Gigs

Gig Review: Tellison + Tubelord + I Say We Steal This TV + Ripping Yarns

[Venue: Portland Arms, Cambridge]
[Date: 8 August 2008]

Ah, The Portland Arms; it’s becoming a bit legendary this place. It’s been putting on it’s low-capacity, low-impact shows for so long that, in just my time alone, it’s seen the demise of three great Cambridge venues - The Boatrace, The Loft and The Barfly (although this one isn’t official yet). Some nights you’ll find a gentle folk combo, others a mind-melting grindcore act, but you’ll mostly find the experience challenging and ultimately rewarding. Regardless of either rubbish or packed attendances it plods along relentlessly with the help of it’s batch of underground co-conspirators pushing gently from beneath.

Tonight, there’s a pretty good turnout which always helps those gathered and the bands get into the spirit of things. Ripping Yarns are first up and give us a brief taste of their antagonistic, splintered punk-rock. They play to an odd backdrop of other bands fiddling on laptops (probably checking their Facebook pages) just left of stage. Staying composed they only falter when a broken string cuts their momentum stone dead.

I Say We Steal This TV’s Joly Checketts needs a wee. His pained expression and constant wriggling leads me to believe this is the case, but as their set progresses (with Checketts’ knees clamped permanently together) I realise it may just be his singing style as between songs he appears to relax. Seriously, I shouldn’t be smirking because this is a pretty good live band. Sure, there are too many of them onstage - Checketts on vocals, three guitarists and Mark Smith on the keys and knobs. Oh, and there’s another chap hiding in all their shadows - Ben Howard, a Clark Kent figure, bespectacled and slight but, as becomes apparent, blessed with the ability to transform into a superhero drummer. He hammers his double-kicks whilst powering around his cymbals with impossible speed and with irresistable force. He easily switches between complex hardcore patterns and more natural rock rhythms, and with Checketts emotive vocal it’s a pretty heady combination. It’s particuarly effective on ‘Depths’ and the established track, ‘Exposure’, where the whole band seem to find a comfortable groove.

With so many guitarists fighting for ear-space though, there is plenty that gets drowned out, mainly the bass, and they suffer from what is a bit of a vicious circle for relatively unknown bands playing small venues - they’d sound better on a bigger stage but to do that they need to play small stages to gain popularity where, inevitably, their monitors end up on top of each other.

Tubelord take us to a far more uncohesive place with their melodic, alternative wheedling. Frontman, Joe Prendergast arches his back and bends his knees this way and that to allow him to manhandle his guitar to his satisfaction. Strings bend, notes warp and his youthful enthusiasm even allows him to collapse whilst bellowing blue murder through his guitar pickups. With a breakdancing bassist by his side, legs firing out at angles (we later discover he’d previously injured his back too), and a manic drummer leaning to one side to fire out a spot of backing vocal, the trio make immensely enjoyable viewing.

The delightfully euphoric ‘Night Of The Pencils’, their new split single with Tellison, gets an airing but the star is ‘I Am Azzerad’. Prendergast challenges us to know the song’s subject matter and, after having a crack at scouring the Web, I suspect our songwriter to have spent too long playing World Of Warcraft or to have an obsessive interest in the death of Kurt Cobain. The song in question bristles with energy and passion, riding it’s lows to achieve ecstatic highs.

Throughout, Prendergast’s bashful, yet courteous, contact with the audience keeps us riveted. Eventually he cracks and yells “Oh, fuck it” before unleashing a volley of heavy vitriol and feedback. The drummer, however, saves the day by producing a kiddie’s xylophone which chimes out bringing their set to a sweet and satisfactory close.

Tellison are also playing the shy card to win us over but it’s their constant smiles that cannot be ignored. It’s like a plague, spreading slowly through the crowd; cheesy grins erupt on sullen faces, laughs ring out where before there was quiet appreciation. The band are loving it, powering through their set with an accomplished confidence. ‘Horses’ gallops by before the magnificent chilled-out comedown of ‘Acoustics’ - at first balletic in delivery, then with a big drum kick and snare that lift it back into a settled groove. The star showing is ‘The Western Ally’ with frontman Stephen H. Davidson explaining it’s about how it’s easy to feel sad in this current climate. It spits with a Biffy Clyro edginess, with riff entrances and exits.

The fact that there are quite a few instruments in play doesn’t appear to hamper each one’s impact. The song construction seems to be the key factor to this as each new sound takes it’s own turn at the front whilst the others drop out (sometimes for just one moment, sometimes for many more) creating the effect that you’re being hit from every angle. Drummer Henry Danowski frantically pummels his kit, occasionally chucks on a set of headphones to synch up with the sampler, as well as leans in to a mic to provide a bit of backing - it’s a manic display of energy. In fact, they’re all pretty manic, our smirking keyboardist isn’t just tinkling the ivories; he’s twiddling a sampler, strapping on a guitar, firing up his vocal chords and hammering at a set of cowbells.

With Davidson swinging furiously back and forth from the hips, he resembles a “Jack-in-the-box” as he rises up on his invisible spring to yell down into his mic - the ends of his toes must be burning as they appear to take his full weight time after time. He grins as he sweats, constantly re-tuning his guitar as he explains to laughs “The others are mute so I have to multi-task… it’s difficult for a man.” They bring proceedings to a close with the superbly spasmodic ‘Wasp’s Nest’ and the vigorous ‘Gallery’ - a potently intense finish that leaves the band and the audience exhausted, but essentially, chuffed in the knowledge that another great Portland Arms performance has gone down a storm.

For Fans Of: Dartz!, The Runners, This Town Needs Guns

Band Links:
Tellison

Tubelord

I Say We Steal This TV

Ripping Yarns

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