Dundeelive

DUNDEE LIVE - WINTER WARMERS - Concert Highlights December 2006

Part of the reason that these live reviews - if you can call them that - are in this section as opposed to the normal concert reviews section, will become pretty obvious the moment you start reading them, since, for some bizarre reason, most of the gigs seemed to revolve around some very bizarre goings on - so, settle back and, while you might not actually get much out of this in live review terms, it doesn't half make jolly reading!!

  • LEATHER ZOO/WILDHOUSE/LAST IN A LONG LINE/DISSOLVED - Balcony Bar 8-12-06
    The return to Dundee for Sheffield's finest, Leather Zoo, the female-fronted, catchy as hell, pop-punk combo.
    I speedily had a meal while trying to find out if Leather Zoo, the band I was providing for tonight's concert (it was Wildhouse's promotion, even though I'd done this huge Dead Earnest poster outside the venue for the event), had turned up from Sheffield, as I'd phoned Mel - the female lead singer - and got no reply.
    Now what you have to remember here is that Mel had texted me a couple of weeks back to say she was away and had signed it Mel - remember that, coz it could be useful in a moment or two!!
    So, with no reply, I hot footed it down to the Balcony Bar only to find the band there - or theree quarters of it, anyway.
    I looked around for Geoff - the guitarist - and couldn't see him, so after greeting Mel, JK and the new drummer - who had hair down down to his bum, a Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat coat on that was down to the floor and looked more like a hippy version of Jesus - I asked "where's Geoff?" "Ah", she said, "there we have a problem. He's in France!!" "What?" I exclaimed - "do tell". Turned out that Geoff was flying back to Edinburgh airport and due to storms in Nice, his plane had been considerably delayed, but they figured that if they went to the airport to meet him at ten that they'd be back in time to be the last band on! "But I've been texting you earlier" I told her. "Which number" she asked. "The one u texted me on 2 weeks ago" I replied. "Ah", she said, that could have been Geoff's as we often use each other's phones". A thought something along the lines of "thank god I'm not having an affair with YOU" crossed my mind briefly! "So I've been texting Geoff then, who's stuck in France, saying where are you?" "Yes", she replied. Jeezussssssss!!
    Anyway, first band came on. Now I'd love to say they were good, but I only had half an ear on them. The reason for this is that also there was the barman, Mark, from The Doghouse, who greeted me like a long lost freind (he'd been drinking) and then said "have you met my sister Elaine?" As it tuned out, I had, albeit very briefly, but she remembered me and started to chat. A statuesque blonde (well, taller than me, but then so are most people!!) dressed in a seriously smart black casual suit, the only problem was that, once we started talking, there didn't seem to be an "off" switch anywhere. We found we could talk for Europe. We talked all the way through the first group, hence the one ear - or more we shouted through the first group. Then as the break came, we talked some more. The group were actually really good, but I'd need to see them again to be able to tell you anything.
    Then, to my surprise - and to a degree, delight - Leather Zoo had decided that they'd never get back in time, so they elected to do the set without the guitarist - just vocals, bass and drums - and so they went on. We carried on talking! I managed to catch a fair bit of the set as my lady friend went outside for a ciggie. The band did great against the odds and got good applause from the audience. Elaine returned - and we carried on talking!
    Next up were Wildhouse. Now Wildhouse are a somewhat avant-garde band prone to using lots of feedback, so I warned her that she'd better cover her ears if it gets too loud. Her answer could not have been predicted. She decided to go outside for another ciggie - and dragged me with her - and we carried on talking! I could hear this thunderous noise coming from the Bar as I wondered whether or not I preferred the olympic chatter or the cataclysmic Wildhouse! I suggested that I'd better catch some of the band. She agreed - then carried on talking! I got in just as the band had filled the place with this guitar squall. So much for the review!
    My friend finally left - kissed me on the cheek, announced that I was her "new friend" and disappeared into the night. Which was all a bit of a shame, as compared to what followed, I wished she'd stayed.
    Dissolved played a stinker - even they'd admit that - all because of loads of equipment troubles, the highlight of which was watching the bassist stomp on his effects pedal when the blasted thing refused to work. Mark, manager of Wildhouse, sat there looking glum.
    We all parted, Leather Zoo to Perth, where they were staying, the rest of us to our homes.
    But that wasn't the end of it - and not the last time I saw Leather Zoo - since the following Saturday night was even more bizarre, as we'll now see.

    LEATHER ZOO (or part of them, anyway)

  • What should have been TWIN ATLANTIC/JULIET KILO - Doghouse 9-12-06
    and turned into THE GETDOWNS+LEATHER ZOO (+1) - Doghouse 9-12-06
    Since I'd wasted the previous Saturday, ending up at a Doghouse concert that was dire with an audience you could fit in a telephone box, and only the Manikees showing some sign of hope, I was determined not to repeat the process.
    Now I'd left Leather Zoo last night saying that I'd see if there was a possibility of getting them a gig in Dundee on Sat night. So, I phoned the Doghouse to ask Sarah, the owner, if the band coud play. She said that there were only 2 bands on tonight, so that was fine. Full of glee, I texted the band and they agreed to do it - guitarist and all. They asked what equipment to bring - "bring it all" I said, as I didn't know what the lead band would let them use.
    As I was on my way back from lunch with a friend, the Doghouse foned to say that the support band, Juliet Kilo, had pulled out and that we were back to 2 but that one of my fave bands, The Getdowns, had agreed to fill the gap - "great stuff" I thought as I reversed course to go down to the Doghouse.
    Shortly Leather Zoo had turned up - all of them - as had The Getdowns - and a local acoustic band (completely forgotten your name, guys) who were rehearing upstairs.
    All of which is more than you could say for the headline band from Glasgow - who hadn't turned up at all!!!!!
    By 8pm, and the main band still not there, we now had the amazing spectacle that people were turning up for a gig for which none of the advertised bands were playing!!
    Not only that but all the stage equipment the bands playing were now using, apart from their own instruments, were being provided by Leather Zoo - without me and them, no concert!!
    Not only that but Sarah wasn't there (previous engagement), everyone else were bar staff and the sound engineer didn't know what was happeningt - hardly surprising!. So, I kind of took charge and got the concert underway and ran the whole thing as one of mine.
    Around midnight, Leather Zoo finished - the crowd had been better than last week - but all three bands went down well and enjoyed it. Musically, the Getdowns played a wild and tight rip-roaring set of hi-octane punk with sixties flavours, while Leather Zoo wowed the audience with Mel dressed in tight black Leather trousers and black top, while the band played a red hot set of originals and Mel delivered one of the best vocal performances I'd seen from her. All good stuff, and next time we really will get them on in front of a larger audience!
    When Sarah returned I told her what had happened and she was amazed that the bands hadn't turned up and even more grateful that I'd done what I did. I even got a huge hug from her for it and a free drink!! Was worth it for the hug! (hehehehe).
    Just another usual night at The Doghouse!!

  • DIRTY WEE MIDDENS - Doghouse 15-12-06
  • THE FIVE ACES - City Function Suite 15-12-06
    Odd part here is that I had the choice of "Comrade Night 2" at The Doghouse or seeing the bands at The Balcony Bar, where the line-up included Beth Wilmshurst, who I really wanted to see. So, I chose the Balcony Bar. Meanwhile, my singer-songwriter pal Rachel Anderson, had texted me asking if I was going to The Doghouse (I suppose she could have asked if I was going to the dogs, but my hearing was never that good!!) so I replied that I'd see Beth then join her there. As it turned out, Beth wasn't on first - the pleasure was provided by a male singer who did nothing for me whatsoever, so in the end, thinking I could catch up with Beth another night, I texted Rachel and hot-footed it to the Doghouse, the significance of Rachel in this becoming obvious in a min or two.
    Anyway, we got there just as the band ended - and it was just in time for the Middens!!
    Now, one of the wonderful things about a Dirty Wee Middens set, apart from the fantastic songs, is the issue of whether or not the band are set on self-destruct that night - I saw them a few weeks earlier play a tight-as-f**k set at Dexters and, song-wise, it was superb - but somehow, because the band played it staright down the line, you almost felt as though there was that sense of anarchy and that looming on-the-brink chaos, missing. But tonight, they made up for it - more than made up for it - in fact there was so much of it, they were shovelling it off the floor!!
    You kinda knew things were going to teeter on the edge when, during the band soundchecking just before the start, the lead guitarist shouted loudly into the mic that he hadn't got a lead for the guitar - twice!! Someone sorted out his request - meanwhile Lee, the awesomely engaging lead singer and consummate punk-rock frontman, was slagging the band off for not being ready. But that was just the beginning. They launched into the first number, "Monster Mash", with a three-pronged assualt of bravado, electrifying intensity and this holocaust of sound that was like being hit by a tidal wave with bricks in it. The track ended and the audience - well, actually, did very little. BIGGGG mistake!!
    Lee immediately turns round and starts to heckle the audience for not reacting, demanding that they sing along - then promptly leaps into the audience, frabs some hapless guy, hauls him on stage and plonks him in front of the mic. Meanwhile, the guitarist from Shotgun Libido and someone else have leapt on stage and there are now about ten people up there as the band laucnched into "Rambo" with a ferocity that approached danger level. There was more beer going over the audience from the stage than was being served by the bar, as the band hit the destruct button - or specifically, the other guitarist, who suddenly took it upon himself to hammer his guitar down on the stage doing his best "Pete Townsend at Woodstock" impression, promptly breaking the guitar in two!! He got rewarded by Lee who, equally promptly, threw him off the stage - and that was the last we saw of that guitarist. Meanwhile the other guitarist is not teetering unsteadily on a table at the left of the stage, as the rest of the band are flying around the stage, all but the drummer who must have been nailed to the chair. Number after roaring number poured out and the band just fired on all cylinders - even though they were one cylinder short of a jet engine. Musically, it was chaotic and on-the-edge, while, visually, and entirely unplanned, it was jaw-dropping and absolutely amazing. There's nothing like a Middens show - coz you never know what you're going to get. Exciting and full of stunningly catchy songs played with the force of a hurricane, and all you have to ask yourself, is whether or not there's a venue near you, brave enough to put them on! Stunning!
    Not wanting to see the final act, Rachel and myself went for adrink before she anounced that there was a band on that she'd like to see, at the City Function Suite, called the Five Aces, due on stage at 11.30 - so I thought "why not" and went along.
    Now, I hadn't a clue who or what the Five Aces were - but I trusted Rachel's judgement - and, besides, I'm always game for something new and unexpected. When we got there, the DJ was playing effectively a mix of soul and funk - I feared the worst - ezpecially as I'd paid £5 for the privilege!! To make this even starnger, the band didn't come on till short of 1am for some reason that completely escaped me, altho' it did allow a bit more "chat with Rachel" time, so it wasn't all bad. To cut to the point, the band were a sort of sixties r 'n' b-cum-blues band with one heck of a good lead vocalist, a sort of cross (as a band) between early Manfred Mann, The Animals and any good British sixties r 'n' b band you might care to name. Now it's not my sort of stuff, and I was too young back then to enjoy it at the time, but I have to admit that, for essentially a covers band for this style of music, they did it spot on and got a great reaction for it, my favourite - and no disrespect to the vocalist - being their electrifying encore performance of Booker T's "Green Onions". At the end of the set Rachel disappeared - completely - and I sauntered home - another odd musical evening in old Dundee town!!

    CONTINUED....

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