Slaves, Lucid, Hulkenburg, The Bluebook Project.

Lev 2 Esquires Friday 1st August 2014.




Sometimes you just know that it's going to be a special show and this is definitely one of those occasions. It's early in the morning, nearly 5am, and the working week is thankfully drawing to a close. With bleary eyes I tear off another page of my calendar and what does it say? Well "Today in 1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire". I smile at the irony as in about 17 hours the modern day musical Slaves will be making their first appearance at Bedford Esquires. The first time I saw Slaves, supporting Drenge at the Craufurd Arms last year, I had always hoped that they would play a gig at Esquires. Now, thanks to Juicebox Indie, they are. They comprise Isaac Holman (drums, vocals) and Laurie Vincent (guitar, backing vocals). They hail from Royal Tunbrigde Wells ( as Isaac likes to grandly call it) in Kent.

This is now the third time that I have seen them play and is, without doubt, the happiest, friendliest and most relaxed gig of them. This is encapsulated during "White knuckle ride" when a member of the crowd stumbles over in the mosh pit area. Slaves realise that there is a problem and stop playing immediately. They ask people to give assistance to the stricken gent and to help him find his spectacles and give him a minute to recover. They only resume when they know that "Chris is OK". Isaac does most of the communicating. He is smartly attired although, inevitably, he does end up topless by the end of the set. His dark greased up hair is offset by a razor sharp parting. Laurie is resplendent in a lurid shirt. Their opening song is "Nervous energy" and sums up Slaves' philosophy.

Isaac plays drums in a unique style by standing upright in a primal manner. Laurie strums with such deft magical fingers. Signed to Virgin EMI and with an album out later in the year, they do perform a few tracks from the 2012 "Sugar coated bitter truth" mini album. "She grew old" is from that and the words are shouted loudly "Some girls can't keep their knickers on! She grew old but she never grew up". The turnout tonight is good and a touch on the boisterous side and Laurie announces "Everyone keep it friendly". The band are constantly writing fresh material, one such is "Live like an animal" when "You can live like one and die like one". They rock and ooze punk with some rockabilly leanings. It is exhilarating as they create such sweet pandemonium. Their ferocious energy can even be felt at my vantage point at the back of the room. The loudly appreciative audience are firmly transfixed, both by Isaac's psychotic pummelling of the skins and Laurie's effortless guitar skills.

My highlight happens when they perform new single "Where's your car Debbie?". Isaac's intro to this surreal song is so amusing. It is a folklore composition from their local stamping ground and tells of being "frightened of bumping into Mr Bigfoot in the woods". Once heard, I challenge anyone not to keep singing the chorus for hours afterwards. During the break for this, Laurie considerately towels down the damp head of his sweaty bandmate. Although the lights aren't on high or flashing they are still extremely warm. Prior to "Girlfight" Isaac performs a spoken word introduction and he tells of "eating that takeaway, what can I see in the distance? Fighting will not be tolerated". A boozy heckler in the crowd shouts "Get on with it". Isaac stops and glares at him and answers "In my own time mate". The musician's eyes are full of menace and very scary. This heckler has been sufficiently put down. Ten songs straight off, no need for an encore. Slaves have triumphed and spend plenty of post-gig time socialising with the paying public. In this world we are all slaves.

Support begins with The Bluebook Project. A strong, quick fire ten song set from this quintessentially English sounding, working class based rock 'n' roll band. They ooze confidence and possess a knowing swagger. However they tread carefully and thankfully avoid any pastiche. Kasabian or Oasis may be their inspiration, but they avoid any horrible laddiness. It is the first time that I have seen them as a four piece and it suits them. The set flows and flies by so quickly. "Heavy headed", "Isolator" and of course "Hurricane blues" are all performed with passion and vigour and they rise to the evening's high standards. The songs are so infuriatingly catchy and maddeningly addictive, all laced within their straight ahead indie rock. Great to see this band back here.

Following are Hulkenburg and for Mikey and Terry it's a second appearance on the main stage after they supported The Bots in July. Thanks to sound man Mash, their sound is cranked up a few decibels. It is awesomely loud, but the clarity is spot on for these, predominantly, stoner rockers. They are phlegmatic in their control and a confident poise is held throughout. Bedfordshire's very own two man beserker team administer a pulverizing sound. It is good to see the Slaves lads watching intently as their frenzied delivery is utterly riveting. These lads display such spirit and adventure. It's played with fun but, make no mistake, above all they are serious musical constructors.

Totally out of sync with the rest of the evening are Lucid. They are a five piece who include keyboards. Sadly they bring down the speed, atmosphere and tempo of the whole evening. To their credit they have brought some travelling support. They try hard and one of their songs, as yet untitled, might have been better suited as an instrumental. The sound that they tried to get during this may have been more successful had they invested in a theremin. To be fair, they seemed like a good band but appearing on the wrong line up.

Slaves set list:- Nervous energy, She grew old, Live like an animal, Hey, Where's your car Debbie? In dog years you're dead, Girlfight, Okay, White knuckle ride, Beauty quest.


Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk