Raw MezzFest |
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The Mezz Bar, Lincoln
29 September 2007
Photos & Review by Pete
WTF?! It didn’t rain. The sky was blue. People came... eventually. It was the very first RaWMezzFest here in sunny Lincoln.
Around 2pm on the Pavillions campus on a Saturday afternoon and with two early bands having pulled
The Happy Mirrors on second have a little sparkly thing going on, and they were up for everyone having a good time. It was smiley and fun with some mesmeric lyrics and hey there was even a bit of wild trumpet chucked in. At the finish when Simply Chris bounced on stage to declare ‘How happy are the Happy Mirrors?!’ well the answer had to be ‘ very!’
The Broken from Northampton had the last of the afternoon slots. Hm oh erm. Anyway, earlier while
Anyway after the lovely, sweet woman of The Broken had wandered about trying to get the few of us around during her set to dance with her I went off for some spaghetti and despite having read the small print on the flyer for set times these must have been provisional as I got back halfway through The Small Print set. Shit. I like their music, they make me curious as they evolve without falling out with each other. The dramatic strained aspect to Seb’s vocals was satisfyingly resolved
The evening sessions were running on two stages with the bands in the tent and acoustic sets handled by Alan up in the Mezz bar. For people listening it was a case of park yourself or flit back and forwards to try and catch everyone, which wasn’t always possible due to overlaps. Opening upstairs was Joe Mac who had the deeply unenviable task of performing in competition with Sky sports football which a handful of students were shouting over and drowning him out at times. I’ve got to say he showed real composure dealing with this and not only had a bit of matey banter but he even got
Flash Cars, a three piece were next up on the band stage, overlapping Paul Burgess who sang with a fine ‘rusty’ bitching voice backed up with a gritty guitar.
The RaW Mezz masterplan seems to be based on the late teachings of Mohammed and how the prophet explained if the mountain won’t come to him he must go to the mountain. Therefore deep in the heart of student land prodigal sons Vinyl Collide now benefitted from that religious philosophy as students were actually turning up in numbers to add to the reliable local following. There was a buzz around and everyone was up for this one. It’s great that this was at a venue
Meanwhile inside Lydia Fabian was perfoming with such a powerful, fine voice it was a wonder it didn’t impose itself on the close of the Vinyls set! She didn’t
Djune were the only real heavy rock act of the day and the deep growling guitars were full on and a useful contrast to the lighter sounds.
Viv Murrell, armed with acoustic guitar (and fella with electric guitar and array of effect pedals) politely told the increasingly packed and noisy Mezz room to shurrup. OMG. - and with a nervous smile she somehow was OK and people actually listened to her songs. And applauded. She’s got sass, that girl.
Owsley Sunshine are a local band and have gone beyond seeking that NORTHERN sound and are more World Music or maybe even Out Of This World Music. As Janis Joplin once said ‘We’re ugly be we have the music’, Owsley are too beautiful on the inside to care what they look like and on stage don’t exist outside the deeply warm and vibrating musical thing they’ve got going on. It’s a ‘gutter but looking up at the stars transfixed in wonder’ kinda thing. In amongst it all is a funny, honey gooey sax which if you’ve any resistance left after two minutes will at some point undress your mind from rational, materialistic existance and set you free. A modest stage invasion was deftly dealt with by Charlotte, their smiley and cuddly head of security, by a tap on the young offender’s leg. He came back again so he must have liked it.
Alan (Bravekid, Derby), back inside the Mezz bar had been beaming at
The Idlers have been to Leeds to play the riany festival there this summer and their increasingly NORTHERN indie sound is starting to sound very clever. I liked the Dirk Bogarde maroon sweater sensitive-intellectual look, too. The Idlers still use the word The in The Idlers, it has to be noted. They’re smart and I like the fact I can’t figure out if they are being laid back
One of the impressive things about the day was the number of peeps around from other bands who’d come along to give support, and also music scenesters like magazine writer Trina and photographer Scott, too.
Like me, the emo kids with no money who’d been there at the start must have been hungry and they probably hadn’t sneaked off for spaghetti, either so they must have been even hungrier than me - and I had remembered to bring some chocolate - but they were still hanging around up the front still for last band of the festival, headliners South Park Roundabout. One of the few local bands that can actually fill a decent sized venue on their own - and one where
Some photos from the day at www.shine.clara.co.uk website.
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out and only a handful of people having turned up anyway it was looking like typical festival mud and rain would have actually been pretty minor issues. Me and some skint young emo kids were still hanging about hopefully when white vans finally started started arriving with bands in and by half past three Union City from Sheffield jauntily kicked off the day in the big marquee with the shout ‘Students, get out of bed!’ and with cool ease ripped into a set full of that NORTHERN sound that gleams with attitude and ability. Heh heh! Suddenly there seemed to be a point to life, the fest and everything. Thanks must go to this band, one of my highlights of the day. 
Outside lots of dazed and lost looking freshers trotted by, some checking the posters to see if maybe The Kaiser Chiefs or James Morrisson might be playing later in the day, perhaps for free, on their campus. Looks of disinterest appeared when they realised that they weren’t. Their loss!
hanging about for something to happen Simply Chris had shot me down at pool. He said he doesn’t like to lose. Simply Chris is henceforth Cowboy Chris round these parts. 
today in explosive whipping guitar moves that any metal fan would have felt joy at. Now that was sweet. 
everyone else’s attention with his tunes. Not easy and nice one, mate. 
that wasn’t the Engine Shed and wasn’t for a signed band. Students, locals, music. Cool. Vinyl Collide are a complex band who have literally gone NORTHERN by moving away to Leeds. Yep, the committment is there and they are more than capable of chivvying up a gig to several hundred people and taking the chill out of the night air with their brand of stylish, energetic performance. Class. 
need amplification and blew away a raucous Mezz with her series of covers. 
Who would have expected that No Junk No Soul would be the big winners of the day? No doubt about it though, the packed tent was bouncing like a big white jelly by the time they laid into their first song. Even the dreaded dead space immediately in front of the stage was finally squeezed full and there must have been well over 300 people breathlessly agog for this set. (Their last minute frienzy of texting having paid off big time!) Impressively, the outcome was a honky tonking good time for all, us and them. The idioscyncracies of this band are increasingly cute and appealing but it’s the authority they bring to their music that really impresses. You feel they are not so much amazed that people are wanting to listen to them - but that people are craving to listen to something so personal that the band aren’t really expecting it. Those pounding 
keyboards are well capable of igniting a crowd and the feel good factor is at 9 in thirty seconds. All this squeaks ‘potential’. Oooh. 
the prospect of doing the sound for Matteo Scumaci who he’d told me he seriously rates. He wasn’t the only one it turned out. Armed with a pocketful of songs that are tender to the nth degree he played to plenty of other wide eyed fans who expressed respect and maybe a bit of adoration by actually sitting at his feet to listen. You can’t argue with that. 
or intense. That sort of tension keeps my attention. Playing to hot and heavy crowd appreciation they looked well at home. 
(Fab to hear one of his images is gonna be used on a book cover next year.) What also deserves special mention were the sound people. Due to pressures on time it was necessary to keep soundchecks rolling along and pulled together in the minutes immediately prior to a band playing. Against all the odds it all worked. It shouldn’t have. It did, whoa. 
people will happily pay to see. It was after midnight and the students had foolishly gone back to their rooms only to find that the music was stlll outside so they wouldnt’t get some kip anyway. It’s been a couple of years since I last saw SPR and blimey, they’ve gone REALLY NORTHERN. If Bez performing with the Happy Mondays had actually made it over post-Engine Shed gig as had been hoped he would have felt he was surely back in Manchester. What with a sensational Trinny and Susannah makeover they fuckin’ look the business. It could be a case of yet another Madchester era tribute band but the surprise comes with vocals that have a subtelty that suggests more than simply being up for 
kicking you in the face and then pissing on you. This is a quality voice with plenty of feeling and interest. It’s late, though and some of their fans are actually looking a bit pissed after a long evening’s wait for their band to play and some are clowing about twisting each other’s heads off for a laugh which is a shame as this band are hard working and capable and you can tell it’s the people wanting to listen who they’re playing for. They crack on and it’s no easy feat at 1am for SimplyChris to call a goodnight to this, the Number One 2007 inaugural RawMezz Fest here in starry Lincoln - and he’s happy to let SPR keep it going for a little bit longer. No-one wants to go home. A good sign. 
This page was last updated Monday, 11 January 2010
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