Tweak Bird & Lightning Bolt @ Capsule

Lightning Bolt + Tweak Bird + Pete Prescription @ Capsule, Vivid
Tuesday 8th December 2009 

Last Tuesday a few of us from Worcester made our first visit to Capsule at Vivid to see Tweak Bird and Lightning Bolt. Not only was it our first gig at Vivid it was our first time seeing both bands, and both impressed.

Vivid had a bit of an art installation feel to it: white walls with the names of all the bands who played over the past 10 years on the walls and angular projector lighting. The crowd seemed amiable and the beer was good.

We missed most of Pete Prescription who played guitar over synths and samples, with video projected onto the screen behind him.



Pete Prescription

Next on were Tweak Bird, a brotherly two piece from Illinois, USA on drums and guitar. They played high tempo, noisy, pounding tunes that both had your foot taping and head nodding to the grungy, occasionally psychodelic tunes. Hard to describe, yet weirdly reminded me think of the White Stripes meets Suzi Quattro. Hugely enjoyable.



Tweak Bird




Tweak Bird


Tweak Bird

Next on were the much anticipated Lightning Bolt. We knew they were going to be loud but we were glad of the ear plugs that were handed out at the door. Even harder to describe - intense, crazy, pounding wall of noise that had had the crowd moving to the beat and occasionally spilling over onto the band - I was saved by the bass player after the crowd surged forward during one of the more intense songs. The bass and banjo strung bass made the most amazing yet rhythmic sounds while the vocoder style vocals blended well with the noise (I mean that in good way!). They were simply amazing and the fact that they were toe to toe with the audience made it even more special.



Lightning Bolt


Lightning Bolt



Lightning Bolt


Lightning Bolt

I'm already looking forward to this weekend's gig at Vivid, with the line-up including Una Corda and Calvados Beam Trio.

Links:

Tweak Bird

Lightning Bolt

Capsule are 10 - Closing Party

Lightning Bolt + Tweak Bird + Pete Prescription @ Capsule

Photos copyright Mark Hoy 2009 http://inaGoodLight.com

Calm Like A Riot - Birmingham

Calm Like A Riot played a gig last Saturday at the Flapper pub in Birmingham with four other bands in a local heat for Surface Unsigned. The Flapper was a good venue- small, dark and intimate allowing the crowd to get up close and personal if they chose.

Some pre-gig nerves seemed to fire Calm Like A Riot into giving possibly their best performance to date, putting on a tight display and John (vocals) almost fit to bust with enthusiasm and energy. The PA was good for such a small venue and allowed the band to shine, with plenty of interaction between the band and the audience who were down the front enjoying the Calm Like A Riot experience.

At the end of the evening the votes from the bewildering "voting system" (text, audience, the other bands and industry pundits) were added up and the four bands proceeding to the next round were given in no particular order.

When the third band announced were not Calm Like A Riot things were pretty tense in the band and in the partisan audience will all eyes on John, who was standing just in front of the compere...

Why did we worry? Calm Like A Riot easily qualified for the next round with the highest number of votes and the only band on the night to receive an industry vote.

The next gig is 7.30pm 17th May 2009 at The Rainbow Under the Arch, Birmingham B9 4EE

More details available here.

Calm Like A Riot

Calm in the light, originally uploaded by ukespresso.

Calm Like A Riot played this week in Wolverhampton's Little Civic as part of Battle of the Bands. They played 4 songs to impress the judges but despite an impressive and typically spirited performance came second. Onwards and upwards!

The other bands were metal so they may have been fighting an uphill battle before they started but the short, sharp and sweet set went down well. Calm Like A Riot hail from Worcester and write/ play all their own songs that are hard to label but have a hint of Rage Against The Machine, a splash of hip-hop and a twist of punk attitude.

Make up your own mind- listen to their music at http://www.myspace.com/CalmLikeARiot

If you're on Facebook visit them here.

NB: I had planned to do an introductory type first post but... "We're supposed to start with these operation programs first. That's major boring shit. Let's do something a little more fun. How about... combat training."