12 March 2004, Bedford Esquires. (Info)
It’s 8:50 on an ordinary, wet Bedford evening in March, but at the Esquires venue, something out of the ordinary is taken place. Ordinarily the home of shouty punk bands, local metalheads and the remaining Indie community, the small venue tonight is playing host to one of the most eclectic and simultaneously bizarre bills of recent times.
For starters, the evening marked the debut UK show of HERZ FÜR KINDER, the art rock ensemble comprising myself, Stereo Herz on drums and theremin, and my comrade G Herz on electric guitar and vocals. We arrive early at the venue in order to formulate a battle plan, but instead end up making friends with Glaswegian headliners, ENGINE and local instrumental noiseniks ELEBEK. In between bands, the good people of SUPERCHUNK, Gareth and Marcus play marvellous records, setting the mood for the eclectic, inspirational evening.
Taking to the stage just before nine o’clock, we’re introduced on stage by our good friend Keith from the Bedford metal website and, so it would seem, Esquires stalwart, with a suitably grand introduction.
We then speed through our four-song set in just over a quarter of an hour, particular highlights from our perspectives including the feedback only interpretation of My Girl by The Temptations, and our chaotic conclusion, featuring our next single, Four (Every Thursday) and an interpretation of It Aint What You Do It’s The Way That You Do It by Bananarama. I provide the primal beats while G stalks the stage, shrieking lyrics, and all in all it’s a glad, albeit low-key return to the live arena for Herz Für Kinder.
Next up, local instrumental types ELEBEK seem to confuse and impress in equal amounts. Taking their cue from the likes of Mogwai and The Mars Volta, their jazzy rock sound soars above the rainy Bedford night, sounding like a soundtrack to a very strange film, or a very stoned improvisation session at an after hours Jazz Club. The great guitar work, encompassing a multitude of effects and techniques, rides over terrific interplay between the solid bass work and scatty drums. Despite having no vocalist, nor even talking to the crowd between songs, Elebek were afforded a great reception, having brought along a large crowd. The kind of band John Peel would love, they leave the stage having barely broken a sweat after half an hour of drug rock.
Finally, the nicest band in music, ENGINE. The dance outfit consists of a keyboard player and sampler, the backbone of the band, a bassist who provides the funk, a full on rock guitarist and two very beautiful female singers. From the word go, the pop hits start flowing, and, due to the great buoyant atmosphere in the normally dingy room, it’s fair to say Engine are quite out of the ordinary. Like Scissor Sisters if they were actual sisters, the band plough through a set of future hit singles with names like Shark Attack and Welcome To The Show, marrying techno beats to metal guitar solos and aggressive soul vocals. The evening culminates during last song, their second single, the name of which I forget, an unhinged piledriver of a pop song, silencing the sceptics and getting even the surliest of punters tapping their feet and smiling like goons.
So Engine took Bedford, on a night sure to be remembered in the same sentences as Oasis’ performance in the town, and certainly overshadowing the previous night’s appearance of former Blur lo-fi boredom merchant, Graham Coxon, on a night where their own personal sunshine surely drove away the angry spring rain.
Herz will return…
Review By Stereo Herz www.bedfordmetal.tk