Original bands, original music from Lincoln & Beyond

South Park Roundabout + Recruit + The Arrogance

Friday, 12 March 2010

Saturday 30 July 2005 - The Drill Hall, Lincoln

Review by JD

Another review and a new reviewer in the shape of yours truly

First I'll explain that The Drill Hall was not my first choice of gig last Saturday, but in the interests of marital harmony I found myself handing over £14 for the price of two tickets. Seven quid a ticket? For three local bands? This had better be good. But, again to appease the good lady I kept my opinions to myself as we made our way to the bar and then into the auditorium. And Christ, it was packed!!!! I didn't realise there was this many indie fans in Lincoln. These weren't the faux military jacketed types but the polo shirt and casual anorak brigade, most of which seemed oblivious to the fact that they were at a live music event.

Secondly, the sound at the Drill Hall is absolutely appalling, its not the soundsman's fault, nor the bands, the acoustics in the place are just goddamn awful. You would have thought that when the place was being revamped, that some consideration would have been made to providing sound acoustics (excuse the pun). Throughout the night the drums were bouncing off the back of the hall, the guitars were leaking all over and I could only pick out the bass on rare occasions,

The Arrogance were the first band on stage and introduced a rather apathetic audience to the indie sounds that would prevail this night. I've never heard of The Arrogance, and judging their performance tonight I would assume they are relatively new to the "live" experience. It seemed to take them a couple of songs to warm up (musically and cohesively). They had some good songs, reasonably well delivered but seemed to alternate between a moderately pacey song followed by a slower number. Had their set been any longer then I'm sure this would have become irritating in the extreme. As it was the set seemed about the right length in which they were able to showcase their talents, which mainly appeared to be providing a competent though unadventurous set, one which could quite easily have been performed by a million and one bands since 1992.

Recruit followed. I know they were called Recruit as a projected image floated round the back drop prior to and during their set. Was this a first for Lincoln? I had been told that the guitarist and drummer are responsible for tutoring a lot of the young musicians in town, being members of the teaching staff at Lincoln's Access To Music college. So, could the theory come over in practice? There seemed to be a couple of minor hitches, but that aside, the set was controlled and well played. There were some nice little pieces in the songs, which whilst not providing anything new to the listener, certainly had a certain style and panache. However, there were little nuances, that made the songs that little bit more interesting. There seemed to be instances where calculated differences had been interspersed throughout the song, a guitar lick added or an expected hit on the cymbal was replaced with a frill on the tom or snare. It was that sort of thing that raised Recruit above the average plus the musicianship was of a quality that made me think at least the young musicians are in safe hands. Quite a professional set.

Before going on to the final band I've just got to comment on the whole vibe of the night. It's almost becoming a cliché, this navel gazing indie band, but my main gripe tonight was that none of the first two bands did anything to dispel this idea. There was no emotion, neither of the first bands hardly moved on stage, preferring to gaze intently upon their respective instruments. There was no interaction with the audience and whether this caused the apathy amongst the crowd or whether its cool to go to a gig and ignore the band is something I don't know the answer to. I'm used to going to see a band and getting involved, not to listen to some polo bedecked idiot next to me quoting lines from The Fast Show all night. I think that of the twelve or so songs that the first two bands played only a couple were introduced, so I've no idea what they were called.

And so on to the final band of the night South Park Roundabout They (compared to the two previous bands) fairly stormed the stage. And two singers, now could this be something different? Well actually no. SPR are good at what they do and their competence and experience shone through but I really felt that it was just a livelier version of the previous two bands. That said the audience did appear to rise out of their catatonic state somewhat. The thing that struck me was the two singers, I was expecting some sort of counterpoint, harmonies or working off each other but for the most part, one athletically bounded round the stage, the other adopting the more usual indie pose, but they sang the same lines as one, the only benefit being that the vocals were clearer in the muddy sounds of the acoustically challenged venue than the previous bands. They were livelier, even almost rocky in some places (though why they chose to do a cover of The Jam's "Start" is a bit of a mystery). That said they played well and interacted well with the audience. Entertainment-wise possibly the best band of the night but personally Recruit got the cigar.

This is my own interpretation of the night; you may find yourself disagreeing with me, and I don't have a problem with that, but feel free to email me any comments.

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