LOOP #01: IndianRedLopez, Johnny Foreigner, Forest Fires, What Luck, Playlounge, Stanley

7/30/2019 LOOP #01: IndianRedLopez, Johnny Foreigner, Forest Fires, What Luck, Playlounge, Stanley...

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NOVEMBER 2012free to good home

helping

hands

PLAYLOUNGE

//JOHNNYFOREIGNER//STANLEY//WHATLUCK//FORESTFIRES//MINDIESEL//KITCHENC

YNICS

IndianRedLopez do it for charity

#01


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ingredientscan you smell what were cookin?

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OUR BIPOLAR FRIENDSFROM BIRMINGHAM

OXJAM

THE MANY ADVENTURES OF... MAKING WAVES


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FIRST IMPRESSIONSA

A bands first gig is always going to be their most difficult.Hours spent in expensive hired practice rooms - or afriends soundproofed garage, if theyre lucky - can onlydo so much to help a band develop and truly build theirsound. It is only after they land gigs that they can start toreally cement themselves in the music scene.The Tunnels, an underground venue slotted neatlyunderneath St Nicholas Square in the centre of Aberdeen,

was the site for What Lucks debut show. Fronted bysongwriter Rory OBrien, the three piece open thenight with a fair range of musical equipment; despite

the obvious lack of a drummer, between the three theymanage to carry on two guitars, a mandolin, a banjo and achildrens xylophone.Their music is quite slow-paced, a welcome changeperhaps to the typical Tunnels staple of heavy metal prog-influenced rock bands that filter their way through thecity. The sound isnt entirely unexpected - after all, thisis all singer-songwriter material, just translated to work

with more people involved.Forest Fires are a little further on in their musicalcareers. The group have recently found their music in thetrustworthy hands of Radio Ones Ally McCrae, and as aresult have become one of the few Aberdonian groups toget some airplay on that station. So perhaps slotting themon a page entitled First Impressions is a little cruel.Pop-punk is the order of the day when they take thestage. Having seen the group live before, albeit as anacoustic duo, their material wasnt going to be new, but

the performing method would be. Unsurprisingly the fullband is a fair bit louder than the subdued performanceonly a month ago.

With four members on stage instead of two, Scott Bruceand company have a much richer, fuller sound - to beexpected, perhaps, but to same the same songs full-size isa strange experience when theyre last been heard on sucha small scale.The last of the bands to play is industrial rock trio MinDiesel, who are the oldest of the three bands to gracethe stage tonight - which says a lot given they have been

together only three years. With second extended playMnage Twa recently released in local independent recordstore OneUP, Zippy, Stu and David wordlessly take to thestage, plug in their pedals and get on with it.They shout and yelp their way through half an hour ofballsy, fast-paced min-die rock (the bands invention,thankfully), chronicling the hell out of that Riddick. Thethree barely move as they perform, barring the drummer,

whose hair flutters around wildly as he keeps a dense,meaty beat.Hardcore fans (or cynics) of the music industry mightargue that the local scene is dying, and that nobody in

Aberdeen could possibly want to gig here. This showproved that is a complete and utter fabrication. Threebands, none of which are older than 2009, all of which

would definitely be worth seeing again. It is evidence ofAberdonian musicians getting better and better, and thatcan only ever be a good thing. OO

In the midst of horror stories about mainstream pop music taking over the

world, three new Aberdonian bands remind us its not all doom and gloom

Bottom, clockwise from left: Stu of Min Diesel smahes the life out of his cymbals; Rory OBrien takes centre stage in What Luck; Forest Fires Scott Bruce does a wee dance for the crowd

making immediate impact


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Our Bipolar FriendsB

Birmingham. The most populous British city outside ofthe capital is also the worlds first manufacturing city(apparently), the birthplace of Aston Villa and the twincity of Leipzig, Frankfurt and Chicago. It also happens tobe where hyperactive indie-dance-rock four-piece JohnnyForeigner call home.The band rose up from fairly humble roots back in2005, with lead vocalist Alexei Berrow labelling its early,prototype sound as a country band with pretensions.

Were not entirely sure what hes on about, but the earlyrecordings are so rare that only a handful of people evenknow who actually worked on the recording, let alone

heard the thing. Only forty copies of the first albumwere ever made. Despite numerous lineup changes, theycontinued to adapt and improve their sound over the nexttwo years. They released an acclaimed extended play onthe back of their debut American show. Their debut studioalbum, We Waited Up Til It Was Light, saw the light of dayin 2008, and led to a sizable cult following.Two albums later, and the group have never looked back.Their latest LP, Johnny Foreigner vs Everything, is just ashectic and lively as one would expect from a group withsuch crazy merch and cover artwork - in fact, they likedtheir art so much, they let the artist have the second guitarpart in their lineup back in April.Theyve been up to Aberdeen in the past, of course, backin the early years of the band - back then they didnt have

nearly as large a repertoire, and so when they came backthis month there was a certain expectation in the air thatthis should be a much more varied, exciting show.

We werent disappointed. Alexei and bassist KellySouthern start the night with a mic-less duet, whichdespite being almost shouted in the crowded Tunnels,prompts guitarist Lewes Herriot to hold up a homemadeshh placard so they can be heard. The crowd, almost inunison, sing along with the assistance of another, adorned

with oh my god scribbled messily with blue sharpie.Clambering back onto the stage, the band grab theirinstruments and dive headfirst into their second songof the set. Its then that their zest and charisma totallycomes into its own; they leap around the stage as thoughforgetting the guitars are connected by wire to the inputsbelow them. Alexei looks practically possessed as he yelpshis lyrics into the night, his dirty fingernails grating thestrings as they hang on for dear life. Lewes strikes hisguitar with real venom, as though it had caused himphysical harm in a past life.The percussion is the sanest slice of the whole production,

and even then that gets messy; Junior Elvis WashingtonLaidley (yes, thats actually his name) is calm and collectedthroughout the majority of the set, but even he slips intothe odd patch of madness, a synthesiser in front of himhandily tweaked at several places during the night.The set wasnt one for the purists. Sorry, Alexei muttersas his guitar is replaced by a stagehand, were not usuallyas disorganised as this. Junior chips in with a joke aboutBirmingham, coaxing a round of soft laughter from thecrowd. While the cables are plugged and unplugged, heplays a bizarre melody on his Moog which might havebeen stolen directly from the cassette player inside an ice

cream van.But mistakes like these help to add dynamics to the night.It gives us an insight into the personality of the band, achance to see how they react when things stop working. Atone stage Alexei is forced to play with one hand clutchingthe jack leading into his guitar thanks to a bad connection.It doesnt dilute the energy; if anything it adds to it, getsthe audience interested and excited, and above all ischarming, shows real character and enhances presence.Johnny Foreigner arent a perfect band, but theyve neveronce aimed to be. Instead, theyre just out to entertain, tohave a good time, to capture people in their sonic snare.They easily achieve this, and with enough energy to keepSalmond happy for years. Who needs windfarms when

youve got four kids from the Brum? OO

Below, clockwise from left: Bassist Kelly Southern gets the crowd going; Junior Elvis Washington Laidley gets proper into the groove; guitarist Lewes Herriot tries another tack as his laryngitis kicks in. Opposite: Lead vocalist Alexei Berrow takes a break to adjust his wristbands.

one night of craziness

Lewes strikes his guitar with real

venom, as though it had causedhim physical harm in a past life

What happens when you let Brummie quartet Johnny Foreigner play with guitars and sharpies? This, apparently


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From Birmingham

Support WatchFellow Brum lads Playlounge may only be two people, butby god do they pack a punch. Loud, abrasive and meaty like anine-ounce steak, they waltz around on stage like they ownthe place. The drummer plays a second role as the vocalist,

yelling his melodies with all the spiteful, visceral energy ofan angry dog. Its hard work to listen to, but well worth it.


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FFor what is really quite a bijou venue, Snafu has amassedquite a following among the people of Aberdeen. It mostlyorganises club nights, and usually is host to only a few discjockeys despite possessing a full-featured stage and PAsystem.So it was perhaps no surprise when Oxjam, the musicalfundraising project of famine charity Oxfam, used it asa site for one of the many gigs that took place around

Aberdeen last Friday night. Although fairly slow tofill, eventually the bar-cum-gig venue is bustling with

conversation.As the lights go down, the first musician to step up to theplate is Alan Davidson of Kitchen Cynics, who carries on

with him a guitar, a bow and a loop pedal. He takes hisseat, clearly unabashed by the bright pink spotlight glaringharshly at him, and begins to sing his folk-inspired lyricssotto voce, as though nervous.He even apologises before Lichen, a song about a motherdriven insane by the grief of losing her child; despitehimself, he plays the song without a word or a finger out ofplace. He closes his set using the widest array of noises onecould imagine - a battery-powered portable fan slaps the

high-E; a hair twirler growls angrily at the upper pickup; a

shearing razor rattles its way down a string - followed byhis playing with a squealing synth.Next to take the stage are Peterhead-based indie-pop groupIndianRedLopez. Two projectors balanced perilously onthe side of the stage shine a collage of bright lights andexplosions onto the back of the stage as a backdrop for thespectacle.

After the briefest of introductions, the group begin their setin earnest: a combination of the Korg layout dominatingfront of stage, the three guitars, the rather-subdued-by-

comparison percussion line from the drummer at back ofstage, and the gruffer than usual vocal contributions fromfront man Mike Chang - he explained afterwards this wasthe tail end of a recent autumn cold.Headlining on the dark and, by now, quite cramped Snafusoapbox are Stanley, a genre-defying quintet, whoserecent albumAnimals With Amazing Disguises has gatheredacclaim from the widest of sources. From the off theyshow us exactly how they aim to avoid all pigeon-holes -lead guitarist Ramsay Clark brings on with him a giro,an instrument of percussion one generally only uses instandard grade music class.

It doesnt stop there; vocalist Stephen Podlesny thumps a

tambourine as he croons on their first track of the night,but the most obvious member of the group is Scott Coutts.He clutches a navy-blue stick-thin double bass that onlybarely misses poking a hole in the roof while a soft trilbyrests precariously upon his head.Their set involves a boatload of instrument-swapping -

while Geoff Jones spends most of his time on an electricvibraphone, itself a sight not often witnessed in venuesthis small, he switches around to operate a large keyboardnear the close-knit crowd. Thanks to a tiny stage and some

fairly huge equipment, he is forced to exit through a sidedoor and climb haphazardly over the monitors to get tothe keys.Stanley swerve from humorous to foreboding like a car

with a loose steering wheel - with lyrics like the shityou write repeated over and over one minute, and thestaggered delay of jagged, dirty guitar on Obstacles thenext.The quirkiness sets the night off perfectly; three acts, eachas different as the next, the perfect dolly-mix of musiciansto show off the diversity of talent in the north east. Thefact all this was to benefit a highly deserving charity is the

icing on the most delicious cake. OO

OXJAM

Above: Stephen Podlesny of Stanley keeps a strong beat. Below from left: Mike Chang of Indian Red Lopez; hair-twirler on guitar action from the hands of a Kitchen Cynic; Geoff Jones shows one of his many talents as part of Stanley

Three very different bands grace the Snafu

stage in one night, all in the name of charity

doing it for charity

Documents

LOOP #01: IndianRedLopez, Johnny Foreigner, Forest Fires, What Luck, Playlounge, Stanley