Mama Scuba @ The Vine
By Stu Hudson
I have to admit that I wasn't really sure whether or not I wanted to see "Meet the Fockers", OK the first one was amusing but was there really enough mileage in the concept to spawn a sequel? My mind was made up, though, by the trailer which featured a Chihuahua sodomising a squeaky Albert Einstein glove puppet - call me base but that sort of thing always gets me...
Sorry, you're probably wondering why I'm talking about "Meet the Fockers" under the guise of a music review. The thing is, I went to see the film before legging it down to the Vine just in time to catch the start of Dustin's Bah Mitzvah. Having done so, however, I wish I had stayed in the cinema and thoroughly read the closing credits, it would, after all, have been far more entertaining than the set I endured.
Dustin's Bah Mitzvah (DBM) are, in short, dreadful. They churned out a seemingly endless set of 2 minute garage-punk-by-numbers, punctuated only by the occasional break to tell the audience to shut up or complain that the sound on stage was shite - you should have been where I was standing mate! In their own minds DBM probably sound like The Ramones, in reality they are utter toss.
I was somewhat relieved when Buen Chico took to the stage, and raised the bar by a good few notches. The sound was an uplifting, surfy, punky yet melodic collection of songs, switching between vocalists to keep you on your toes. Their second song was not dissimilar to [gulp!] McFly, but in a good way! Catchy, melodic and poppy. I must admit that half way through the set my mind started to wander, distracted by the under-nourished, under-dressed townie-teens who had briefly wandered in, discovered that you had to pay, then wandered out again in a strop. However after its brief sojourn my mind returned, like a well trained pigeon, to Buen Chico and I decided that the only thing that really let them down was the sound: the mix was quite poor and made it difficult to concentrate on what was going on, however I look forward to seeing Buen Chico again at the March Tea Time Shuffle where, by strange coincidence, they will once again be on before...
Mama Scuba are one of the first names I heard when I arrived here off the boat, 5 years ago. Sad then that it had taken so long for me to finally check them out live but now, with the band currently riding a raft of rave reviews for their new album "You're a long time dead so what's the hurry", seemed the ideal time to rectify the situation. With my hopes high the band took the stage and failed to disappoint. Singer/Rhythm guitarist Wes sang a sweet, flowing falsetto like a wee Matt Bellamy while at the same time grinding out chugging, menacing chords. The lead guitarist highlighted these with well chosen harmonics and Keyboard Keith made some cool "wweeeoooooowwwwwwoooooooooo" noises; there were no pyrotechnics here, this was craftsmanship. The overall effect was pleasingly like Mansun, but lacking the 7 minute epics, these songs were long enough for you to get into but not so long as to outstay their welcome. The set progressed before ending with a new, as yet untitled song (I stole a sneaky peak at the set list and saw it described simply as "New One?") which, for me, was the highlight, possessing all the marketability of The Music yet with all the credibility of Kaiser Chiefs. Once again I think the sound quality was an issue but this didn't seem to phase the band who, along with Buen Chico, I look forward to seeing at their Tea Time Shuffle debut.
And "Meet the Fockers"? Well you'll have to see for yourself, this is a music review after all.
