Lorimer
Live at Rocket on Monday, 24th July 2000
Can the quality of unsigned Leeds bands get any higher? The FutureSound 2000 has certainly opened a lot of people's eyes to the standard of music out there in Leeds, and if you think of the bands that aren't even playing... Tonight sees the late entrance of Four Day Hombre, currently in the middle of a whistle-stop Uk tour, having played Carlisle, Edinburgh and Hull, they stop off back in Leeds before continuing onto Brighton and an industry gig in London. And tonight sees perhaps the most professional outfit to date, including the whole shop experience nestled in the corner, featuring t-shirts, photographs and CDs. The professionalism off-stage is also mirrored by the band on-stage, with a very crowd-friendly and confident exchange of wit, humour and general information. "We want you to name our next song, its new...", say the band. "Bread!", shouts back an audience member, to which the band respond by naming their new song "Warburtons". Their set also includes a master-piece of a song in "Tenth White Lie", with its immensely catchy riff, and equally amazing vocals. After Circa 72, I couldn't believe I'd see anyone better vocally throughout this tournament, yet tonight I saw the two vocalists from Four Day Hombre show exactly why they're creating certain waves, a harmony driven affair, with the odd occasion of alternative guitar mayhem to twist. These are my tips.
Next up are Zane, and very aptly named for Keenan jnr. Zane, like Four Day Hombre, have also mastered the line of mellow (at times) guitar, accoustic (at times), alonside some classic harmonic vocal lines, with the added choice of going to the other extreme and knocking out some real "rock songs". They dedicate their second song, "Backstreet Driver" to a certain Geraldine, she of some recent top reviews on leedsmusicscene, and this along with their closing tracks is perhaps the highlight of their set. "Glastonbury" sees the band announce their desires to actual play at Glastonbury next year - who knows, as I get the feeling this is a band for the future, rather than a band for now. Their mid-set was very mid-90s musically, a very Britpop feel to things, and whilst this was a decent little set it was just a shame it had to follow Four Day Hombre's....on another night, it'd be all "wow". Very good. Don't miss this band, 'cos they're young and will be big.
Finally, and to mark the end of tonights trio come Lorimer, who take to the stage amidst classic sound bytes from the Leeds' glory years. A question for those of you out there, asked by people around me, "Just where is the bassist?". Answers on a postcard. Lorimer are the kind of band who wouldn't look too far wrong on a Firece Panda release, you know the idea...quirky, little punk rock band who can write a whole host of catchy numbers, exciting to watch live, but on the other hand are very unlikely to go onto anything else, because there are simply so many bands doing "that thing". It'd be a shame if Lorimer were one of those bands who missed out because this was another highly entertaining set, and completed the trio of attention-catching sets that were on show tonight. They close off by announcing the last song is "..dedicated to the [unknown] person who wrote the nasty letter saying this event is fixed". And that was basically that.
