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[Ross]

MYSTERY JETS
Date: Sunday 22th May
Tour Support(s):The Research
Local Support(s): Little Kicks
Type Of Music: Indie / Rock

Website:
Biog: from www.drownedinsound.com

Next up, the Mystery Jets. So you’ve heard the blurb. The hype about pots and pans and old guitarists, blah blah. Sure, it’s interesting, it’s intriguing, maybe to a certain extent even alluring – fact is, to them it’s completely inconsequential. And to those who’ve shut up about the obvious and given the music a chance, it’s even more so.

10pm and the taunt of ‘Zoo Time’ repeated over and over blasts at the audience. The atmosphere stiffens somewhat as those who haven’t experienced the Mystery Jets before wonder what the hell’s going on. Then they appear one by one: an insaniac professor behind a drum kit of scrap metal; a leather clad rock star posing and twisting; the boy next door, grinning excitedly; a greying guitarist, glazed and distant and a questionably normal looking one tucked behind a sparse drum layout.

A friend nearby taps me on the shoulder and questions, "What sort of band are they?". For once I don’t know. There isn’t a label with which to pigeon-hole the Mystery Jets. Experimental? Pop? Indie? Whichever I choose, I’m wrong. My reply is simply, "it doesn’t matter".

The next 40 minutes are a chaos of mixed and matched influences, from ska guitars to Caribbean oil drumming and everything in-between. Epileptic drum beats, sudden juxtapositions and shambolic harmonies – everything about the Mystery Jets is a contradiction in terms. They sound messy and anarchic whilst being mesmerisingly tight. The songs are difficult and intelligent at the same time as being accessible and poppy. The performance is light-hearted yet head-swimmingly intense. Even their stage personas, despite pulling in completely different directions, all show a yearning and respect for the same unconventionalism.

Every corner of every song is stuffed with something exciting and refreshing. This is everyday enchantment, a sort of Layman’s alchemy or magic out of mediocrity. The Mystery Jets live show is not something to forget, but something to remember. It’s the transformation of basic matter into something inspiring. They take something boring and stale, then twist it, fuck it up, do what’s not supposed to happen. If you thought having the singers father in the band was the height of eccentricity, you’d better think again.


Doors: 7.30pm
Ages: Over 14s
Price: £5
Tickets from: www.seetickets.com One Up (01224) 642 662 or in person from The Bassment (excluding Booking Fee)

[Paranoid Android]

u'll hopefully be going, I saw some live performances of theirs on MTV2 a while ago, very interesting.

[kirkt]

saw them support bloc party in hull in october. i preferred mystery jets easily.

[JJ 10 Easy Wishes]

i saw mystery jets with the futureheads and thought they were pretty rubbish/boring. i'm sure they would appeal to a lot of people though, otherwise they wouldn't be on a headline tour! if you go to the gig, try and work out whether the old guy on the far side of the stage is someone's dad, or the guy that used to have the spare garage to practise in......

[Ross]

Mystery Jets will be an interesting one I suspect.

2 drummers.. One using pots n pans and eccentricity a go go.

Nice.

[PrincessHolly]

I'm working til 9:15, any ideas what time they'll be on?

[Ross]

I`d guess at 10pm

Doors 7.30

Little Kicks @ 8

Research @ 9

Mystery @ 10

Curfew 11pm

[Ross]

This is now TONIGHT!

[psydoll]

w00t w00t!