Well to say it's my first gig of the year, it's a packed Mixing Tin, and how impressed was I this evening - VERY!They say you shouldn't believe all the hype about some bands, but between you and me, I think you can take all three of these as a given. There is usually at least one band in a line up that will always be a bit on the urgh, eye rolling side, but not tonight!
Making his debut this cold wintery evening (albeit down one female band member) is Micky P Kerr, who I have been dying to see for a while, but just not got round to it.
He is self promoted, energised and original and start his set with 'Where It's At' which I found very gentle and lulling, but the tune isn't soft enough to make you want to fall asleep, it just feeds your imagination for the next track which is almost Dylan-esque 'The Joke'.
The third tune in, 'Nothing's New' starts to pick up the pace of the set a little and it seems to be full of sex and angst where the vocal range is concerned which fits with the lyrics, and the song perfectly! Closely followed by an awesome Kinks-aspiring 'So Naïve', which sees Mr Kerr deliver an amazing song, with an amazing vocal worthy of George Harrison proportions.
This young man is going be HUGE! A musical messiah if you like. This is what I want to hear more of, any day of the week.
He ends his set with two brilliantly crafted songs, one a pop-political fuelled chant, called 'Good Time' which is not unlike something you would expect to hear from Elvis Costello, which just shows you that not only does this boy take notice of what is going on around him, he isn't afraid to comment on it either, which is refreshing amidst the usual dreary bilge getting pumped out by most bands these days. The last song is simply entitled 'mickypkerr.co.uk' which completely takes you by surprise as it's a little hip hop type rap affair, which will have you bouncing for many hours after you have heard it. Mr Kerr is to be applauded for his originality and substance as a performer and song writer, a star in the making!
Second band of the evening are, The Isles. I don't really know how to describe their wickedly appealing style other than it's a bit Arctic Monkeys meets Terrorvision with punky overtones. If I could sum it up in two words, these would be "bloody fantastic!"
Starting off, 'We Don't Give A Fuck' is such a terrace song which quickly transpires to songs entitled 'Alan' and my favourite of their set, 'I'm Alright Jack' which seems very influenced by The Buzzcocks and The Undertones, which is a simply blinding tune!
'Friends Of The Opposite Sex' has some cleverly cutting lyrics which I'm sure most people can relate to and the style in which it is sung and played has a ska, beat feel to it.
The fifth song of the set - as yet untitled - blew me away, it was so catchy and the riffs throughout are very rousing and it kinda rams itself firmly down your lug holes, which was apt as by the last song of the set, 'She Likes To Dance' people were banging the roof of The Mixing Tin.
Headlining this evening are one of Leeds finest - The Invention.
Now this is what indie music should be like! Their cleverly titled tunes match with a musicianship that is second to none. We are even treated to a few new tunes this evening, 'Motherfucker Said' and 'C'mon Now' which are both working titles but nonetheless I think they should stick with them.
What is instantly apparent about The Invention is their lead singer Anthony, who I'm sure is the bastard love child of Richard Ashcroft. His vocal ability is outstanding on every tune.
The band feed of the energy from the crowd which is more than noticeable, but who wouldn't when you're this good?
This band have it all for me, and the energy they put into their tunes is amazing, which sets them aside for a lot of their local contemporaries - dare I say it - they are the new Music.
The songs that really stood out for me from their set would have to be 'Voltage' which sees Rob [Drums] producing a forcing intro which ignites into an amazing mod beat which drives the tune to definite new ground musically. 'The Letter' is a change of tact which dabbles with a little toe in the electronica puddle, over a dirty sounding guitar riffs aplenty back drop. I found 'Lights Out' and Bloodshot' very Inspiral Carpets laden, which were simply outstanding but the best song from these lovely Leeds boys had to be 'Black & White Bullets' which sounds like The Jam meets The Hives - the lyrics and vocals on this shine through anything else and it's a vigorous piece of music which takes hold of you and give you a bloody good shake. These boys have a typified look, attitude and sound of the late eighties, early nineties indie bands but with a definite modern twist. Highly recommended and lets hope soon to be highly sought after.
