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Home : Reviews : Wowzer, it's the Strollers
Pinch me, it's the BlueskinsWowzer, it's the Strollers
Pinch me, it's the Blueskins
Venue: Fez Club [Directions] (12 December 2003)
Reviewer: Alch
Bands: Super-Guitarist + The Strollers + The Blueskins
This is a four-part review!
- The Club
- The Guitarist
- The Strollers
- The Blueskins
It's dark, it's getting cold, and I'm far far away from the warmth of my hidy-hole.
Against my better judgment, and lured on by the astounding gift of a ticket bought by the band, I've
agreed to emerge from cosy solitude, to trot down the Fez to hear the Strollers play live. Time
and again the thought comes unbidden: I hope this is gonna be worth it. Asking around, I'm directed
to Charter Square, but Fez is nowhere in sight. Walking in squircles, I find and team up with another
guy equally lost, equally determined to hear tonight's sounds. And then there it is - tucked up
behind the main square; hidden round the corner of a small side road, it's a jewel of a place, with
music and staff to match. So, so what if it's cold outside? So what if it's dark? Here inside Fez
it's alive and alert, and there's promise in the air of an evening to savour.
Reviews normally focus only on the bands, but tonight's performance needs something fuller; it was a
pleasure to be there, and everything about the place, the crowd, the bands and the styles —
everything conspried to make for a cheerful and entertaining night out. Even the no-thrills burger
from MacDonalds, my first in a decade, played it part.
The Club
The best place to start a review, especially when it's your first visit to a venue, is at the bar.
With no axe to grind, and no CDs to plug, the barkeep's views are often unbiassed, and s(he)
can be trusted in general to give a fair and well-founded guide to the place, devoid of
promotional spin.
In general, I'm told, the nights here are good. Fez is open-handed in its
dealings, and welcomes new bands alongside the experienced; inevitably, the quality of newer bands
can sometimes be suspect, but this is more than made up for by the encouragement they receive from
being booked in the first place. As in most venues, bands are expected to bring in a certain number
of punters, but the numbers required here are achievable. For the drinkers amongst you, a word to the
wise: drinks come in cans and bottles, not hand-pumps, and the selection is limited (to my mind the
cans are definitely the better value). But again this is made up for by the service and cheeriness of the
resident barman.
The ethos of the club was almost pure 1970s, reflecting the
current craze for not-quite-right nostalgia. Flares have become baggies, and there's nowhere near enough
metal badges on lapels, but fishing hats and tweed jackets are in abundance, and even the interval
music has the prog-rock 70's feel I remember from school days, interspersed with heavier sections.
And there's just time, before moving on to the bands, for a quick praise of the sound engineer. Listening
to the bands from the back of the room, the mixing (especially during the Blueskins' set) was superb, with
instruments and vocals perfectly balanced.
The Guitarist
[7.50 - 8.20pm] I still don't know who this guy was, but he did a great job warming the audience up
with a run of 9 or so Dylanesque folk-rock jangly-guitar pieces (right down to the mouth organ). The
playing was spot on for the style, and the songs were well-crafted and well-performed.
The lyrics are acerbic, with lines like It's nearly morning and I should tell you I
don't want your loving any more ... I don't see no sense hanging around ... My friends are all saying
I'm a freak going down a storm with the audience. As for the acid test, yes I definitely would
pay to see this guy and buy his CDs. He's self-contained and self-sufficient, with a determinism that
comes across at every opportunity. And the songs just keep getting better.
The Strollers
[8.45 - 9.10pm] And now for the band I've actually come to see. The audience seems to have had the same idea,
and as the band start playing, they all sit up and take notice. Again there's the late 70s feel to the
scene, and the vocals punch through a wall-of-guitar. From the start, this is a band whose playing is
wholly together, with changes and effects and vocals carefully synchronised with the rock-steady beat. Some
of the songs I've heard before (see my review of the band's 2002 EP),
but some are new, and scheduled for recording in the next few days. Perhaps this explains the flash
photography? There's even a folk-rock standard, with the Stroller's performing their version of the classic
"How many roads must a man walk down...?"; but they've played around with the melody line, making this less
of a cover and more of an artistic re-interpretation. The 4th song — the 2nd from the new EP —
deserves special mention, as it marks a definite change of emphasis, with the bass coming into its own for
the first time; it's a very striking effect, and suggests they might make more use of their bass player's
talents! The diction of the vocals is superb and the tune good - an excellent choice for the EP.
The Blueskins
[9.35 - 10.20] These guys were recommended to me by the Strollers, and when one band recommends another you
know they're going to be good. In a sense, the Blueskins are a heavier version of the Strollers,
and the crowd has pushed even further forward. If the Strollers were the Kinks, then the Blueskins would be
the Stones. Once again, the band are clinically 'together' - possibly even more so, since there's the
extra complication of backing vocals (which remind me of Led Zep's recording of Achilles' Last Stand).
The Blueskins' stage presence is superb, and they've mastered the art of getting the audience directly involved.
And they've obviously got excellent promotional skill (or support?). There are free Blueskins stickers and
badges everywhere.
I don't want to give you the wrong impression, but I really do rate this band quite highly. Tracks like They
are for sale reinforce the Led Zep comparison; not directly, of course, but in terms of raw energy and the
ooh-ooh backing vocals. Or maybe Argent? That quality, anyhow - rock at its very best. Have a listen yourself -
you may still be able to find a copy of their EP in Fopp. But they're not simply a clone from a bye-gone era.
You could also describe them as a faster, rockier version of Supergrass, but even that doesn't really do them
justice. They're fast, succinct, together, and wholly self-sufficient; a noise unto themselves.
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Mon 30 Oct 2006
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