- Independent UK Promoting

Club COG Birthday Bash - Night 2

Birthday Bash Review

Camden Dingwalls, 5^th June

Acts: I Was A Cub Scout, Data.Select.Party, Eight Legs, Once A Thief

A friend of mine once, for funsies, suggested that a gang leader was a ‘player of the pink oboe’. After running from the gang through an alley way where small branches cut our faces and clothes, through a chav’s back garden where flimsy chains prevented our legs from being bitten off by terriers clearly trained to fight to the death, in and out of skips filled with garbage and into the relative safety of a drug den sprawled with so many aids victims even a recently insulted hardened criminal would think twice about entering, he turned to me, smiling from ear to crazy ear, and yelled ‘Let’s do it again!’

It’s this kind of mentality that’s required to hold two huge nights of live music at the Dingwalls in Camden, and luckily, through either substance abuse or bad parenting, Club COG seem to have it. This second night of the Birthday Bash had a more traditional indie feel to it, starting with Club COG regulars and favourites Once A Thief. If you’re unfamiliar with Once A Thief, go on myspace now. No go on, I’ll wait…

Bloody good, aren’t they? The amusingly named ‘Hitman’ is their drummer, and he was on blistering form at the Dingwalls, being gifted with both speed and power. They humorously dedicated their excellent new song to recently deceased fashion mogul Yves Saint Laurent, and played intelligent yet catchy tunes for more than half an hour.

Once A Thief’s special ability is consistency in variety. They’re able to maintain the same high quality musicianship, lyricism and structural unpredictability whether sounding like a Western-inspired latter day Pearl Jam or like Hard Fi but, you know, actually good. They don’t have a weak song in their arsenal, are always entertaining and funny live, and in ‘Satellites’ have an outstanding future hit that has endless replay value. This time round, brilliant, urgent performances of the above song as well as the superb ’Sirens’ made it a memorable showing, almost like a ‘beat that’ to the other, apparently bigger, bands that evening.

They certainly gave Eight Legs a hard act to follow. The Billy Corgan lookalike that is Sam Jolly came on uneasily and they started their ‘tribute to the Libertines’ style of music. They’re essentially a punk/indie band with Ian Curtis as the lead singer, minus the late Mancunian’s great voice.

The thing about them is, despite the cliché marketing photos on their myspace, they lack any pretence whatsoever, playing street music for everyday people. Sure, some of the lyrics and some of their tunes are simple and, at times, decidedly average, but when you consider they’re around the 18-19 age bracket, there’s a dark sadness to their lyrics and a lack of comfort in Sam Jolly that slowly grabs your attention without the need for loud hairstyles or flashy clothing.

They played a new song in their set which was hooky and paid homage to the likes of the Stones and the Clash, and there was more variety to their songs than at first perceived, especially when the acoustic guitar came out for the radio-friendly ‘Blood Sweat Tears’. However the one major weakness is Jolly’s undistinguished, ordinary voice. If you’re constantly being upstaged by your backing singer then perhaps it’s time to re-think the band’s set-up. They finished with their best song, the excellent pure punk hooliganism track ‘Wear That Shirt’, which if mixed with alcohol will lead to violence.

Eight Legs made way for the risibly named Data.Select.Party. DSP are a band that epitomise all the good and bad points of modern indie. It’s funky dance-along stuff. It’s simple and it’s done well. It’s catchy music you don’t have to put the mental effort in to appreciate. Instant accessibility. No need to work to like a song. No unpredictability or complexity. But because of this, there’s no longevity either. It’s happy stuff, but after a while it’s empty. It’s ‘switch your brain off and dance’ music for scenesters to look at each other with lust and hidden contempt as they bob their heads and swivel their shoulders.

And there’s a place for that type of stuff, which is why they’re also tipped for big things, although in comparison with Britpop acts of the 90s they’d be the Menswear or Sleeper rather than the Supergrass or Ocean Colour Scene. It was a very lively set which grabbed attention, but wasn’t able to hold it nearly as well as the headliners I Was A Cub Scout.

IWACS, in what turned out to be one of their last performances, dedicated their songs to their tour manager and played quirky techno rock with thunderous drumming for a good 45 minutes to make it a memorable evening. If you’re unfamiliar with the indie favourites, they proffer keyboard-based indie pop that’s just a bit more interesting and has a bit more substance than most.

Songs like ‘Pink Squares’ and ‘Save Your Wishes’ have penetrated the mainstream, but what struck the most was William Bowerman’s pale, ghostly bare torso as his arms flailed messily, producing the most ferocious drumming of the night (even harder than Hitman’s) like a skinny Norse God of Chaos, or Liveliness or something. Apart from him though, lead singer Todd Marriott and the two musicians touring with them were stone still for the first 20 minutes. It was quirky and quite sinister, and all the better for it.

It’s a shame they’ve split, as live they show a very different aspect to their music. The insane drumming is juxtaposed with Marriott’s high-pitched, boyish voice, as if Igor Cavalera got together with Joel Pott’s effeminate little brother to create music produced by William Orbit. And on top of all this, it’s surprisingly thoughtful stuff. Altogether it was a fantastic set, despite the lead singer acting up like a petulant big-headed diva at times and the trumpet player being about as useful as a stick in a bucket of shit. There improvisation on some endings were inspired, and their last song, the hit single ‘Pink Squares’ rounded off the night, and the Birthday Bash celebrations, perfectly.

Wembley stadium has already been booked for COG’s 2^nd year anniversary. Rolling Stones offered to be the headliners, but negotiations broke down after they flatly refused to play support to Led Zeppelin. Rumours that a reunited Beatles with the exhumed corpses of Lennon and Harrison were being planned are completely false. Mainly because Harrison was cremated. But it doesn’t matter how big the second anniversary is. This was the first, and will always remain the most memorable.

Muhammad Odeh