Phonic Rapture, The Tendons, Scratchplate, Capo Jr.

Lev 1 + 2 Esquires Bedford. 2nd September 2005.

I’ve got an endearing memory of tonight’s opening band, CAPO JR… One of my first experiences of them, at what was one of their earliest Bedford gigs, occurred just after the Spanish train bombings last year. Between songs, the lead singer decided to dedicate their next track to the victims of said incident, saying, with absolute heartfelt regard, “This one goes out to the people of Milan!” Now that is pure, metal genius!!! In fact, a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, although I will tell you that he was the very same person also immortalised by The Tendons’ song ‘Matt the Twat,’ actually bought one of their CD’s then had it signed on the strength of that tribute alone!
Back to tonight, Capo have come a very long way since those early days when I used to look forward to their next gig for comedy potential alone. Without wanting to sound like some muso, there is a real maturity there now in both their songs and their performance, which has seen them develop into one of the most watch-able and musically entertaining rock bands on the local scene.

As you may know, I’m one of Esquires very own superstar DJ’s and was tonight delivering a few tunes between bands. Given the classic rock theme of the night, I decided to slip in ‘Slither’ by Velvet Revolver, which neatly followed The Crue’s ‘Primal Scream’ in case there’s any would-be DJ’s reading who want some advice on how to drive a crowd wild. Anyway, about ten seconds in this guy runs up to the sound guy, then the promoter, shouting “You’ve got to turn this off” like his life depended on it. Eventually, he was told that his pleas might be better directed at the good-looking guy about three feet away with the two big CD decks in front of him. “You’ve got to turn this off,” he cried again. “No” I said. “Seriously, you’ve got to turn it off now.” I’d lost interest already, but he continued his rant anyway, frantically explaining that his band, SCRATCHPLATE, were playing that song in their all-too-quickly approaching set. So, should I take option one and fall on my sword, switching a great song off half way through and looking like some sort of incompetent? Or should I take option two and suggest that perhaps they should consider writing their own songs? At the end of the song, Scratchplate took the stage. Like the rest of their set, their cover of ‘Slither’ left a lot to be desired.