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Review: 'BBC Introducing Stage'
'Festival Republic Leeds 2008, Sunday'   


-  Genre: 'Rock'

Our Rating:
Walking across the Bramham Park site in the midday sunshine, it's very good to hear the quality guitar onslaught of I CONCUR (25) roaring across from the BBC Introducing Stage. I had already spent two days cutting from stage to stage, so by the time I had finished tonight I would have seen good chunks of as many different artists as possible (with whole sets for all 35 of the BBC Introducing acts). So perking up at the sound of one more band must mean more than just the pleasure of familiarity. Their focussed song writing and euphoric guitar sounds set them apart. They are ordinary-looking, diffident men who love their music above ego. But they do make sure that their music sings very loud and very clearly. I CONCUR are genuinely motivated by the music, and it shows. Tim Hann's songs are what the band is mostly about. Strong vocal harmony between Tim Hann and drummer James Brunger focused attention on the compelling, and always allusive lyrics. In songs like the superb "Able Archer" and the well-known "Oblige" and "Build Around Me" there are strong stories.

KID ID (26) go for the happy go lucky sound of ska. Better yet, they are musicians who have the technique and the perfect rhythm to let things sound relaxed and comfortable even when the lines get a bit tricky. Trumpet and trombone (Ian Dudfield and Pete Mycroft ) provided both energetic clowning and the most tender, sweetest opening duet of the set. Ralph Pelleymounter's voice and acoustic guitar made a convincing, smiling centre piece. In today's sunshine the band drew a very large and appreciative crowd from the passers by. An asset to any festival.

London-based NEW YORK FUND (27) have also been known as Cherryfalls. The inclusion criteria for this stage have creaked and groaned form its inception in 2005, so there's no point digging into that now. Guitar thrashing on a good-looking Gibson, whiskey voiced charismatic Joey New York was clearly the main attraction. The pub rock backing band, including a geeky looking guitarist who sat on his amp for half the set could clearly play, but they didn't exude good times or much joy in the music. One number was offered as something like country - but it was more skiffle than country. For the second time in the weekend I found myself pondering the length of the shadow thrown by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.

North Wales won’t have many female singers called Ritzy. THE JOY FORMIDABLE (28) quickly turned an introductory drums/sample muddle around and came into their own through the personality of their own Ritzy and by dint of some wonderfully loud and tightly played music. There are explosive releases and cute little chorus chunks. It’s genuine indie that works: bright, engaging, played to the audience as much as to each other, with smiles all round and a very sweet kiss exchanged between Ritzy and Rhydian (bass). In a punkier thrashing sequence there is a sense of drama and development. Basically, it's the rudiments of music applied to ace pop nuggets by engaging people who seem to have a story to tell and a life ahead of them. I think that breath of fresh air is the cliché I'm struggling for.

THE LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH (29) are in a special, small category of bands who have played this stage twice in a lifetime. I have a personal fondness for the memories of the ramshackle English "progressive" rock that evolved out of blues, rock, folk and the American West Coast sound in the late 60s and early 70s. Early Pink Floyd or Gong would be the best of it. Blodwyn Pig and Atomic Rooster the least. The ambition was there - a big Roland sound set the a wide canvas. THE LAST PEOPLE ON EARTH seemed to be venturing into jamming, free flowing good hippy territory. They didn’t look as though they cared much for fashion, and that's no bad thing. But when one of their guitar solos is so redolent of the fashions of that earlier era I do wonder what they’re aiming at. Like the old photographs, the old sounds do remind us that no age is exempt from the tyranny of fashion. I know that this band are highly rated by some, but I'm still waiting to hear the clear rustle of genius inside their eccentric shell.

A little later, having just heard three songs from the maestros of pale beige, EDITORS (on another stage), anything was going to sound fresh and lively. Belfast's GENERAL FIASCO (30) redeemed things pretty well. The band have a punk edge with some Oi! moments, big guitar chords and plenty of stomp/thump drum parts. They’re a three piece, evoking names like THE ALARM and STUART ADAMSON in how they play. Two voices make it richer. Their best song was "Ever So Shy", an anthemic lament that cried "let's get wasted, that's all we ever do" in a genuinely tragic way. It worked well, even in the pleasantly warm afternoon sunshine.

ATTACK! ATTACK! (31) are a second lump of Welsh quality. South Wales this time. They don’t look as good as THE JOY FORMIDABLE, but their lad-rallying rock tunes sound fresh and heartfelt. An oddly pompous opening crescendo preceded the band on stage, so their non Godlike shirt and trousers arrival was, frankly disappointing. But by the end of the set a very large number of people were punching the air on command, and I was mighty impressed at full throated clear singing from the chunky lead vocalist. Keeping it simple and cutting out the flannel works well when you can sing and play this well. Originality can also come form making nice fresh sandwiches from very old loaves. In this case it’s neatly recycled Sixth Form heavy wholemeal from 1988.

Glasgow's FANGS (32) had a mock-snotty teenage snarl, with dishevelled glamour thrown across a punk aesthetic. The lyrics are written to annoy. "S... I ... C ... K ... O" squawked/leered The Queen, decked in her gold jacket and dirty blonde persona, as the song slurred into a two voiced chant of maximum in-your-face provocation. "Do ... you ... know ... sometimes ... people ... are not quite right". There's something smart here too - part mockery, part celebration, part challenge to idiot critics to guess which. For a moment crystals are forming around the TING TING's part of the pop cloud and FANGS seem to be a part of the storm. Child-like street chants, overt sexuality and a little psycho menace.

RAZMATAZ LORRY EXCITEMENT (33) picked up where KID ID had left off in the summer festival business. One man, a collection of sequencers/processors and a mic did 25 non-stop minutes of joyous dance music that evoked the best of techno fun. Even this old and dance-averse critic had to hop about for the duration. The crowd grew and grew - from nowhere. Where bands had been getting hundreds, this was looking like thousands. All dancing at one level or another. As the beats, glitches and short riffs looped and layered in hypnotic changes and kept a 16 note burst for reference point, a falsetto voice sang quality r&b verses with an improvised, transient feel. Everything moved, everything changed, but the tempo locked into the crowd and could have kept it for another hour at least.

Reading's FOX CUBS (34) used three guitars, three voices and a keyboard. Pretty well every rock genre known to man was co-opted in the opening number, running from punk to post-rock. The guitarishness was the defining characteristic, overwhelming a degree of anonymity in the songs themselves. The theme is a big yearning sky and the race for euphoria. They could easily be a massive, famous band. They could just as easily slip your memory. No discomfort, no edge, but there was a strong heart beating and a loud guitar singing in every song.

HUNGRY GHOSTS (35) were the City of York's late contribution to what had already been a splendid weekend of music. James Browne took the leading role on voice, guitar and keyboards. Like FOX CUBS before them there was an earnest desire to please with well-played, harmonious music. Rhythms were brisk and the band fired along. I didn’t spot any distinctiveness or any do or die commitment to any specific chunk of current trends. Bits of lots of things really. One notable best bit comes at the introduction to the closing song "Ship of Thieves" with a rousing four part harmony and a shift into something a bit fuzzed up and adventurous.

SKELETONS from Sheffield looked very promising as they took the last of the daylight, and darkness spread across the Festival site (36). The BBC Introducing Stage had been a genuine success this year. The freshness and the closeness had been mentioned over and over by people arriving a the stage for a first visit. SKELETONS are certainly no coda agency, management driven, label hopeful outfit. An eccentric looking keyboard player and drummer came on first and sat down, guitar bass and vocals arrive and moved forward, creating a strangely unbalanced look to the stage: a range of identities, styles and directions looking like a bunch of oddballs. The stage presence was full of enthusiasm and the four or five hundred in the crowd lapped it up gratefully before heading off to THE KILLERS and THE MANIC STREET PREACHERS. I ticked band number 61 on my crib sheet and went off to talk delirious nonsense with tired and emotional music types in the guest area. Another fine year at Bramham Park, but this time with Reading sharing the fun.
  author: Sam Saunders

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BBC Introducing Stage - Festival Republic Leeds 2008, Sunday
BBC Introducing Stage - Festival Republic Leeds 2008, Sunday
BBC Introducing Stage - Festival Republic Leeds 2008, Sunday