EXPERIMENTAL FINAL: The Jehu Explosion, Zipper and Moneyshot
Saturday 29th December 2001, Bedford Esquires.

I did not expect much for myself from the bands at the experimental/indie final, but surprisingly enough, all of the bands rocked! Far heavier than I expected, although obviously not like Napalm Death...

Moneyshot came on with the announcement that they give us "the gift of rock" or some shite, and then kicked in with an intense hardcore influenced blast of an instrumental. Not all the rest of their set was as heavy, and sometimes degenrated into too much indie-rock noodling, but it all sounded very epic. The keyboardist did not seem to add much to the band though - the background melodies he provided seemed quite pointless and sometimes out of sync with the music. As they did not have vocals, some of the songs arrangements were too simple for my liking, and my attention wondered... If they add some vocals or add some more twists to the music they could be a far more promising band. As it is, they're heading somewhere quite original, it's just they're not there yet.

Zipper have been around the Bedford scene for fucking ages and ages, but had quite a long break from regulalr gigging at Esquires. However, the latest developments in their sound are really good - in fact I think that they are better now than they ever were before. The delicate atmospheric melodies are still there, but when they rock out, they really hit you now. In my review of their demo I commented about the bad vocal recording - live though, it all sounded great. They moved a lot onstage and had good stage presence, even starting moshpits occasionally. Their music reminded me of the energy and melody of some early Feeder songs, but with more ambience and quiet parts. The loud/quiet dynamics work very well in a live setting, and make the different parts stand out better. Zipper delivered the best set I've seen them do tonight, and if they write some catchier songs, they could become serious contenders.

I was really surprised by the Jehu Explosion's set tonight. They arrived onstage to appreciative cheers from the crowd, with a very positive response throughout their set. They sounded far more comprehensible this time, without challenging the audience as much and indulging in less strange onstage antics. The Bedford audience is finally beginning to get this band - the Explosion used to get a very confused reaction, with most people not getting what's going on at all, and deciding that the band was shit just because they did not understand their music. The few people that did were always very appreciative - I just loved the way they fucked with everyone's heads. The band's music is catchy, with some of the songs growing on you after conscutive live appearances, and they don't really sound like many other bands. The closest approximation of their sound is Therapy meets Voivod and Nirvana with arty Sonic Youth style washed out parts. I alaways thought they deserved recognition, and finally tonight they got it - the Jehu Explosion was the unanimous winner of the competition, and will be worthy competitors in the grand final.

Pete Burov