First things first, this is a report. Just like Stacey's 'review' was a personal report, her opinion, her tastes. No-one likes everything. No-one should be expected to say nice things for the sake of it. So, why bother? (Well, if you don't have anything nice to say...) So all the people who didn't make it can find out what they missed (just like any gig review) and all those who came can remember what happened forevermore - especially if you didn't catch band names or didn't quite 'get' some things. Also some links so you can get more info on the bands...
GOOD FRIDAY 2003
@ The Windmill, Brixton.
THE PHIL COLLINS 3 DiS Profile
Sean: First time I saw this band I was all like 'what the fuck?'. But now it starts to make sense.
They're genius-bordering-on-insane, totally tearing apart all the clichés, all the boringness, all the predictability
of "rock" and sticking it back together again with crazy glue.
KP: Uh.. I wasn't there yet.
Ollie A: Yep, some bands only work on record, some work best live, TPC3 are the latter in all their
Count Duckula and Hello Kitty stylings. This is a band working very hard not to be taken seriously, you have to
practice to make it look this comical.
Raz: Yeah. This is rok n rol. Yeah. This is punk. This is headfuck central. This is how good it is when
nothing works. This isn't the future but it's damn good fun.
Website: tpc3.co.uk
FI-LO RADIO DiS Profile
Ollie A:Straight up and down Johnny Cash-style bluesy rock 'n' roll, hard and fast, just the way i like it.
Female bass players are one of the oldest clichés in the book, but when they sweat, sound and look this good,
who cares?
Raz: RAR! Wicked. Best band in 'Manchester'. Pure stoner funk blues rock complete with fit bassist.
Can't lose. Winner. RAR!
KP: Nope, no, was still on the tube...
Website: filoradio.com
THE MIGHTY SAGUARO DiS Profile
Sean: Lowd! Very loud. Can see why Southern have signed 'em.
KP: Probably just walking up through Brixton...
Website: themightysaguaro.com
SEACHANGE DiS Profile
Sean: Been nuts about this lot for a while but tonight they made clear to the world what it means to be
"drowned in sound".
KP: Woohoo! And I arrived just in time to catch a set which can only be described as beautiful. Heard a
lot about Seachange but this was the first time I'd actually experienced them, and it certainly was not a let down!
Ollie A:I maintain, I kept hearing R.E.M. somewhere in the mix, this was one of those rare bands that
when they get loud and your ears start to hurt, you just want more. there was a guy next to me sketching them
as they played, so many people all crammed onto the Windmill's stage, so good.
Raz: They made me fall asleep. In a nice way. Like ...Trail o' Dead do. And QotSA. But not like them. Wall
o' sound ahoy. Epic. Quality.
Website: seachangemusic.co.uk
THE KOREANS DiS Profile
KP: Well, I'll tell you one thing, these guys have FANS. Lots of them. The type who cheer and smile and
have fun. In fact, they pretty much stole the show and were the only band to be persistantly cheered at until
they got back on the stage for an encore. Sweet.
Ollie A:They would have worked better in a club, than a pub. More of a cocktails needed. Prehaps I'd
been spoiled by Seachange at this point, but the place certainly was packed out for their set.
Raz: Fun band. Good band. Like it.
Sean: As far as my eyes could see people were smiling and dancing. And yes, we like this band so much
we're putting their single out... if you got any piccies of The Koreans, please send 'em in.
Website: thekoreans.com
CRACKOUT DiS Profile
KP: I don't think the Windmill has seen a mosh pit before [yes it has - an editor], but Crackout's
set collected the kids from all corners of the venue and saw them make one big heaving mass of catapulting
bodies. Oh and their new stuff ain't sounding bad either.
Ollie A:for some reason I keep thinking of Mansun (R.I.P.) whenever I think of Crackout, Indie pop-rock
with that little something extra. Tonite a few excited underage kids are getting a taste of their first secret gig
from a band used to selling out venues far bigger than this.
Raz: Nice guys.
Sean: They've all gained a bit of facial hair and with it, songs which ain't all chorus, verse, killer hook,
chorus, jumpy bit, chorus again, end. Not that, that was a bad thing, the debut's a blinding pop record and if it
weren't, we wouldn't have invited them. Crackout have always been one of those post-Weezer bands to take
the ideas and play around with 'em. Nick's jazz drumming was on full show and Steven has managed to inject
a lot more imagery into his husky lyrics. The one about robots was really good.
Website: crackout.com
Photos by Ollie Appleby.
Collage by Sean Adams.
DiScuss: Did you come along? What did you think? Did anyone catch the names of the new Crackout songs? Are we insane releasing The Koreans? Did you enjoy the Free BBQ? Disagree with all these opinions? Comment below..