麻豆约拍

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

First to take to the stage at the venue in Stratford were the three-piece outfit Death 05. Although they claim not be unique, having quoted influence from the Flaming Lips, they certainly seemed to have a distinctly different feel to most current bands.

Jo and Guy played an alternating guitar style that was reminiscent of the successful Bloc Party, but used programmed beats and samples like an 80鈥檚 new rave group! George added a full bass sound with accompanying tight fills and licks.

These boys were as well equipped as they were different - Guy sported a guitar FX rack that looked like the inside of the Tardis and played a theremin and glockenspiel at various times during the set.

It has to be said that Death 05 are not a band that appeal to everyone and on the night a lot of people didn鈥檛 seem to understand what they were trying to do.

However, what they do have is somewhat of a cult following, who were very much out in force at the gig.

When told to 鈥榞et on with it鈥� in a break between songs, George commented: 鈥淲e鈥檙e just here to have fun.鈥� Luckily for them, the audience seemed to be having fun too.

In contrast to Death 05鈥檚 high-tech style, the next band up, Jetpack, were a straight up punk rock outfit. Having met at university in Cheltenham, and hailing from as far away as Cornwall, the boys weren鈥檛 out to reinvent the wheel. What they did, and did very well, was to play fast, melodic and well written songs.

The opening song To a Friend was frantically fast, with a big power-chord guitar riff, chugging bass and pounding drums, and it pretty much didn鈥檛 stop for the length of their set.

Considering the band only formed in November of last year, they were a surprisingly cohesive unit, and the fact that they were obviously still rather rough around the edges only added to their charm.

Just Sweet Theft (Natasha Jimenez)

There were a couple of technical issues during the set although the drummer neatly and professionally papered over the cracks with an impromptu drum solo which was well received.

As with most punk rock bands Jetpack could easily have been criticised for being overly simplistic. But these guys had enough passion and honesty to more than make up for that.

And when confronted with a broken guitar pedal one of the band members said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 buy batteries from the pound shop.鈥� Wise words indeed!

The final act of the night was Just Sweet Theft, a mix of funk, 60s soul and indie pop with a heavier twist.

The band were as tight as any number of deliciously filthy metaphors, and they proved to all be very capable musicians. Guitarist Chris laid down funky chops, echoed by Nick on bass, and Henry on drums, who at one point played the keyboards 鈥� whilst still drumming!

Over this mix the singer, and front-woman-in-chief, Elanor, sung melodies that were somewhere in Amy Winehouse鈥檚 direction. She didn鈥檛 have the kind of voice that is instantly associated with the soulful tunes she produced, but in a strange way it kind of worked. What was very definite was that the group as a whole were incredibly popular with their fanbase. So much so in fact that at times it was hard to hear what Elanor was singing over the catcalls, whistles and yells that were practically constant throughout their set.

Just Sweet Theft were very easy listening, and it was quite obvious they will have no difficulty scoring gigs at many different types of venue in the future - from pubs to weddings 鈥� to who knows where?

At the end of their set the adjudicators retired to count the votes while others headed for beer and a smoke.

After what must have seemed like forever for the bands, the results were announced, with a clear, though not in the least embarrassing victory for Death 05.