:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Thursday, October 09, 2003 ::

Gig review:
µ-ziq, Venetian Snares, Frog Pocket @ The Custard Factory, Birmingham, 04.10.03

Birmingham is full of cute goth/skater chicks. I recommend you go there for that alone. There’s even a shop especially for them, it’s called Oasis (I think), it’s over near the Vigin Megastore. It’s kinda like Aflecks Palace in Manc, but almost entirely clothes, no space wasted on ethnic art ornaments or the like. The only problem with it is choosing things. I came out without anything simply due to overwhelming choice and confusion.

I don’t go to Birmingham very often and don’t know the area that well. I drove to this gig and was advised by a Brummy in the office that I should park in the Jewelry Quarter and walk to Digbeth (“I like Digbeth and I can’t deny…”) from there. It was about 20 to 25 minutes walk, mostly through pedestrianised areas, so was fine for finding my way back at 2am, and the car was fine.

Walking towards the Bull Ring I’d barley rounded the corner when a guy flagged me down and was chatting as if he new me, passed me a scrap of paper as he shock my hand, and offered me some really good weed.
“Um, no think, I don’t need any”
“It’s really, really good weed”
“I don’t need any, honestly”
He then went on to list all the other really, really good drugs he had available.
“No, no. I don’t need any. I’m clean.”
“Oh, oh, right. No problem. Just you looked like you were after some. Sorry to bother you. See ya.”
I looked like I was after some! Bastard! Other than that, he was the most unusually polite drug dealer I’ve ever met. Strange.

The actual gig:
Frog Pocket
I arrived halfway through Frog Pocket’s set. The only stuff of his I’d heard previously was the 7” on Planet Mu, which is nice, subtle stuff, which in no way prepares you for the hardcore live experience. One tall, skinny, long haired (surprise) guy, playing a fiddle over breakcore beats whist stamping on pedals and hitting buttons on a sequencer. A couple of fiddle tracks were then followed by a guitar track with plenty of smashing around of guitar/feedback/scraping etc. all over the same hard hitting ever changing beats and rhythms. The set was then finished off with a screaming punk style track. All good fun and very impressive stuff. Some of his self released stuff on mouthmoth records should definitely be worth tracking down.

Venetian Snares
Snares opened with new single Einstein Rosen Bridge to warn us up and then launched straight into the sort of banging and crashing, relentless cut up rhythms you’d expect from “the best thing in breakcore” (Mike P quote, possibly paraphrased slightly). The set featured the classics you’d expect, Dance Like You’re Selling Nails and his remix of Doormouse’s Skellechiars in particular working the crowd into a frenzy. I don’t remember hearing any of the more chilled material from Winter in the Belly of a Snake or any of the older Doll Doll Doll material, but it’s possible they were all in there in some form fucked up beyond recognition. Speedranch joined Snares on stage for a rendition of We Hate Russell but probably less than a minute into the performance when he decided to be all rock’n’roll and destroy the “art installation” at the front of the stage. Now, this installation looked like a pile of cardboard boxes with green lights in them that had been dumped on the stage. When I first saw it I presumed it was yet to be artistically arranged but it transpired that this had been done already. I admit I don’t know much about art… but I know that that was shit and was asking for a boot in it. However, the organisers didn’t seem to agree with this, it was perhaps a little disrespectful, so someone wrestled Speed off stage mid song damaging even more equipment (musical gear, not just shit art) in the process, and a further three people were required to restrain him afterwards. Snares was obviously pretty pissed off by all of this and his heart didn’t seem to be in it for the rest of the set. He played the remaining 10 or so minutes without moving or swinging his arms around the way he had been before. He played several minutes of piercing modulating high frequency noise that made several people need to go a sit down and wandered off in a bit of an anticlimax. It was still a great set but was somewhat marred by the Speedranch incident, and was only 40 minutes long (was it supposed to be longer?).

µ-ziq
Mike P’s set was good to see. He hasn’t played live much of late. I believe his set at Dedbeat earlier in the year was his first for over two years, and his tour over the summer took in more of the US than it did of Europe. The set was predominantly material from Bilious Paths with a few older pieces thrown in like Lunatic Harness’s Brace Yourself Jason. These were not played in a mixed style but more of a one after the other with little silent (mains hum, could they sort out a decent PA?) gaps in-between style. It would have been nice I think to hear it more following and less like track off the album played one after the other. How much live mixing and meddling with the tracks was going on it don’t know. It was definitely good to hear the new track on a large PA, something they undoubtedly benefit from, but there was little feeling of actually watching a live performance.

:: Dan 9.10.03 [Arc]    ::
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