THE BEAUTIFUL SLEAZY
with She Formed The Skies, New Bays, Liam Burke.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2 Saturday 9th February 2013.

The dictionary definition of a curates egg is thus: anything of which some parts are excellent and some parts are bad! In musical terms, this could sum up tonight on the main stage. Unfortunately, due to illness Dirty Parle couldn't fulfill their scheduled appearance. Kindly stepping in at the very last minute is LIAM BURKE. He offers us folk fragility with punk militancy. Playing in front of so many new faces seems to inspire him and his stage banter with the crowd is often quite humorous, although rather risque at times. Some of the visiting punters look to be slightly puzzled by his random between song antics. Liam mixes his set well and "Born To Lose" and "Down To Danny's" are ideal tasters. There is such a disarming honesty and realism in his songwriting and it consistently serves him well. Jaded cynicism is thankfully not part of his lyrical world. "Too Many Babies" is a wonderful slice of modern day Britain and encapsulates just why he might be the most offbeat and original solo artist from Bedfordshire. Punks playing acoustic guitar is nothing new, but Liam writes his songs and sticks them our there in his own bubble of creative freedom. However, I do feel that "Lady And The Bump" is a nasty jibe at the royal family. "Sons Of Liberty" is purely and simply a good song.

With the crowd on a relative high, we witness the Esquires debut of NEW BAYS. This quartet are pleasant enough but that can often be a bad thing. From the start it's obvious to see that they don't really connect with the crowd. There is no banter and no stage movement. It's rather like watching four mannequins and a spark is sorely lacking. The band announce that they have a free CD, but no-one seems very interested. Even New Bays aren't really sure if they have any copies with them! They perform "Breakthrough" which is on the aforementioned CD. Musically, it's very early Franz Ferrdinand in places, full of choppy punky guitars, but the live passion is lacking. Hopefully it is just nerves or gig inexperience. It's hard to imagine nights of rock 'n' roll excess with New Bays, comparing rare stamps over a nice cup of tea perhaps!

SHE FORMED THE SKIES are the local band presence of the evening. This four piece rock ensemble are encouraged by a good turnout of friends and family who proceed to take plenty of snapshots of their 'boys'. To the band's credit, they are shortly to be supporting Taking Hayley at the O2 Academy. Perhaps it's an age thing, but for this reviewer, She Formed The Skies bored me throughout. Pleasant bouncy tunes, but I just don't get it. What should music do to your body? It's there to grab all of your vtals, heart, brain, spleen, feet et al and send them spinning off into the stratosphere. There is no urgency or aggression in this form of rock. Far too bland for my liking. It may be the music of now but you can count me out of it. Maybe I'm too cynical to be reviewing young pop rock bands?

Thankfully, tonight everything revolves around THE BEAUTIFUL SLEAZY. It's nearly five years since they first payed here at Esquires and they have never ever failed to entertain me. Their anthemic qualities always come across so well in their live shows. They purvey a rich, hearty mixture of psychedelic bluesy rock 'n' roll with a garage (when it wasn't a dirty word in the music vocabulary) sound purring endlessly throughout. They exude a healthy swagger and confidence. A bonhomie and expertise is carried through a top set. Their excellent album of a couple of years ago, "All Fired Up", has produced a current iTunes single in "Fever Trip". The band reveal that they are currently recording a much anticipated follow up. A huge proportion of the songs tonight will eventually appear on said album. This Cambridgeshire five piece are simply bursting with angst ridden emotion (in a good way!) and defiance as they explode with some tasty hooks. Frontman Dan Cahill, after tantalising us with an imaginary tambourine, produces a real one later on. Some scuzzy guitar work is a rich bonus. While bands like The Beautiful Sleazy continue to pour diesel in their trusty van, load up their kit and then put on a superb show, crusty old musos like me will happy.