Flies are Spies from Hell @ Royal Park Cellars
By Aaron MajekFor this sleep deprived reporter, the prospect of having to walk deep into Headingley on a Thursday evening, with an exam at 9 O'clock the next morning, was not a particularly inviting one, but none the less I upped the courage and made the effort. I arrived at Royal Park pub with no expectations, and the pub itself was an ample venue, although may I say, dark and gritty.
The first band was already on stage by the time I arrived and managed to draw a massive crowd for the tiny venue, making it almost impossible for one to make it to the back of the room to grab a pint. They did okay for their first performance, but in this reporter's opinion, there was far too much wailing for this time of night. The second band took to the stage with a lesser crowd, and a less than impressive performance. All I can say is that 'Emo' is not my thing. The room cleared, with only a handful of watchers remaining, which is injustice to music, because what was about to take place was truly something to be witnessed...
Next up, were the band with one of the most impressive names I have heard in a long while, Flies are Spies from Hell, and if it is possible, the music far outdid the name! A magnificent display of what I describe as 'Post-Rock', and for others out there who have not heard of this genre before, this is as Mogwai (the Granddaddies of it) describe it, "Light bits, followed by noisy bits".
The band took to the stage, and even though the crowd had cleared away before them, lead man Chris gave one heck of an intro, "We're going to do this Punk-Rock style..." and then kicking into to a heavy riff of scathing guitars, fraught bass and tight drums. Following this hefty intro, and without a gap (something I prefer in live music), then followed a beautifully crafted piano piece leading into a trickling guitar riff that totally contrasted that of the premier song. The set lead on with a combination of beautifully crafted songs that can not be expressed in meagre words, but probably only by the emotions of the musicians that crafted them, but what they try to do, and succeed well at is to take you there with them. The final song, 'You're making me nervous, so stop', is the cherry on the icing of what had been an excellent set, with a slow build up leading to an ecstatically frantic clashing of guitars.
The band itself has an excellent dynamic between them. Split up all over the country, they still manage to keep together and write new songs, and when together, you could never tell that they don't gig week by week. Lead man Chris has such a rapport with the crowd, that even when they aren't playing songs, they still manage to keep you entertained. Chris and fellow guitarist Will also provide an excellent centre piece for the band, interacting well with each other and providing a good front sound of the band. The guitars are strongly supported by an excellent rhythm section, which was often neglected by the sound man, who was trying his best to keep up with constant on/off distortion of the guitarists. One of the main highlights for me was the constant use of a keyboard/piano in the songs, as this brought and extra dynamic to an already excellent band. It is a shame though that today, instrumental music is often overlooked by many record labels, as a lot of people out there just don't have the brain capacity to accept that not everything needs vocals. All this aside, this band deserve to go forward, and if they can just add that little extra, find their niche in the 'Post-Rock' market, they could be up there with the best.
