Spencer de Vere, Sweet Tin Hoax, Seven Stories High, Jumpsuit Collective.

Esquires Bedford Lev 2 4th February 2006.

Hairgel presented an evening of total Indie, which attracted a slightly more mature audience. Anyone who enjoys beautiful melodies, beautiful guitar playing and anything else beautiful would have thought this gig was...well...beautiful.

JUMPSUIT COLLECTIVE are a slightly strange but highly original band. I am sure most of the audience were puzzled as each song featured a different line-up on stage. 'Careful' featured a maracas player (something you don't see at Esquires very often) whilst 'Without Them' was a solo acoustic effort. For me the highlight of the set was the song 'Geek' which featured the lyric 'I don't drink during the week, I'm a Geek, I'm a Geek'. Perhaps you had to be there to appreciate it!

Flitwicks SEVEN STORIES HIGH played in their own soft melodic style with shimmering guitars very much in an Elbow / Starsailor stylee. This was a set that is not going to send the kids moshing themselves into oblivion but sometimes you cannot beat a gold old fashioned set where you can hear the words and everyone plays in tune! The song 'End of the Day' and penultimate track 'The Calling' are the cream of the crop as a warm glow descends over the venue.

The oddly named SWEET TIN HOAX are a five piece from Leighton Buzzard and Milton Keynes and whose set is full of huge songs that beg to by sung along to performed by a band who appear to be having the time of their life on stage. Pitched somewhere between the golden age of the Sixties and latterly bands like Teenage Fanclub, they boast a front man who bears a striking resemblance to Ian Brown!

If there is any justice in the world, the jingle-jangle of 'I'll Get Over You' with it's opening line of 'I'll get over you, cause that's what people do, I feel much better now' should be a massive feel good summer smash. The Oasis-influenced 'Can't Let You Go' closes their set in an explosion of noise and colour. When I heard the name SPENCER DE VERE, I was half expecting to see some bearded guy with an acoustic guitar on stage (no offence to anyone with beards out there). What we got were four skinny young London lads - Dom (bass/vocals), Johnny (rhythm guitar/vocals), Nils (lead guitar / vocals) and Ben (drums). The first thing that strikes you about Spencer de Vere is frontman Dom as he angles a chiselled profile in the crowds direction before throwing a host of poses without smiling once. With his hypnotic eyes fix firmly on the crowd he is mightily impressive as an apprentice pop messiah, and his angelic yet biting vocals certainly make him cooler than cool.
The look, sound and feel of Spencer de Vere takes me back a decade or so ago to bands like Suede, Denim and The Auteurs. Their whole set radiates the same kind of melancholic feeling you get when you lose yourself in a bittersweet memory of what might have been and as I leave the gig tonight I am left with the thought that worst thing about being young is that you soon outgrow it.