Monday 26.09.11. Wingwalker presents…
Back to The Shipping forecast. I got a new job where I pretty much get paid to sit & drink tea & chill out in parks.
Sadly, due to having the first shift earlier in the day I missed Bag of Hounds, the first band on of the night.
So sorry Bag of hounds. These guys got more gigs coming up, next one`s 25th October at shipping, & another on on the 29th at shipping as well (Its the place to be).
So we`ll all try to catch one of them there. You can listen to Bag of hounds here.
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Organ Freeman:
Ha, Organ Freeman. Must be the most brilliant name I have ever heard. What can I say?
These boys wear psychedelic, batik printed t-shirts, the classic self-cropped hardcore denim shorts and lying around everywhere there`s a variation of colored balloons containing “self-glowing lights” that they smack about. The band consist of 2 drummers playing a set up of a tom, snare & cymbals and 2 vocalists (one declares he usually plays bass, but well he doesnt now).
And oh what?
A drum machine with general midi who`s sounds supplies all the harmonic & rhythmic information. JE. They state themselves that “The Organ Freeman do not use modern computer software sounds and probably never will”. This is very true.
Their general sound is quite messy. To be honest I always prefer bands playing real instruments, It gives it more life & heart and theres nothing more soul-less then a backing track.
There`s no mic`ing on the drums set up & you kinda get the impression the drummers are just playing for shows. If your gonna fool me to believe I can hear the real drums and not just the backing track, please guys, do it properly. Its not very realistic to see no one is playing anything, but the musics still carries on.
Moving on from this fact though, Organ Freeman put on a bloody good show. It doesnt take long before the basement of shipping smells of sweat.
They are obviously more of a show then more of a band, but their tunes are good enough. If I could give you an impression of it, it would be “dissonant ABBA-punk”. Having two vocalists who can fire up each other is obviously as well something very confidence bringing. screaming, shouting and running around the Freeman`s two vocalists are lighting a spark between themselves & their audience.
They announce this next ones a metal one, a one for all their metal fans, one for all their fans and just fans in general. And then they bring out an actual fan onto the stage. Brilliant. It defo. brings out some smiles, and these smiles carry on when they move on to one of the highlights of their set, a cover of Wheatus “Teenage Dirtbag” where they get what`s most likely a friend to do the bridge part where the girl sings.
Organ Freeman finish of with a special track in honors of another of their present friends that apparently wrote it, which I can only assume to be called something like “The Crab” . A cheer, comedy tune, where the two lead singers both put out their “crab-hands” and run around in the audience, pinching everybody with them.
And yes they are not afraid to touch your stomachs. No one escapes the Freeman`s and none of us saw it coming.
Organ Freeman are maybe not the musically best hit in town, but they do know how to put on a good show and make their audience smile.
They describe themselves as karateoke// Party metal // extreme pop // electronicore,
but after watching their full set I would say, hmm, cheerful electro-hardcore pop? Shiny happy people, or maybe “rainbow-tunes”!
You can listen to Organ Freeman HERE.
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The History Of Apple Pie:
This 5 piece London band, “The history of apple pie” enter stage as main support for favorites Male Bonding.
First things first, I just gotta say I love their guitar sound.
The effects use of the lead guitarist is just brilliant, and he creates his own quite unique, characteristic with it. Such good guitar parts and such a good sound
and it contributes a great deal to what creates the own sound of Apple pie.
Its interesting and theres some bloody good riffs in there. Quite care for the left guitarists casual stroll while he plays, with the intensity of still somehow managing to get across that he puts of all his heart in it
Their very evidently blonde girl vocalist contributes with low placed dreamy vocal lines, unfortunately so low placed, it almost completely drowns in the instrumental mosh and we cant really hear them.
They sound a bit “muffled” as if someone put a damper on it. The instrumental mosh of the rest of the band can carry the performance through it though. They`ve got killer riffs.
Apple pie`s got the most laid back drummer leaning his head back against the wall as of he couldnt care any less about this venue, this gig or his playing in between the songs. His playing`s alright though.
Their absolutely stunning bass-player, plays single strumming bass notes with a pick a lot of the time doubling the guitar and her performance presence on stage is a classic example of the shoegaze area.
One of their songs sound like on of those hipster bedroom dreams that we all have had with a chilled out pastel glowing hipstamatic print photo of it, and it paints a good picture to describe them.
There`s lots of ride, which Im personally a fan of, well used distortion on the guitars and I just love their sound as said.
The only thing thats dragging Apple pie down is the lack of vocals, we can hear neither the lead vocalists or the beauty bass-players backings that much at all. It still works, but we would have like to
You can listen to the history of Apple Pie HERE.
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Male Bonding:
Aah, male bonding.
This also London-based band signed to sub-pop released their first single for the label on record store day 2010 as a 7” split with none less then Dum dum girls.
I missed out on their show at sound city last year, but there was a lot of talk about it and now they have come back to Liverpool again as one of the last dates of their UK tour.
When they kick off Im once again, loving it at the shipping forecast really. Wingwalker presents are bringing a lot of quality acts over to shipping this year and everyone in the crowd seems to be happy to have this one.
Their on it and they`ve got some tuuuuunes!
As well these bonding males have yet another kick ass drummer. Where do they come from? Playing away, shoeless, looking like a giant, lovable kid, with his turquoise socks and stripy t-shirt. His style is not quite as machine-like as the Three trapped tigers drummer from last Thursday’s gig, but still pretty hardcore, and theres A LOT of drums live that doesnt quite come across as much on their recordings.
Like The history of Apple pie they have this kind of mashy, floaty yet energetic sound and its easy to understand why they have chosen Apple pie for support. Must say as well that the bass sound is just G R E A T, which gets particularly evident in a short bass intro to a song. Crystal clear.
Vocalist and guitarist John looks like he could be pulled straight out of Blink 182, but though Male bonding doesnt quite enter the most complicated soundscapes with their harmonizing either, a fitting word to describe their sound would be be “Surf-Rock”.
When listening to this band playing you cant help but succumb to their enjoyable sound and feel quite content being taken away by it.
They`ve got the ability to make you move your head and body. Closer to the end of their set though Im getting a tiny bit bored of it. Their set is a bit to repetitive for my taste, but hey, thats probably just one woman’s opinion as the fellow london band “Apple pie” are moshing in the front of the stage, casually joined by a few Liverpoolers.
They end their set with their last song “Cant dream” that you can find a great live video of on youtube here:
and hit the road for the rest of their tour, probably to do some more bonding and more successful shows.
Well worth catching if they come to Liverpool again.
-Veslemoy Rustard Holseter
