The Brights & The Laurel Collective live at The Gramaphone 22/09/07
0 Comments Published by Trev Lostmusic on Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 10:42.
This was my first trip to the Gramaphone venue and I have to say I liked the room and the staff were dead friendly too. A really nice venue with some odd arches meaning the bar area is slightly remote from the stage area - which in smaller venues works well. But that's enough of my venue musings. First on were The Brights. I'd seen them a few weeks back at a How Does It Feel To Be Loved? night. They were much the same tonight playing some soulful pop - but I was again left thinking that they reminded me of what The Jam may have sounded like with the edges rounded off. The singer, David Burgess, has a good stage presence and the band play their songs really well. People even start dancing. I like The Brights but I don't love them. Which is fine. There are always some bands that you are happy to bump into unexpectedly - The Brights are one of those kind of bands.
Next on are The Laurel Collective. They were the main reason I went along to this Low Key night as they have become favourites of mine over on My Space lately. Their blend of guitar pop has been one of the finds of the past few weeks - but this didn't prepare me for the seven piece full on live show. They have two lead singers (Bob Tollast and Martin Sakutu) and a percussion player (not listed on their My Space) and the band are a constant whirlwind of noise and energy. The opening song fires everyone up and from the start there is a large and appreciative crowd nodding and bopping along. And so it continues as the band try new songs (offering prizes for the person who can spot the mistakes!) and obviously more well known ones judging on the crowds reaction. The do play a few of the songs that I recognise from listening to their My Space page. 'International Love Affair' and 'Hercules' being the highlights for me. It's hard to pinpoint the bands sound as their influences seem to shift around - but the sound is a wildy compelling mix of indie, pop and rock. The dual vocals work really well and both singers bound around the stage with gay abandon. This is a band that believes in having fun and the energy they exude was contagious as the crowd got more and more into it as their set progressed. Great stuff.
There were more bands after The Laurel Collective and I stuck around for the first few songs of the next band (I didn't catch their name) - they seemed to be intent on recreating the glam-punk that the New York Dolls did so well. They weren't bad, but after the Laurel Collective it is was not what I wanted to hear. So I disappeared into the night in search of a tube train to home.
Next on are The Laurel Collective. They were the main reason I went along to this Low Key night as they have become favourites of mine over on My Space lately. Their blend of guitar pop has been one of the finds of the past few weeks - but this didn't prepare me for the seven piece full on live show. They have two lead singers (Bob Tollast and Martin Sakutu) and a percussion player (not listed on their My Space) and the band are a constant whirlwind of noise and energy. The opening song fires everyone up and from the start there is a large and appreciative crowd nodding and bopping along. And so it continues as the band try new songs (offering prizes for the person who can spot the mistakes!) and obviously more well known ones judging on the crowds reaction. The do play a few of the songs that I recognise from listening to their My Space page. 'International Love Affair' and 'Hercules' being the highlights for me. It's hard to pinpoint the bands sound as their influences seem to shift around - but the sound is a wildy compelling mix of indie, pop and rock. The dual vocals work really well and both singers bound around the stage with gay abandon. This is a band that believes in having fun and the energy they exude was contagious as the crowd got more and more into it as their set progressed. Great stuff.
There were more bands after The Laurel Collective and I stuck around for the first few songs of the next band (I didn't catch their name) - they seemed to be intent on recreating the glam-punk that the New York Dolls did so well. They weren't bad, but after the Laurel Collective it is was not what I wanted to hear. So I disappeared into the night in search of a tube train to home.
0 Responses to “The Brights & The Laurel Collective live at The Gramaphone 22/09/07”
Post a CommentLinks to this post
Create a Link