Saturday 27 October 2001

Gabba gabba, hey ho - let's go. As yer man said.

Taking us away in fine style are Seraphim. The 'Phim are a four piece (drums, guitar, bass, lead shouting) who I suspect may have a couple of records by Limp Bizkit, or The Chilli Peppers in their possession. Having said that, they're very good at what they're doing - what I assume was an ever so slightly shaky starting track was quickly forgotten as they battered their way through the rest of their set with a real sense of anger and determination.The set highlight was "Oblivion heights" - as good a chorus song as ever you'd want. Visually, they're something of a treat, too - Darth Maul on lead guitar, a singer whose stage persona put me in mind of nothing so much as Henry Rollins in a hawaiian shirt(without the surfeit of neck, obviously) , and on bass, one of the very finest heads of hair you'll ever see.

Next up, in a change to your pamphlets, is Daniel Haywood, or Heywood (depends who you ask). Daniel is probably best known as the lead singer and guitarist of The Puma Sutras, and even in that role it's difficult to predict what he's about to do. As a solo performer, you can throw away virtually any preconceptions you've got - he won't be needing them. Accompanied only by Miss Collins (his frequently overdriven Gibson SG) Dan proceeded to take several of his songs to pieces so that we could see how they work. Pumas favourites like "It's getting a little bit easier" seemed a great deal more unhinged under this disjointed microscopic view and were only improved by that, in my opinion. Although I'm certain that I won't get unanimous support for it, I would say that this was one of the most affecting performances I've seen anywhere. "There are no real men in this town" sings Dan - there are, they're just hiding behind the sofa.

Scout were sadly unable to perform tonight, but who's that in their place? Why, it's Sprockett Launcher, of course! Now, whilst it's difficult to say anything bad about people who like Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" so much that they play it themselves (fair enough - it's been a while since Stevie played at the Yorkie), particularly those who freely admit that we're witnessing their first "town" gig (does this mean that, so far, they've only played "Country" gigs?) and that they've only just met their drummer, I was somewhat underwhlemed by their set. Not that there was anything particularly bad about them, simply that their choice of material was a bit too similar - virtually all of it was up-tempo funky pop, played at exactly the same tempo, in exactly the same manner. Plus, the thorny issue of Covers - surely the Sprocketts have five of their own songs? Packing a set with covers only serves to point out their evident lack of confidence in their own material. Which is a shame, really - a little more imagination next time, please. That said, the rest of crowd seemed quite happy with them - what do I know?

I've not seen Forenzic before, but they were certainly welcome. A set of some fairly lengthy and down-spirited songs, punctuated by some very throaty singing and some fine minimalist guitar playing built up a rather doomy picture, sonically. Musical comparisons exist, but the best I can do is to compare them to the Screaming Trees (ask your Dad). Musically, that is - visually they looked more like a group of four young lads who were trying to ignore the fact that they were surrounded by a roomfull of people who were all staring at them. Well, you would, wouldn't you. They went down very well, and it's quite possible that they got the biggest crowd of the night.

Now, as good as that may be, I think there should have been a bigger crowd for Mob Curious. One somewhere in the region of a few thousand would be about right, for tonight, Matthew, Mob Curious are going to put in one of the highlight sets of the weekend. (Including The Bottlenecks.) I cannot say exactly why, but tonight's show was by far the best that I've ever seen them, and one of the best shows I've seen anywhere. Strong new material, confident re-interpretations of old songs, an instrumental - god, if they'd only started tap-dancing as well, you'd have had everything. To attempt a little objectivity before this shower of sycophancy gets too much, I do have two criticisms:- 1) nice as it was to hear Nick Camm singing lead on one track, it would be even nicer to actually be able to see him at the same time. It may be a big drumkit but Chris could still move out the way a bit. And 2) I want a longer set. And apart from that, it was great.

So thanks to all the turns, and to the Co-Op for organising a very enjoyable weekend. Now, how long is it untill March.......?

Paddy Garrigan