FIGHT LIKE APES with Throwing Up, Misty Miller.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2. Friday 12th July 2013.

Tonight was a night dominated by the ladies and presented to us by Clubs Roar and Biscuit respectively. Our headliners, as with all of the bands tonight, making their Esquires debut are Ireland's FIGHT LIKE APES . Formed out of Dublin in 2006, this quartet are very much a cult band. Renowned for their weird and wacky live gigs, tonight they show remarkable restraint, except for one incident which I shall get to in due course. They are fronted by one hell of a woman, a female equivalent of Tim Harrington shoud I dare say! Her swathe of thick black hair sometimes obscures her face completely. What do Flapes conjure up? Well it's rather akin to Lady GaGa fronting Enter Shikari! As well as singing she also combines occasionally to double up the synth output.
With her natural warmth, she admits to something a touch surprising; "Hey Bedford, we're nervous"! After a couple of easy starters, the aforementioned Maykay now seems to be in the mood and cries out "Lend me your face". The crowd seem familiar with this, taken as it is from the 2009 album "Fight Like Apes and the mystery of the golden medallion". Maykay adds "I'll bust it up but I'll replace it". A very shouty song with a heavy bassline and soaked and flooded with synths. Not without controversy "Digifucker" is never going to be heard on the radio, thats for sure. I sense that back in the C-86 days, FLA would have had a major chance. Peely would have championed them, but now they are just consigned to brighten up a festival or do their turn of the inevitable toilet venues.
The said incident occurs when the two synthesiser cohorts break off stage and have a 'beer crate fight' on the dancefloor. To anyone that witnessed the Pure Love gig earlier this year, tonight's tomfoolery was very tame and hardly worth the effort. Maykay later repeats her crowd meet and greet and is pleasantly impressed with our manners and standards. "You're very polite" she says. Apparently at another gig someone tried to grab her top! It is said that Flapes lyrics verge on the inspired, but they could easily be construed as charmless and bitchy. "Jake Summers" is, as someone once quoted, melodic suss versus spite, such as "you're like Kentucky Fried Chicken without the taste". "Something global" is a post-hardcore pop song, based around 'bashing' magazines who have a prescribed agenda. Their regular use of sampled vocal intro's prior to a number of their songs is both puzzling and pretentious. To a po faced old fart like myself, that's also how I found Fight Like Apes, not a "Lovely noise"!

Much more to my liking are THROWING UP . Punk to the core, they have recently been taken under the wing of Tim Burgess (he is playing Esquires in September). He liked, contacted and recorded them. The Charlatan is a true man of taste as this East London trio rocked (strangely I thought they were a quartet). Punky with a grungy soul, they have a dynamic buzz hanging over them. At present they are basking in the sweet afterglow praise of their album release "Over you" (sadly not available on CD tonight). Although fresh and vibrant, their nod to The Ramones is loud and clear on "Big love". Their three chord charms my heart and brain, raising my spirits immensely. While the set appears not to have been as polished as Throwing Up would have liked, this matters not a jot as it pumps and pulsates endlessly. The pauses add to the appeal and the ladies smile instead of sneer. A feel good band by lovely feel good people. Their merchandise encapsulated the band's DIY ethos. White T-shirts have been creatively tie-dyed by their own fair hands. "Toothache" is musical nihilism at it's raw best. Primal bangers come thick, fast and ferocious. Throwing Up vie with the lights to coruscate the stage. Strangely, from this reviewer's distant angle, I get the distinct impression that a lot of the crowd do not share my enthusiasm for this high octane set. What a shame. Loosen up, have a drink and just absorb the sassy and nasty basslines and revel in the sheer power of Throwing Up. Great stuff, a musical pummelling treat.

Opening is MISTY MILLER fronting a band. Misty is the voice and brains behind, what I feel is, a rather manufactured project. The quartet run through a set that spans 50's rock 'n' roll, surf, country and indie. 'Jackie' of all trades, mistress of not many. Her singing also irritates as it is rather Americanised when in fact she hails from 'Sarf Lundun'. For more random variety, "Taxi cars" is a touch more upbeat with a 'bluesy' ending that is milked at it's close. A painful and constantly confusing set!