Gig Reviews
Six Nation State, Audioporn, New Volunteer
Oh boy. Most of the time you go to gigs knowing what to expect. You've either seen the bands before, or heard them online, or have some knowledge of what they're about. Checking out these bands pre-gig the appeal of Six Nation State was already fully apparent to me, having seen them a bunch of times since their debut gig at Kyps at the beginning of 2007. I took a brief peek at some online Audioporn, but wanted to go to Kyps with no preconceptions, and as for New Volunteer, again, apart from being aware that they included two members of the Baker Brothers these were going to be totally new sounds to my ears.
If this was Kat's last hurrah at Kyps she really couldn't have gone out on a better musical high. Opening up, New Volunteer were like a breath of beautiful fresh air, sounding like Wilco and Broken Social Scene with Chris Mears' vocals awash with cracked emotion and fragility. These guys may be new on the live scene but their sound was polished and tight, with a wonderful laid back vibe on top of a variety of rhythms from drummer Rich Baker. The appeal of New Volunteer isn't visual, or anything as trivial as 'image', but purely the fact that (even on first listen) these songs sound fantastic. Mears in particular captured my attention from start to finish, Chris Pedley too added subtle touches on glock and keys, and with a couple more Bournemouth dates booked they've left me super-excited at the prospect of a repeat performance.
Audioporn then blew me away. They're a little like Acoustic Ladyland in that individually they are all totally captivating, yet more importantly the sum of the four parts work perfectly well together. Drummer Che Albrington (his real revolutionary name) wasn't a million miles from Ladyland drummer Seb Roachford either, playing a mixture of frenetic jazzy beats on top of vocalist Aidrien Munden's social rants. Wearing a variety of white attire the image was strong, with Munden easily likened to a post-Pistols John Lydon. His vocals were more like an attack of social commentary, delivered with a brash arrogance which may not have worked so well were it not for the fact that everything coming from the speakers sounded so fucking great.
Think P.I.L vocally, mixed with Toupe and Zappa musically. This was impactful stuff from the moment they stepped on stage, with Che (pictured) stage front right and bass player Pete Coombes looking over the proceedings from a lofty position at the rear. Che was almost driving out a drum & bass groove at times, with Munden delivering his message like a 21st Century Gil Scott Heron. This was one of the best sets I've seen this year, and this revoluton be televised...
Six Nation State; the hardest working band in showbiz. I must've seen them half a dozen times this year alone and every second of every gig they just bust their guts on stage. Eighteen months ago here at Kyps they were doing the same thing, since then their energy has not abated in the slightest and they've added a bunch of cool new tunes too. The recipe here is simple; A bunch of up-for-it guys playing fast-paced ska-tinged indie with smiles on their faces. The songs are great, ridiculously catchy, and they have a totally addictive presence on stage, like their own enthusiasm just rubs off on the audience.
Whereas the majority of the crop of new indie kids seem to be embracing electronica and eighties production, Six Nation State are keeping to a more authentic ska sound. Stick with it fellas... leave electronica alone, yeah, there's possibly a place for keys in your sound, maybe brass too but yours makes a refreshing change from most of what's coming out of MTV2. Getting Kat up on stage was no mean feat either. Not one for the spotlight that enthusiasm clearly rubbed of on her as she danced and sung along seemingly without a care in the world. Good on ya Kat, this was a fantastic way to go out and we wish you loads of success and happiness on your travels.
Tony Foster
