By Dave
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Which was tonight, as it happens.
So now I sit, keyboard under fingers, hearing slightly muted from the loud music, pondering what to write.
Jack should be writing a review of our gig friend soon (he was a marvellous dancer), so I will concentrate on the bands instead.
Actually, let’s start from the beginning of the night.
At 7.15 I received a call from Jack, telling me he was parked outside my house in his car, too fearful to leave in case he got a parking ticket. I threw on my coat, put my wallet and keys into pocket and almost walked out the house without the tickets. After a fairly mundane drive into the murky depths of Hanley, we met with our partner in pop, Rosie, and headed towards the Sugarmill for our night of musical passion.
And there we found sticky floors.
The first band to play was ‘Coda’, a four piece that had no singer. Instead they created a wall of atmospheric sound that engulfed my ears in fuzz noise delight. They were a bit samey overall, their only setting appeared to be ‘epic soundscape’, but they were enjoyable nonetheless. Also, I was impressed that not one, but two of the band member used Fender Jaguar guitars- I’ve wanted one of those guitars for many years, so I basically zoned out staring at the guitars for most of the set.
Next up was Jeremy Warmsley, a solo guy that wore a lovely sleeveless checked jumper and had thick rimmed glasses. He muttered and shuffled about on stage whilst playing his own personal songs that no doubt meant a lot to him. Naturally, he was the coolest guy in the entire building. If I was in a critical mood, I could pick apart his lyrics and musical prowess, but due to my current elated state, I have nothing but respect for someone who can perform on stage solo and hold the audiences attention for a half hour set. He also seemed like a genuinely nice man.
And so we come to headliners. Nope, it wasn’t the crazy dancing fools (although they could headline something I’m sure) but Maps, another atmospheric type band, except their songs had words and things. If I had to describe to my mum what they sounded like, I would probably say “they’re a bit like Moby, but, y’know, better.” And that’s about right- they make beautiful noise that would fit perfectly with a quiet night in whilst reading a magazine, but with enough energy for it to work live too.
And so we three music mages inhaled the musical goodness, and after picking up a free CD and telling Jeremy Warmsley that he was ace, we left sated and enriched. Then went to the takeaway.
