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London Camden Falcon
20 January 2000
from www.members.easyspace.com/eatradio/
The hype says it’s an NME On Night, but a quick pre-gig glance around the venue suggest that it’s a ‘Who’s Who of the Camden Liggers Scene’ Night. In attendance tonight are those Llama Farmers (one of whom was spied singing loudly in the gents’), ex 3 Colours Red axeman Chris McCormack, Cay’s throaty frontwoman Anet Mook (with red highlights and many cigarettes), and that beacon of British alternative culture, Mr Steve Lamacq! All we need now is a member of Lodger, or one of Fat Les, and the set would be complete
First of the three bands from the ‘budding rock band circuit’ on tonight are Twist, who, as everyone oughta know, are a four piece from Birmingham. Opening with 'Shari Says', and carrying on in a similar vein, Twist are pleasant enough, but with a voice that raspy, the inevitable Hole comparisons are pretty fair. In recent weeks, My Vitriol (terrible name, by the way, guys) have been hypes as the saviours of the world by Lamacq, and so the room is at its most full all evening for them. Continuing in the "let's play our most recent single first" game, they open with 'Always Your Way', and get no better. I guess it'd be fair to say that Twist and My Vitriol could well be the same band, only with girl and boy wailers respectively. Ho, and indeed, hum. If this is the future, it's more a case of the future being dull, and with long hair.
They may well insist on going to the toilet for ages before playing, but JJ72 are a lot more precious then you may assume of a bunch of Dublin teens. Being the first young band in ages to prefer intelligence to punky hedonism (see: My Vitriol, Llama Farmers, Chicks...) is good enough. But then, Stephen Hawking's pretty intelligent, and I don't see him being called the new Manics, or even better, that old one, the new Radiohead.
Selecting all black where bright and vibrant would suffice, the band quietly make their way onto the stage, and Mark Greaney blushes a nervy 'Evening all', and they launch into forthcoming single 'Snow'. The crowd, mostly industry types standing at the back doubtless comparing pay increases, suddenly decide to take notice when Mark bellows 'Why won't it snow?' over a layer of noise. Hillary Woods, arguably the coolest bassist from Ireland, well, ever, exchanges pouts with Mark, whilst drummer Fergal Matthews mouths along to his old buddy's every word taking care to not get too carried away, as last time JJ72 graced the Falcon, he developed a blood clot from playing too enthusiastically, and some tour dates had to be called off.
'Snow' and 'Undercover Angel' are both notable for big fuck-off choruses, and after the latter, the other two leave for a quick Caramac, leaving poor Mark to carry on by himself. He plays a fragile, acoustic 'Improv', followed by an electric 'Broken Down', with hee-yooj reverb on the vocal, making him sound, weirdly, like Icelandic wonderkids Sigur Ros. When his amigos return, the big guns are fired. The majestic debut single 'October Swimmer' gets the biggest cheer of the evening, and 'Algeria', with its cry of 'For ever, and ever, and ever', instantly becomes everyone in the venue's favourite song of 2000. The gorgeous 'Pillows (Oxygen)' precedes a closing 'Bumble Bee', which, incidentally rocks like a bastard, and then it's all over.
So, the verdict. JJ72 are a rock band, yeah? They sure as hell ain't no gospel, pop, jazz, soul, rap, jungle folk band. They're rock. Yet, onstage they manage to steer clear of most of the rock cliches admirably - only during 'October Swimmer' and 'Bumble Bee' does Mark give his guitar a good old-fashioned Steve Jones-ing; Hillary elects not to spit, or shout, at the front rows; there is very little talk, no 'Good evening, London!' or any such rubbish. In fact, Fergal's late refusal to give a shit about injuring himself, when he gives it some good old-fashioned Stuart Cable (no, really) is their only moment of rock n' roll excess. As for the tunes, 'Snow', 'Broken Down', 'Pillows' are all gorgeous, and they're not the only ones. Sure, 'Surrender' loses its direction about 80% of the way through, but they're only nineteen, for Christ's sake. If this set of songs, written in between lessons, is this good, the potential for album number two is scary.
You may not realise it yet, but you need JJ72. In the days when alternative music seems to be heading down that road called 'Travis Avenue', take a sharp right turn, like, now. What with the Manics taking a year out to doubtless grow marrows, and Radiohead becoming the new Beta Band, you need a rock band who prefer intelligence to making noise. In the words of the NME, in a year's time, you'll be wondering how you ever lived without them.
Set: Snow/Long Way South/Surrender/Undercover Angel/Improv/Broken Down/October Swimmer/Algeria/Pillows (Oxygen)/Bumble Bee
Samir Mathur