Club Biscuit and Roar Club Presents: Filthy Boy, Guitars Have Ghosts and Embrace The City.
Bedford Esquires Lev 2 Friday 23rd March 2012.
Review By Martin Stapleton.
How refreshing it is to come across a couple of ‘Hotly Tipped’ bands with class style and attitude, trying to survive and grow in a music world full to the brim of ‘Next Factor’ nicety – nice boys who cant stop bouncing their balls in the nations faces while at the same time making us suck for the privilege!
Well done to the promoters tonight Club Biscuit and Roar Club. In this weeks N.M.E. (The same happened last week with the Wet Nuns gig). They made the Esquires hosting of FILTHY BOY , as one of its five unmisible shows of the week. However, we are talking about Bedford, one of the most out of touch places as far as ‘Happening’ bands are concerned. We can obviously remember Libertines, Franz Ferdinand and The Rakes as gigs that went straight over most of the town’s young music followers. It’s a shame and quite embarrassing for all concerned. Undeterred, these Sarf Peckham Londoners strode in to sleepy Bedford and quite brazenly hijacked our arteries and rerouted the blood cells straight to their bleak Filthy Boy heart.
Their songs and sound conjures up this mind thought, if you mix the lyrical style and feel of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds to the latter-day work of the Artic Monkeys. IE Humbug (The album that no one claims to like!) You are close to grabbing what Filthy Boy permeate. They contain teenage angst without the fake posing and coy posturing and there not ink stained! Those words are not in this bands vocabulary. Their set bristles with brooding and patient rhythms, all underpinned by a deeper understanding of allowing all the songs to percolate and breathe gloriously in to life. The frontman says very little, Filthy Boy is a strange band name, but it’s called that he says “Just coz that’s what we decided on”!
After their first song, he rather bizarrely asks the crowd “Could you move back a bit”! Uh!! It’s not exactly crowded up here. Visually they are quite static, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does beg the question, is it controlled moodiness or do they not give a toss? Unfortunately there is no crowd movement of any kind, which does not really enhance the atmosphere.
The kids are elsewhere and it is the older ‘Peely’ stalwarts that are keeping it alive tonight. The singer really has got a tremendous voice, which does count for a great deal, however he doesn’t connect socially with his playing public. I did enjoy the Filthy Boys set and considering their precocious young ages, how will the headlines read in the coming months? Tomorrows chip wrapper paper or teen prodigies soon to become festival favourites?
London’s GUITARS HAVE GHOSTS also make a sizable impression. A tour piece who have a returning musical son amongst their ranks, namely Guitars vocalist Ben Welling, he of course is very well known in these parts. This ex Sharnbrook Upper School pupil played many years ago with Still Life, Arcade and most Latterly Moxie. (Remember Esquires November 25 2006?) GHG contain amongst their ranks a most hirsute and thoroughly gregarious frontman. To make a point of this he tells the audience “Is just a beard guys, don’t be f****** scared”!
He communicates extremely well and informs at all times. Original Sins is a brand new one. Motormouth, well that’s about character building, while Lies That You Spent takes in empire building. The band sometimes drift in to Muse country with their soaring guitars. Green Lover is also a recent composition G.H.G. deserved more than just polite applause in fact as the frontman comments jokingly “You’re not very lively, has there been bereavement”? Good Quip, good people, good band.
EMBRACE THE CITY who opened, had a bit of a mare. With no drummer, they were reduced to playing acoustically. In Bedford acoustic music is strong, unfortunately these youngsters were not.
It would be more fairer to review when they are up to strength. It’s disappointing not to hear King Of The World in all its full glory.
Review by Martin Stapleton www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk