Gigs

Gig Review: Meet Me In St. Louis + Rolo Tomassi + CPWK

Venue: Portland Arms, Cambridge
Date: 18 October 2007

The guitar amp has eaten itself and the Guildford post-hardcore five-piece aren’t happy – oh, the suspense is killing us. We’ve all heard of the raw energy of Meet Me In St Louis and how it has attracted acolytes of the stature of Sepultura‘s producer, Alex Newport. Actually, he’s just finished polishing off the boys own debut album, ‘Variations On Swing’ which features song-titles as intriguing as ‘The Torso Has Been Severed At Mid Thorax’ and ‘All We Need Is A Little Energon And A Lot Of Luck’.

So far tonight it’s been pretty far-out stuff from the support bands with Rolo Tomassi’s circus act of spasmodic synth-driven grindcore and Cutting Pink With Knives simply bulldozing their way through the crowd, literally. Suddenly there’s a roar as local support act, Tupolev Ghost, save the day and lug on a replacement amp. The soundman gives the band the nod and up steps birthday boy and lead vocalist, Toby, who snaps his trucker cap to his belt, steps back off stage into the crowd and proceeds to belt out the first number as the band begin thrashing at their instruments. He’s rocking backwards and forwards with each spasmodic sound change and his huge beard jags up and down as he opens his mouth impossibly wide to belch out some vindictive line about being tied up in electrical tape.

It’s an immense sound with guitar riffs that screech and whine whilst the beating drums sound like bomb-blasts. Then the sounds dips, the bass finds its voice and the drummer starts caning his sticks on the snare-rim. The lull allows you just enough time to realise your head is throbbing and your heart pounding before the vocals lift, the whining returns and another sonic explosion kicks the whole damned war back into motion.

The bearded one is still in the crowd; there simply isn’t room for him on stage. He’s a tramp on speed; a fury of sweating, lurching energy and would surely convince a passer-by to drop 50p into that cap of his. It’s an awesome display of unhinged aggression, wildly offset by his polite murmurs of ‘thank you’ after each song. Then, after six, possibly seven, emphatic numbers the soundman is running his finger across his throat. The amp-swap at the start has meant the band has over-run all and the crowd are left feeling slightly cheated. The band are resigned to another cursed evening (their recent tour featured a run of bad luck) and is wrapping it up despite the cries for more. It’s been a hell of a night and one I most certainly will be looking to repeat the next time the band are in town – hopefully with a full set this time.

Band links = Rolo Tomassi / Cutting Pink With Knives / Meet Me In St. Louis

Review commissioned by Music-Zine.

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