they came on during the spoken introduction to the song that comes before the track on Hello Rockview (and later on played the “Harry Reynolds” bit before playing the song Automatic.) The next song was Does The Lion Still Roar? which was very exciting because it’s a song I’d never heard them play before. The new album’s superiority to In With the Out Crowd has been mentioned many times, and the new songs sounded really terrific live, even Summon Monsters, which is one of my least favourite off GNV FLA. It is a pretty excellent song to dance to, I think that’s its main strength and it just doesn’t come across on the CD. Incidentally, they did not play any songs at all off In With The Out Crowd.

Some of the other songs they played included The Mixology Of Tom Collins, The Ghosts Of You And Me and The Science Of Selling Yourself Short, – the latter being one of my favourite songs ever written, and the song that got me into Less Than Jake in the first place, back when I was thirteen, so that’s always a high point of any Less Than Jake show I attend. The band is also very funny and self-aware when they’re onstage; with the horns section telling purposely awful jokes, or dancing and mugging at the audience when they’re not required for certain songs; and Chris admitting, after having bad-mouthed the crowd at Nottingham, where they’d played the previous night, “I am going to talk so much shit about you guys tomorrow”. The best stage banter of the night was probably towards the end, when he announced the next song, which was almost entirely a description of the song Pete Jackson Is Getting Married (“this song is about my uncle’s wedding, and drinking until you actually like your family”) and then they played Plastic Cup Politics. I may have actually laughed aloud, but I can’t remember, and I doubt I’d have heard myself anyway over the sound of the customary screams of joy that came at the start of every song.

I caught up with Ripper and Thom about three quarters of the way through the show, near the barrier at the front. I stuck with them for such songs as Gainsville Rock City, Dopeman and the aforementioned Plastic Cup Politics. I demanded from Ripper a promise that she would not judge me by my enthusiastic, but generally horrible dancing, – which generally resembles an epileptic fit – and she agreed to exchange a small chunk of my student loan for a t-shirt, due to my irrational but crippling phobia of merch stands. While she did so, I asked Thom for his opinion of the evening, who tactfully replied that he didn’t like ska.

I have for a while now held the belief that such thing as a bad Less Than Jake show is impossible, and tonight did nothing to disprove me of such beliefs. This was the first time I’d ever seen any band for the third time, and so I got to see them in a new way, through the lens of familiarity. I may not be able to assess them fairly and objectively, but I think even without the passion for the band that I have, it was a fun evening. The band practically bleeds fun, and they bring an energy and humour to the stage that is just a wonderful example of the way that a band should behave, the things they should have learned after over fifteen years of playing shows. Some day Less Than Jake will slow down, I’m sure, they will no longer be interesting or fun, or maybe they’ll just stop caring. On that day, you and I will have a big loud fight about whether they are an awful band, and I will end up crying, and admitting that I’m just deluded, but for now, even with an awareness of all my partiality, – my huge bias towards a band that will likely never stop being one of my favourites – I still believe that Less Than Jake are one of the best live bands around.

No matter what bozos they may be on tour with.

Live: The Lawrence Arms – O2 Academy Birmingham 3, 27/3/10

Despite knowing about and liking this band for a relative while, I never caught them on any of their previous dates in the UK. Most likely because I was still on my Fueled By Ramen kick which we will never discuss in detail. However, as soon as I discovered that The Lawrence Arms would be winging their way back to dear old Blighty, I snapped up a couple of tickets and braved a horrendous two hour train journey in order to catch them.

Starting out were Birmingham regulars Kyoto Drive. Pop-punk to the max, with the Alex Gaskarth-esque singer to boot. All in all, not really my thing. Trying to engage the crowd just did not work for these guys, and this is a classic case of what happens when you book the wrong support band. It says a lot when the headline act can’t even remember their names, despite borrowing a guitar head off them. Their songs were far too saccharine for my liking, and although their set improved towards the end, I just couldn’t be doing with the singer’s false American accent. This is one of my main complaints in music these days – British singers who put on an American accent, even when they do it well, and Kyoto Drive’s singer was no exception. Grating as hell. I’ll admit they did put the effort in, even going around the crowd trying to flog their CDs. However, not personally recommended.

That said, Under Stars And Gutters, an Irish gruff punk band, were bloody fantastic. The thing with gruff punk as a genre is that you know you’ve pretty much heard it all before, but these guys did it so well. To be honest, it’s been a while since I was quite so taken with a support band, especially one I’ve never heard of before. The performance was fantastic, and lead singer Adam was utterly charming. Their songs, had I known them, would be awesome to sing along to, and I can see this band doing well. It’s catchy, it’s fun, it’s got a bit of an edge to it. Also, drummer Mark has a fucking amazing beard, and we all know what that means here at TBO. Good beard = good band. In fact, I’ve been listening to their songs on Myspace pretty much non stop since Saturday, so if you’re reading this, boys… any chance of telling me where I can purchase a CD?

And then The Lawrence Arms came on and just totally stormed the place. There’s one thing I absolutely adore about punk shows and that’s the amount of completely dedicated fans. Not that you don’t get that in other genres, but the sheer amount of people in one room that are singing along with every breath they have is a little less common. Perhaps it was more obvious in a room with less than two hundred people in it, but everyone was there for The Lawrence Arms and everyone was determined to have a good time. Which wasn’t hard, because The Lawrence Arms are just great live. Playing a ton of crowd favourites (in other words, every song – even stuff off Buttsweat And Tears was screamed back at them), they had us in the palm of their hands. Although, perhaps too much Oh! Calcutta, an album I’ve only picked up recently, and that’s more a personal complaint because I didn’t know the songs too well. However, there was a good mix across all their releases and everything sounded great. The simplicity of their songs works well live, sounding just as effective as on record. Brendan Kelly, perhaps one of my all time heroes, was as enigmatic as I’d expect, and the dick jokes came in plenty. Name me one other man that can mention blow jobs and Winston Churchill in the same breath and not get punched in the face. And that’s exactly the kind of atmosphere that was there – everyone was there to have fun. And they played On With The Show, so I walked away happy.

Live: Kill Hannah – O2 Academy Birmingham 2, 8/5/10

Picture the scene: Midnight, Saturday 8th May 2010. Against the flickering glow of streetlights, a girl stumbles towards her rented accommodation. Her clothes are sodden, reeking of beer and sweat. She’s lost a contact lens and gained a swelling (thanks to a sudden, unexpected ninja-kick to the face). In a scene reminiscent of ‘The Crystal Maze’, she wrestles with a bent key and runs into her bathroom. She showers, rubbing the grime from her hair with an unnaturally erotic relish. She leaves, sits on her bed and tries to process the night’s events. Thankfully, the police don’t need to be called. The girl has returned from a gig. The bands were Kill Hannah, My Passion and Octane OK, and she had no idea what she’d let herself in for.

I’m a ‘gothy type’; pessimistic and proud of it. I like melancholy music and monochrome t-shirts. I wear corsets to lectures and read Edgar Allan Poe in a fully non-ironic fashion! I thought I had this thing covered, I thought I knew who I was – that is, until tonight.

Firstly, I like Kill Hannah, but I’ve always regarded them as one of my secret guilty pleasures – something only your nearest and dearest need to know about. You file such pleasures away with the other unnatural urges you have – like how you like to sniff flannels and new sponges, or how you secretly love to stick your head in a washing machine after the cycle’s finished. Basically, they’re great, but let’s face it; they’re as dark and sinister as a Labrador puppy shitting marshmallows.

My first introduction to Kill Hannah, like many of us in the UK, was in 2007 when they supported HIM on their Venus Doom tour. Although they didn’t sing about unrequited love, satanic temptresses or torturing butterflies, their upbeat, high-energy ditties had me hooked. By the time Matt Devine (vocals) belted out those last few lines of ‘Lips Like Morphine’ I knew I had to see this band again, on their own shiny, happy terms. Three years later, that chance finally came- A headline tour, with an unfamiliar (to me, at least) support band. While queuing outside the venue, I was particularly surprised by the great lack of merch-laden Kill Hannah fans; while much of the crowd fulfilled my physical expectations, being waifish and heavily pierced with hair to rival Rainbow Brite’s, the majority seemed to be emblazoned with small heart designs. While Kill Hannah drew me, it seems the support band, My Passion, drew the masses.

I’m not going to beat around the bush, I loathe squealing fangirls and scenekids as much as the next self-respecting person, and being surrounded by them was slightly intimidating. Not in that they looked remotely fearsome, or that I envied their retina-melting fashion choices, but because they made me feel so damn old. It’s a hard fact to admit, but these kids didn’t come out of the womb with those piercings, I’d shuffled through my little northern life while these kids were networking, dancing and shoving pins in each other. I’m coming up for twenty, but in this environment, it may as well have been fifty. Jesus, I mean, these kids couldn’t even remember the ‘golden age’ of Nu-Metal! (Okay, I admit it was far from a Golden Age, but humour me – nostalgia’s all I’ve got to keep me going before arthritis sets in).

The gig itself was held in the Birmingham O2 Academy 2. Being a foreigner to these parts, this was an unfamiliar venue, but, like much of the evening, turned out to be a rather pleasant surprise. Unlike many other venues I’ve frequented over the years, the door staff were pleasant and efficient and for once, made sure everyone kept their place in line- no fangirls were going to come to blows over queue-jumping (which, coming from someone who’s been to their fair share of HIM gigs, is a familiar, yet unpleasant sight). After tottering in from the back of the queue, me and my companion did the ‘usual merch run’, spending our hard earned student loan (!) on over-priced t-shirts and novelty necklaces as so to beat the post-show rush.

After shunning the crowded bar and taking our place in amongst the backcombed masses, the first band soon took to the stage, the snappily titled ‘Octane OK’ . These four guys from Birmingham really brought the goods, and provided a high-energy fun set of harmless pop-punk ditties. Octane OK have a particularly well-polished radio friendly sound to them, and it really is only a matter of time until we see their fresh Brummie faces grace the ‘introducing’ pages of Kerrang! While they did indeed provide a suitably danceable opening, it could be said that (in places) some of their songs seem to be far too derivative of All Time Low (which resulted in a number of painfully predictable choruses and chants). As for the aesthetics of the group, it could not be ignored that these lads loved their v-necks, with their bassist taking the neckline into ‘chest-porn’ territories. And, while we really should’ve been listening to their music and appreciating their high-energy stage antics, their lustrous hair proved far more compelling to watch.

Having never listened to My Passion before, and not being terribly aware of the extent of their rabid following, I was in no way prepared for the set I was about to witness. Before My Passion took to the stage for their sound check, the excitement in the room was thick like London fog, with a distinct crush beginning to occur in the front rows of the excitable crowd. As My Passion’s peroxide guitarist, John Be took to the stage to the stage to tune his guitar, the screams were deafening. The same reaction was received by each member, aside from My Passion’s elegantly coiffed frontman, Mr Lawrence Rene. The noises emitted from the waifish girls crushed against that metal barrier were not dissimilar to that of a jet engine (if a jet engine wore fishnets and eye liner). Aesthetically, the band command attention- with their monochrome outfits, hair and guitars, they look like a band with a clear idea of who they are, and what they’re here to do. My Passion are also particularly lucky in that each member would not look out of place pinned to a teenage girl’s bedroom – the dramatically good looks held within this quartet are sickening

Yet from the first few bars of the anthemic ‘Day of the Bees’, no-one could be in any doubt that My Passion are going to be huge, and not just a pretty flash in the pan. With a melodic blend of synths and heavy guitar-ridden choruses, My Passion have carved their own niche and have sculpted a fresh and exciting sound all of their own. During their brief set, My Passion pumped out tune after blinding tune. The passion (excuse the pun) and raw energy within the foursome is truly breathtaking, with each member clearly relishing their time on stage and the very vocal adoration of their fans. As a frontman, Lawrence Rene is faultless, throwing himself, and his guitar, around the stage as though he were wired into the mains. The energy from their live performance was contagious, and soon, the whole audience was moving as one, hanging onto each chord and each considered word. The crowd-pleasing ‘Crazy and Me’ and polished ‘Never Never Land’ finale proved that they are indeed the much-needed voice of the Kerrang generation.

After My Passion returned backstage, a noticeable portion of the crowd seemed to move away from their choice spots against the barrier, towards the back of the room (Yet as soon as Kill Hannah take to the stage, many of the My Passion fans realised they’d made a clear mistake and soon ploughed back into the crowd). After a suitably dramatic, smoke-filled entrance, the Chicago collective took to the stage with ‘Mouth to Mouth’, a particularly powerful opener from their new Album ‘Wake up the Sleepers’. With a carefully considered blend of old and new material, Kill Hannah, and their stylish frontman, Mat Devine command the stage with great ease and grace. Devine’s amusing reckless demands for ‘a tidal wave of crowd-surfers’ and generally amusing banter entranced and entertained us all, ensuring that there was no dip in energy and excitement, even if some songs were down tempo. Although Kill Hannah jokily refer to themselves as a ‘fag band’ and are seemingly inoffensive, the crowd madness brought about by Devine’s crazy demands was like nothing I’ve experienced in years – the moshing and synchronised pogo-ing brought the room to fever pitch. And oddly, the multiple kicks to the face I sustained through Converse-wearing surfers could all be forgiven thanks to Devine’s infectious rock ‘n roll attitude. The music of Kill Hannah has undergone a great evolution from their ‘American Jet Set’ days in 1999, yet their Killer Hooks and raw energy has remained intact in their work and, after so many years of touring, still retain a clear belief and passion in their music, which is a trait lacking in so many bands of a similar ilk. After listening to their beautiful cover of The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven’, and their surprise performance of American Jet Set’s title track, it was clear that Devine and co. were more than capable of providing the gig of a lifetime.

Anyone attending this cramped little Birmingham gig could not be failed to be blown away by the energy and sheer dedication of both My Passion and Kill Hannah- indeed members of both stayed long after the gig had finished to sign merchandise and pose with waiting fans. The UK needs more bands like Kill Hannah, but while they’re back in their homeland, My Passion will be ready and waiting to entertain the masses. Catch them both while you can, as they’re sure to go stratospheric, but whatever you do, don’t forget to bring your eyeliner.

Live: Against Me! – O2 Academy Birmingham 2, 3/6/10

Originally by Ripper, posted on 10/6/10.

On 31st October 2007, something momentous happened. Normally, Halloween is a very big deal for me. Everyone else’s favourite holiday is Christmas and shit like that, but I’m a huge advocate of Halloween. However, I forsook my usual party/trick or treating/movie fest (whatever my friends were into at that point in time) and went to go see Against Me! in Birmingham. I’d seen some shows in my time, but I’d never seen anything like that. And I met fightclubsandwich for the first time, but that’s a story for another time. Therefore, I went into this show with very high expectations and was fully prepared for disappointment. I was also bringing along a very sickly friend – Sarah had caught some stomach bug but wasn’t prepared to miss the show – and I had a shit ton of sunburn from an afternoon of watching people get drunk in a field. At the very least, it was going to be an interesting night, and I was comforted in the knowledge that fightclubsandwich would be there with her boyfriend, so I knew it wouldn’t be a terrible night.

And then I momentarily forgot how fucking good Against Me! are.

But first, there was a support band. Canterbury are a band I saw play with my ex’s band a good number of years ago. To this day, I maintain that the sticker one of them gave me is one of the most adhesive things I’ve ever had in my life and it’s still stuck to my dresser. The first time I saw Canterbury, I wasn’t paying much attention, but I didn’t like them very much. It seemed ridiculously generic. I can say now though, that with my full attention, they’ve much improved. While not in line with the folk punk glory that is Against Me!, they played slightly more non-generic rock music that has the potential to be very catchy. It’s clear that there’s a bit of a Muse influence in there with some of the guitar, but old Muse, leading to a much more energetic set. The band themselves were really going for it, and as they are young and hopeful, they looked pretty adorable, like kids playing rock stars. They had a somewhat enthusiastic following, probably brothers, sisters and girlfriends, but there’s enough ‘la la la’s’ in there to form a good singalong. Surprisingly, for a support band, the sound quality was great and the band themselves sounded well rehearsed and to be honest, quite impressive. They might have looked like they were playing rock star, but I really hope that one day, that dream becomes fully fledged. They certainly seem like they work hard enough for that to be a reality.

Against Me! completely destroyed the venue though. While not packed out to full capacity, it felt as if the whole world was there. As lame as it sounds, moments like last night are the kind of moments I live for – watching something incredible, fists in air with a bunch of people who don’t even know your name, but they know what’s inside you, what makes your heart beat, because that’s what makes theirs beat too. It’s almost impossible to describe unless you’ve experienced it. And oh, I experienced it. I experienced it so much that my sunburn hurt. A lot. Because that’s what happens every time I go to see Against Me! – I jump around like a crazy person, throw myself around into other people doing the same and lose my voice because I’m screaming my throat out. I am currently suffering because of it, but it’s not a show unless I’m not.

And a show it was. Against Me! had their own light set put up, which I can only imagine was torture for the sake of aesthetics – Tom Gabel was looking excessively sweaty by the end of the set, Andrew Seward less so, but he has a beard to soak it up – but damn, did it look cool. In imitation of the new ‘White Crosses’ cover, there were dressing room bulbs stacked all around the set, lighting up with every ‘woah’, and it was pretty awesome. fightclubsandwich and I were commenting greatly on how classy it looked. For the songs from ‘White Crosses’, the band brought out a keyboardist, who had the most incredible curly moustache I’ve ever seen and a snazzy trilby. He may or may not be from The World/Inferno Friendship Society, but as I don’t have internet from where I’m writing this, I’m going to leave that research to you.(Just discovered that it’s Franz Nicolay from The Hold Steady – thanks to tayzowns from Last.FM for that one!) And as much as I complained previously that the amount of keyboard made ‘White Crosses’ seem more like a Journey album than an Against Me! album, I have to admit that it did bring an entirely new dimension to their sound and well… it was fun! People forget that because Against Me! are really politically minded in some respects that their music is pretty fun to sing along to, so why not?

The set itself was very evenly put together. Of course, it was heavily weighted towards material from ‘White Crosses’ as they played the title song of the album, new single ‘I Was A Teenage Anarchist’, ‘Suffocation’, ‘High Pressure Low’ and probably other things that I can’t remember. It was surprising to see how many people there knew the words, but then again, I guess it did get leaked, and Tom did put the lyrics up on his blog for everyone who downloaded it. What a gent. I found it amusing that he had the cheek to play a song from his solo EP, but if I had to place it, I’d say that ‘Amputations’ is a lot more of an Against Me! song than it is a Tom Gabel song, and it fitted right in with the set. I can honestly say though that only me and about five other people were singing along to it though. They pleased the crowd with a few songs from ‘Reinventing Axl Rose’ including ‘Baby, I’m An Anarchist’, which they very rarely play. There was a reasonable amount from each album, including most of the singles and ‘Sink.Florida.Sink’ which happens to be not only one of my favourite Against Me! songs, but one of my favourite songs ever. There was plenty to shout about in ‘Miami’, which sounded complete with the addition of the keyboard.

Against Me! have a great reputation as a live band to uphold, and they certainly did just that. While I was a little disappointed with the lack of Warren, due to his departure to pastures Floridian and gatory, George seemed to fit right in with the dynamic and everything sounded perfect. One of my favourite things about Against Me! is the way that James, Tom and Andrew harmonise and when this is accomplished live, that’s the mark of good musicians. Because regardless of what people think, punks can play music well in this day and age. Tom’s voice may be a bit more refined these days, but it’s not lacking any of the vitriol and passion it’s always had and as a unit, the band perform together perfectly. While they’re not really ones to mix things up a bit, they don’t need to, because seriously, every song is great as it is. There’s not a single song that I can say is bad by this band.

And it really says a lot when my only disappointment is that Tom was playing a Telecaster instead of a Rickenbacker.