Apraxia, Spike Pile Driver, Findo Gask, Starfall

[spellchecker]

I'm surprised this gig was so empty, I thought it sounded like an interesting line up. There was definitely a fairly varied assortment of music anyway.

Apraxia were the first band up. Hadn't heard anything very consistent about this band. Some said they were shite, some said they were amazing, but most said the bassist was really good. Which was true. Before the end of the first two songs, the phrase "Reef Hot Bungle Peppers" came into my head. Odd. But anyway, after a few songs, I heard bits that made me think of Incubus, RHCP, Reef (only early stuff mind), Mr Bungle, and some other stuff which I have now forgotten.

I'm sure I read Apraxia described as "Funk Metal" somewhere, which is not entirely inaccurate. I'd say they swing closer to the funk than the metal, though there was definitely some rock out moments. Some of the funky riffs on the guitar were fairly trademark and the drumming to match wasn't unheard of, but just as you thought it was going to be predictable, the song may change, and would regain your interest. The singing bassist had a really good voice at times, even if it did sound a little too brandon boyd at times. but he was changing the dynamic of his vocals and to be honest, i was just impressed with the basslines he played at the same time as singing some quite complicated vocal melodies.

The things that I think let Apraxia down was their confidence. It wasn't that they were shy - as they were definitely getting into the vibe of their own songs - but they definitely had an air of "are we doing this right, oops i fucked that up, shall i keep singing" etc. etc. When they were tight they were tight, when they were slack they were slack, and when they were only half slack tight they were half slack tight again. Sorry. It didn't help that they broke a string half way through the set. Hindsight's wonderful isn't it? Take spare strings next time, because you can't always borrow someone else's bass, but more importantly, you lose confidence when playing someone else's instrument. I felt sorry for Apraxia, because the song they played after sorting their bass problems out seemed to be one of the better ones, and had they had the confidence of having had a good set underway, i think it would have peeled some eyelids. I'd say the singing guitarist needs to put a bit more muscle or effort into his vocals, they were vastly overpowered by the bass guitarist's. The drummer had some really cool fills and rhythms at some points. Funky, I thought.

Next up were Spike Pile Driver. It's hard to describe or rate Spike Pile Driver, because it's not like most bands I go to see. For a start, there is no bassist. Though on reflection, there doesn't seem much point. Most of Spike Pile Driver's songs have a common pattern. If there were a musical dictionary, under Spike Pile Driver would read, "The art of dancing around the precipice of the abyss". What I mean by that journalistic wank is that many of the songs have a conclusion, peak or climax that involves a very heavy double-kick-drum intensive beat and an undecipherable growl from the vocalist. The guitar parts are actually rather varied.

It would be easy to denounce Spike Pile Driver and say that it's arrogant metal improvisation, but it actually seems extremely rehearsed and co-ordinated. I don't know how long it'll be until the next time I voluntarily choose to see Spike Pile Driver, but I've got to say, the set was short, but rather sweet. There were moments that drifted off the hardcore metal edge that most of the set adhered to... one song in particular had a really weird over-chorused guitar, and in general, the guitar parts didn't take the average thuddy thuddy bar bar bar chord nature that I actually expected. Though If i hadn't been in the visual vantage point where I was sitting, I don't know if I'd have noticed exactly what the guitar parts were, such was the deafening clamour of the drum kit. The drummer was good actually. For me, Spike Pile Driver are like the sandwich that was nice to try, one that I might know a friend who would like, but one I doubt I personally would eat again.

Then came Findo Gask. Who? I hadn't heard of these, and alas, they were out of towners. Fife, I think they said. I always love judging bands I haven't seen before they go onstage. My guess was that I wasn't going to like these guys: the decidedly emo haircut of the singer, alongside the waist-worn scarf of the bassist... I was actually relieving myself in the toilets when they started. As I passed the last of the past two cokes in the gents, I thought my ludicrous fashion orientated judgementalism was vindicated when some rather dodgy drums came echoing off the tiles. However, it must have been the dodgy bezial curves of the porcelain, because when I took my seat again, I was pleasantly surprised by the noise that was coming from the third band.

The idlewild influence was immediate both aurally and by the sticker on the lead singer's guitar. However, at the same time I was thinking pablo-honey radiohead, courtesy of the delayed guitar and vocals. I don't know if they took their own effects unit or if it was the Drakes PA, but the soft delay/reverb they had on both vocals sounded great. It helped that both the bassist and singer had good voices... they kicked out some brave harmonies that worked, a hard thing to do sometimes when noise is all around in drakes. There was lots of sounds in their music that i thought I recognised but didn't know the music well enough to place similar bands. At times (and this kind of perplexed me) the guy sounded a little Morrisey like. Perhaps it was all the sugar going to my head though.

these guys were far and away the best band of the night. they were very tight, but not anally, if you get my jist. they were very loud and tight, loose but tight, argh...... do you know where i'm going with this one? the thing that probably glued it all together was the drummer, the person i originally thought was the weakest link. he was hitting those drums so hard, and i mean really beating the shit out of them. at the end of the set i thought the kit was going to disintegrate, dissolve, explode, something.

their own songs were good, and would have been good enough on their own to make this a great set. However, they did a cover of "love will tear us apart" by joy division. they quite correctly guessed that it would be the only joy division song i would know. they reworked it sufficiently that i didn't even recognise it until the chorus. the chorus, oh the chorus, it was really good. really, really good. reallllllyyy.. christ. It's not usually the sort of music I'd listen to but the energy and tenacity of the band just didn't give me the choice of liking them or not. the best thing about this band was you could see that when they were playing, they were really enjoying at. not in a laugh at your mates kind of enjoying it way, more in a "if i catch my eye at high speed on that cymbal stand, i'm probably not going to notice" sort of way. good, if these guys came back, i'd see if i could squeeze them into my extensive social calendar.

headliners tonight were starfall. the last time i saw starfall was in henry j beans, a good few months ago. perhaps three or four months. a while anyway. i wasn't impressed by them then, but i figured after four months, they'd have sorted out their live sound and dynamics in terms of vocals, live guitars and the mix of the backing track/synthesizers with the general live sound.

i have to admit i was quite excited when i saw the kit at the side of the stage, the computer, the korg synthesizer/midi controller/thingy, and the effects units. it's a strange thing, i think i want to like starfall because they are trying to use synthesizers in with a live sound. unfortunately though, it just didn't work tonight in my opinion.

the good points about starfall are generally the synth stuff/backing tracks. Although some of the sounds were very Reason-esque (i could have sworn i recognised at least 2 voices from the subtraktor synth), they worked with the sound of the other backing tracks, and it was generally just nice to hear a departure from the normal live rock guitar band sound.

however, the problem was that there was so much coming through as backing tracks and synths (including guitars and bass), that anything generated onstage sounded tinny and very layered. the live bass was so quiet and/or indistinguishable at times that during the first or second song, i could actually hear the noise of the plectrum hitting the bass strings. unless of course that was a sample...

i don't think starfall have managed to successfully recreate live what their are trying to do on record. because of the clear and disconcerting disparateness of the live sound and the backing tracks, the stage performance has the eerie reminder of (a) dubbed performances on top of the pops or worse still (b) milli vanilli. at times, both the bass guitar playing and lead guitar playing seemed not to match what was heard coming from stage.

the final nail in the coffin for me was without a doubt the vocals. some of the starfall tracks i have heard recorded with vocals sound alright, but tonight, live, it seemed like a painful drawl, fading in and out at random. i'm not sure if there were compressors at work (i assumed there was some, in that effects rack) , but the over-exagerrated disappearing and then re-appearing of the vocals tended to suggest some slow attack fast release compressor doing bad stuff to the vocals. the vocals that i did hear were really quite monotonic, and except for once or twice, i doubt whether the whole vocal performance ever outstretched a single octave. of course it's all down to personal opinion and if that's what you want to sing live, then that's what to sing. However, the vocals didn't have the power in the range the singer had chosen, and no amount of compressor on a basic sm58 is going to fix that. the singer sounded like he should be singing lines from placebo/cyclefly melodies, in terms of pitch. that's conjecture at best though.

i could also say that the songs have very similar drumbeats, but most new/unknown material does have that effect on new/unaccustomed listeners. I could furthermore say that the dynamic of the songs didn't change much, that the songs were nearly always very loud and lacked diversity, but again the previous point applies and is down to favour in the end. i've got to say that i was quite bemused to see starfall asking their friends to say which song they should play next. it gave me the impression of a band that didn't care too much about their set (seemingly confirmed by the performance in general after the third song), or a band making a lack lustre attempt at audience participation.

[Bradley]

The Starfall performance was bollocks last night.

Thought Findo Gask were very good, and the Joy Division cover was awesome.

I really wanted Spike Piledriver to play a song longer than 2 minutes long

Apraxia need a bit of work doing but they have the whole funk thing going on which is pretty cool. Didn't help that they had to change their bass half way through.

[Tim]

Gig At Drakes

thanks whoever wrote this review. the gig turned out truly awful for us, our confidence and performance was seriously knocked by a constant stream of mistakes and accidents!! seems as if we still made an impression though,

Tim.(Apraxia)

[Hog]

I think that was a very fair and constructive review, thanks Mr Spellchecker.

IMHO- Apraxia- good band, seen them before, they had a run of bad luck but I can assure you that they are usually way better

Spike Pile Driver- Half serious, half tongue in cheek.

Findo Gask, I really didnt like them at all but thats my opinion, Im sure they are good at what they do.

Starfall- good songs, Luke has the weirdest way of playing the guitar I have ever seen! Vocals were a bit of a let down. Starfall certainly entertained me though

[Guest Craig]

Originally posted by hog dev fucker:

I think that was a very fair and constructive review, thanks Mr Spellchecker.

IMHO- Apraxia- good band, seen them before, they had a run of bad luck but I can assure you that they are usually way better

Spike Pile Driver- Half serious, half tongue in cheek.

Findo Gask, I really didnt like them at all but thats my opinion, Im sure they are good at what they do.

Starfall- good songs, Luke has the weirdest way of playing the guitar I have ever seen! Vocals were a bit of a let down. Starfall certainly entertained me though

Best part of night: I got to be your official camera man! Rock

[Dave?]

I like reviews!

Apraxia: good bassist. yeah.

Spike Pile Driver: Best thing i've ever seen, living or dead.

Findo Gask: Nice guys, their bassist rolls a good joint.

Starfall: bordering on physical pain.

[Hog]

Originally posted by Craig:

Best part of night: I got to be your official camera man! Rock

Indeed, and what a fine job you did as well!!! Thanks:cheers:

[Guest operator zero]

craig's actually useful.

and i felt really sorry for the apraxia guy's - they had the potential to be very good but trying to re-adjust to playing a 5 string when you're used to playing a four string is very difficult but fair play he covered well!

thanks for letting me use your cable Hog - was much appreciated - i like having lots of room to not worry about whether or not the cable is going to get pulled out of the amp

and in the defense of starfall neither me or luke got a soundcheck as we were both working so we never got to check the levels properly before going on- and someone said that the bass was too loud.... :/

[Guest Craig]

Originally posted by hog dev fucker:

Indeed, and what a fine job you did as well!!! Thanks:cheers:

No probs