Laboratory Noise @ Mixing Tin
By Victoria Holdsworth
A pretty quiet start to the evening for a Saturday night in Leeds, and bloody cold too, so I was looking for something to warm my cockles. I met two young ladies in the toilet doing their make up, waiting anxiously to play and realised they were with the first band, Royal Treatment Plant, from London.
Now it's not often I see a female vocalist and actually like them straight away, unless of course you're the next Janis Joplin or Skin, but from the moment Princess P the lead singer and guitarist struck the first chord and wailed out her first note on the first two tunes entitled 'You Don't Need Me' and 'Crack Whore' (officially called 'Playing Dumb'), I was absolutely taken aback. This girl can sing! This girl is one of the most amazing front women I have seen in a band since Siousie Sioux, and although the music isn't anywhere near the style of The Banshees, Princess P has amazing stage presence, which even overshadows her band. I have to say musically, away from her, they probably let her down somewhat, but that doesn't mean to say it was crap, far from it. When you have a front woman with such presence you need to keep it simpler to some degree, the drumming and guitar work, including the bassist (who strangely kept my attention due to looking like the son in 'From Dusk Til Dawn') was all tight, with a nice little extra from a twiddly keyboard player, however the guy who was messing with the synths, you couldn't hear, and in my opinion is a bit redundant.
With some cracking emotive tunes, which strike you from the first to last note, I can only describe them/her sound and energy as a cross between a female Paul Weller in The Jam with the grace and lyrical skills of Morrissey. I would see these guys as quickly as possible, before you have to pay stoopid amounts for a ticket; they are going to be massive!
Next up are four young men from Windsor called SYRUS.
These guys are a credit to most bands that are trying to find their way in the show we call biz. The lyrics are dark and brooding, and lead singer Stu Drummond has one of the most amazingly dark, soulful, bluesy, rough, delving voices I have heard in a long time. The musicianship between these four lads is outstanding and they play very tightly, like a well-oiled machine, which to say they have only been together for a reasonably short time, just proves they know what they are doing.
The opening tune 'Cyclopean' sets the pace for the set and each lick from Chung the guitarist caresses the vocal as smooth as a pint of Guinness. It is a bouncing, yet sinister anthem.
This is followed by tunes entitled 'V' and 'Mosquito' The lyrics are raw with an emotional depth that shows Mr Drummond to be wise beyond his years and who obviously takes notice from all aspects of life. They are edgy, and you can hear the influence of The Verve and The Doors stream through their music, with pounding bass lines from John on 'The Quake' and regimental hypnotic sassy drumming from Howard on 'All Guns Blazing', I would say they are punching a little below their weight, I could have listened to them for hours and if they could just unleash that bit more energy they could go on the be one of the greatest little jewels in the UK music scene that's happening at the moment, with a potential to be massive contenders with the likes of The Glitterati and Kasabian.
What can be said about the third band on the line up this evening, Bobbie Peru?
Lead singer Bert, adorns the stage with his red boiler suit, looking like he has just escaped from Guantanamo Bay, and displays a vocal energy rather like someone who has been locked up for a very long time.
I have wanted to see these guys for a while, and even though I am usually disappointed with bands I've had a live yearning for, Bobbie Peru deliver on every level.
These guys know how to work a stage and explode. They are punky and dark one minute, rock and blues the next. The vocals are sometimes scary but carefully poised and take you to an imaginary edge, where you can feel lead singer Bert stood behind you wanting to cheekily prod you over with his finger.
They are such an invigorating injection to a music scene laden with emo pop and Green Day wannabes, and they are all quite clearly as mad as badgers in a captivating way. Each of their personalities emanate through their performance and it works well, with Winger on guitar, innovatively crashing and bashing through tunes such as '1971' then switching to show a more hazy gentler style on tunes such as 'Narcissus' Bert has exceptional vocal ability and can attack any lyric with confidence and venom but also shows an enveloping sweeter sound with his voice on the above tune to match the guitar workings.
The bass player, Ding is amazingly experienced and sets them far apart with a maturity that is evident in every strike of his fingers. Coupled with some pretty sweet driving beats from Dr. E, as shown in 'Burning In Hindsight' and 'BF Skinner.'
I'm officially a convert to Bobbie Peru, and if you're looking for something new and stimulating I think you'll like them too. I'd also check out Winger's project called 'We Are Water' absolutely amazing!
The last band of the evening are called Laboratory Noise who hail from Manchester/Leeds/Bradford/M62 - I checked them out before hand on MySpace and upon a first listen sounded very promising.
I read a review which said '... they meld the ethereal grace of My Bloody Valentine or later day Talk Talk with touches of epic post-rock and some serious shoe gazing for a dream-like record...' I sadly disagree, they sound like a Stones Roses wannabe band from 10 years ago and use all the same effects vocally as Ian Brown has done a million times over.
Whilst their musicianship is to be applauded with great interest, I found them a tad self indulgent and a little boring, nothing was really grabbing me and all the tunes seemed to merge into one long shoe gazing anthem. Maybe they should juggle their set list for a bit of variety. After all that is said and done however, Paul McNulty and Andy Ramsden do provide some beautiful vocal harmonies, that sadly get lost.
A band to drift off to sleep to after you've crawled in from a night on some serious beer and narcotics and you just can't think for yourself. Sorry guys, you could try harder.
