Whilst a not insignificant proportion of the British
public is gently festering in a field in Somerset watching a speck in the
distance and wondering who the hell it is (ignore me, I’m only jealous) I’m in
Digbeth...or Deritend...or somewhere beginning with D. Not been to this venue
before but it’s like one of those effortlessly cool ‘urban’ spaces that you
read about in Vice Magazine but never get around to visiting because either (a)
Countryfile is on or (b) you’re terrified of going anywhere without at least
two dozen security guards, sixteen CCTV cameras and a steady supply of WKD.
If you’ve not ever been to a Sunday Xpress happening
before, shame on you. The format’s fairly simple, an open mic slot between
4-ish and 7-ish anchored by the legendary Big Bren then bands from then
onwards. Oh yes, the whole thing’s FREE too, financially and metaphorically
speaking. From spoken word acts through to acoustic singer/songwriters it’s all
hugely entertaining. Highlights today included a moving piece of prose from Sue,
Paul’s Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien, Tim’s Spiderman theme tune spoofing Ciderman, “Goddess
of Fabulousness” Swingerella (who’s shortly off to the Edinburgh Festival) and
Will French’s set but to be honest every single performer we caught genuinely
deserved their slot.
Open mic section over The Nature Centre kicked off
the billed bit of the night with some brilliant slices of leftfield indiepop.
With Beth from Kate Goes (not sure if they’re still going...) onboard seemingly
no instrument is out of bounds; clarinet, sax, synthesiser/sampler thingy,
banjo, flugelhorn...okay so maybe not the last one but I’d bet she could play
that too. If you know your local indiepop you’ll be familiar with Kate Goes and
Misty’s Big Adventure and The Nature Centre are worthy contributors to the
cause. Any band with a song called Give Me Some Codeine And I’ll Give You The
World must surely be destined for greatness, even if it is ending up playing a
session on BRMB (the title of another set highlight). What’s that? BRMB ‘s now
called Free Radio? Good grief. Next you’ll be telling me that they’ve cancelled
Tiswas...
Prog, post punk, performance poetry, pop (albeit pop
that’s off its tits), The Courtesy Group are all of this, none of this
and...er...a lot more besides. Fronted by the seemingly possessed Al Hutchins
who spent most of the gig either in the crowd, on the window ledge or clambering
up various bits of the venue they’re arguably one of the most criminally
underrated bands in Brum (and beyond). Imagine the bastard offspring of John
Lydon and Mark E Smith drunk on Moloko Plus fronting the kind of band that
could quite possibly raise Peel from the dead. They seem to have a new,
additional drummer in place too who kicked things up a notch adding bells cow into
the mix. Now who doesn’t love cow bells eh?
Looking like he’d necked half a shandy or two (hell,
that’s what Sunday afternoons are for isn’t it?) Robert Lloyd, the only
original member of cult post punkers Nightingales (genuine Peel favourites
back in the day) wandered onto the ‘stage’ and eyed the crowd like a man
looking for a fight. Several fights in fact, possibly involving some groin
kneeing, eye gouging and major dental work. That pretty much set the tone for
the gig, with Lloyd in typically confrontational form variously berating the
audience for “letting the wankers in” (presumably a reference to the election,
unless he’d caught someone whacking off in the corner somewhere) and calling us
a “bunch of fuckers”. He might be in his mid 50s but clearly age ain’t mellowed
him and that’s a very, very good thing indeed. We need the prick kickers,
trouble makers, revolutionaries and moaning gits more than ever these days and this
evening Nightingales well and truly messily ticked all these boxes in one of the most energising gigs I've seen in many a moon (and I've seen a few).
The set highlight came
early on courtesy of 2014’s Dumb and Drummer which hammers together rockabilly,
glam, punk...pre and post...and adds the odd funky grove for good measure.
Arguably the best thing the band’s ever done (which ain’t bad going when you’re
35 years into your ‘career’) it packs more into a single song than most bands
manage in an entire album. The contrast between Fliss’s deceptively sweet
vocals and Lloyd’s gruff delivery, coupled with the sudden changes in pace from
full on rock to gently trippy Merry Go Round breaks is a little like being
punched in the guts one second then caressed with a feather the next. If you
only ever listen to one track from The Nightingales make it this one.
Later in the set Bullet
For Gove cemented the band’s commitment to confrontation (calling your last but
one album For Fuck’s Sake kind of gives the game away too) with drummer Fliss pounding
her kit into submission and Lloyd half crooning half howling out the words flanked
by Alan and Andreas (lead guitar and bass respectively) on groove duties. Don’t
expect to hear this track played on Radio 2 anytime soon...more’s the pity.
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