Was I the only person left in Leeds who hadn't seen Bilge Pump yet? I suspect there might be one or two guitar band members who haven't had the experience. For sheer astounding onslaught vituosity Bilge Pump should make any beginer "rock" musician want to give up and go home.The astonishing trio seem to live in a world where you can play three times as fast and be sharper on the beat even though you're rambling on in conversational tones about breakfast and strange song titles and randomly abusing the audience. This is Captain Beefheart through Shellac filters with serious orignality, wit and joy. Resolutely set against any "marketing" or PR, Bilge Pump (what a disaster of a name!) march on through John Peel sessions, two highly regarded albums on independent Gringo Records and support slots with many of the great names without any notoriety or idolatory from the general audience in the city. In my books, at least, they must count as "Leeds most successful band". But they're more than happy to do yet another Cardigan Arms gig to seventy people (that's full!) and dedicate the whole show to a friend's birthday. I found their music utterly breathtaking. It scours, drives, plunges, pummels and sings with a roar. It's also dryly funny and very scary.
David Thomas Broughton is another major talent. This was my third time - and each gig has been completely different. Tonight there were jaws dropping all round. People in the bar downstairs were breathlessly comparing notes afterwards. He starts in a disarming, shambling kind of scratch on an acoustic guitar ... but before long each of these "false" starts build into something unique and totally arresting as layers and layers are added through digital delay till he's an orchestra of mobile phone, spoken word, strummed guitar, drum pad noises and whatever else. His voice has a spectral blues-master kind of completely unexpected richness and beauty. When he sings, sometimes without any accompaniment at all, his lyrics are starkly confessional and perturbing. Bill Calaghan of Smog comes to mind, but this is originality of a very high order and there really are no comparisons. (Did I really only pay two pounds to get in here? This is ridiculous - it's the best gig I've been to all year)
Dungeon Dungeon were on first, playing their debut gig from behind a vey nice banner. It said "Dungeon Dungeon" all along itself and was decorated at each end with a picture of Ant (or Dec). Dungeon Dungeon have two guitarists and two drummers.
