Scarlet Soho, Die So Fluid, Deadkidsongs
@ Hitchin Club 85, Fri 26th Nov 2004
Ah, Club 85, the local venue, for the local bands. And tonight, two touring acts of some repute. But there are some distractions from tonight’s gig. For a start, something that’s been bugging me for a while is the huge, geometric, coloured patterns that decorate the stage here. Who needs them? Does the gig venue as a place of music not have ambience enough on its own? Give me a guitar under dull orange light and I’ll be happy all evening… but I guess that’s just my own taste. I like my venues traditional and music less so. Perhaps the Club needs a bit of getting used to.
Club 85 is a strange place for the well-travelled gig-goer. On entry, I find the venue packed; yet there’s no queue at the bar! Ah, it’s because much of the crowd is underage. It’s the natural audience tonight. And if ever there were a gig designed to shock their parents, it’s this one. Scarlet Soho? My own mother almost barred me from the first gig I attended, because the venue was in that mucky borough. Die So Fluid? The name doesn’t even make sense. Deadkidsongs?
After confusing me with electronic backing, the young quartet come on and launch into a loud and rumbling sound. Friends of local stalwarts Shard and peddling songs at times as melodramatic, they do however owe more to the emo/metal strain of popular rock. While at times this might be corny – playing up to the moshpit rather than the broadsheet – there’s enjoyment to be had from their heavy bass thud, and interest in such experimental moments as the dragged-out section of their second song, which has two of them repeatedly whisper “I’m waiting.” And while waiting for the main acts, these boys were good fun to watch, when predictable as well as when they’re not; a band who hold a bit of promise, and that’s the best you should hope for a support act.
Watching Die So Fluid might stir a few older viewers. The singer and bassist known as ‘Grog’ once fronted late ’90s goth-punks Feline; and the cover to their ‘Spawn of Dysfunction’ album sports a fetching portrait of the lady in a French maid outfit and with green skin. Thankfully the DSF zombie sex rock is closer to the metal of Smashing Pumpkins than the Rasmus; although you might guess that a song so unsubtly titled ‘Suck Me Dry’ (!) would offer little in lyrical wit or beauty, the whole set’s delivered with an undeniable power. “Knock you to the floor, I’m above the law!” Grog snarls and stalks the stage, rocking a cartoon goth girl look on a par with Katie Jane Garside. It’s Grog’s voice that’s the trio’s best musical asset – deep without being strained – but the harsh and fast rhythm of their last few songs gives them a memorable finish. When they break out from the riff-riff-riff formula, too, they live up to their name.
And Scarlet Soho? Long-term zine favourites through extensive touring and the style that attracts a certain type of dedicated music fan – their sleaze / Jesus / technology shtick worn as on the sleeves of Mansun, Suede and Depeche Mode before them, all bands that attract particular people – the SS could finally be on the rise. Following the 'Isolation' single, finally their debut album is due for release on Human Recordings. They’ve got their controversial initials in place, with slogan lyrics like “procreation is self-abuse,” and a fine emphasis on dark glam image that sees guitarist Jim in his pinstripe jacket, and bass player Scarlet ever the sultry pop starlet with perhaps a better pseudonym than Grog. They know a bit about image, their first press being when they were spotted by Select magazine at an Elastica gig. That was a long time ago.
They’ve had a recent line-up change and a move to a more synth-driven sound, in keeping with their reliance on programmed beats. With the current pop vogue for dramatic electronics of poser groups like the Bravery, all this might gain them more attention. But what attracts the crowd’s eye tonight is a strange stage invasion by two girls, who set up where a normal band might place their drummer, and proceed to canoodle for the first three songs. I’d thought that lesbian exhibitionism was the most passé fad since heroin, but maybe I’m just no longer down with the kids, as it were. “I’ve not seen this much action since… since I was born” quips Soho’s Jim. I’m sure most music lovers haven’t heard their brand of pop since the 1980s, too. Many tire of it after a while. The lesbians are pelted off, while the band whine on. There are some good punchy moments among their repetitive synths – which at times force their own appeal – and far be it from me to support musical luddites in throwing out the electronic sounds, but it’s only when all three of the band pick up the old axe that their set has the power it should. And it’s in the climax of their (actually very catchy) set closer ‘City Behaviour’ when I hear the most interesting sounds, the clunk and feedback of guitars dropped on the floor to a backing of rapid beats and bloops. Chaos versus steadiness, that’s the thing.
I guess that’s my own personal taste in evidence again. A startling evening? Only as far as English culture shock goes. But putting distractions aside, there is some good music in evidence here, on a big stage and for a big crowd. From the touring acts – and a pleasure it is to have them here, a good variety – and from the local bands, who will always be worth dropping in on. I was once part of a stage invasion there myself, along with the members of Shard, one of the times Scarlet Soho played before. Since the six of us were about the only audience there, I don’t think we made much distraction. The stage was much smaller back then, too. Ah, Club 85, where the kids get down. Its all-inclusive attitude does create a strange venue. It's worth a visit.
www.diesofluid.com
/ www.human-recordings.com
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