The Motorettes
Live at Joseph's Well on Tuesday, 11th July 2006
Contending with a sold-out Cockpit playing host to local favourites The Pigeon Detectives, Joseph's Well has done well to find itself a decent crowd tonight. But then again this is no bad line-up. After realising they had a rather ace time together in May, Geordies The Motorettes and Kubichek! are back out on the tour-bus again for the second time in two months on what's been billed as 'Geordies On Tour: The Revenge'. A further display of these two bands' mutual appreciation for one another was the release of a split EP together yesterday, with each band covering a song by the other for the b-side... sweet Jesus get a room already!
Once they've stopped fawning over The Motorettes, Kubichek! launch into a frenetic set underpinned by staples including the spitting and snarling 'Nightjoy' while the call-to-arms that is 'Taxi' incites mayhem on the dancefloor (oh that was just me then), while more recent efforts like latest single 'Opening Shot' help seduce a few more minds with their sharp and angular indie that's clever without ever crawling up its own arse.
Kubichek! make dark yet alluring music that marches straight for your brain and commandeers your central nervous system, resulting in prolonged instances of what is scientifically referred to as flailing. You see there's a latent optimism in what this band do that stops them from simply been dumped in the 'Joy Division Wannabe' bin. Yes this is a sound that could be straight out of bleak and barren Eastern Europe, but it's one bathed in a shimmering sunrise. Put simply this band have an ability to crawl under the thickest of skin, and if they can't instill hope in your heart, they'll certainly leave blisters on your feet.
It's more than fair to say that tonight's co-headliners are not two sides of the same coin, and for those of you who think that Kubichek! have let The Motorettes co-headline, thinking something like that will leave you with egg all over your mush, you see this band has earned that right. What you're confronted with is three lads from Tynemouth who simply play music to be conceived to. 100mph bursts of two and a half minute pop songs, the only problem being, just like a good shag, they never seem to last long enough.
Meanwhile the catchy-as-leprosy 'Super Heartbeats' and the brilliant 'We Are Solution' perfectly sums up what this band do; widescreen anthemic choruses and riffs so fearsome they could wander into Yates on a Saturday night, order a double Archers and Lemonade complete with pink cocktail umbrella, and still not expect any trouble. You see The Motorettes aren't about any 'scene', they leave the arty stuff to their mates in Kubichek!, they just want to make music that gets people dancing and yes even smiling, and in doing that tonight these canny Geordie fellas are a fine example of substance over style.
