30 Day Hex @ Fenton
By Dave SugdenDistophia play cool lo-fi indie with franticly fast guitars and pop melodies. Lots of distortion and effects muddle the sound a little, and whilst they're a small-compact-venue-sort-of-band, ideal for the Fenton, there are what-would-that-sound-like-at-the-Well moments. A great band - from Birmingham.
Dressed like she's arrived via a night out at Majestyks, Caroline looks hot and flustered as she takes her position at the head of Pop Threat, and with a notepad of lyrics in one hand this is hardly the image expected of the sultry, underground, indie-noise band. Opening the set with their latest single "Filth", they start very nervously - problems with the mic stand don't help, and it takes a few songs for The Threat to get into their stride. A few people leave. "Ingrained" helps the band gather some momentum, which they follow with the excellent "Ripen" and "Cherie", thrusted out in a snarling Altered Images meets Mary Chain fashion. Eventually it sounds like Pop Threat actually mean it. Overall a good set, the low points at the start matched by the better moments at the end, yet that one nagging feel is that they record so very well and as musicians they are as good as anyone - yet watch them live and something's just not quite right!
Headliners are the "noise-mind-fuck-sound-feedback-spontaneous-experiments" of 30 Day Hex, a local six-piece that indulge themselves in the creation of melodic, instrumental epics. At times this is their downfall and the repetition becomes tedious, whilst at their best the walls of sound show well thought-out songs that are indicative of competent musicians. However, not being a fan of Mogwai, all their post-rock expertise mattered not one iota; as I leave early to see the latter stages of Galitza at the Well, a colleague suggests: "image what they'd be like now had they done this sound first". If Godspeed are your scene, check 'em out; they're not bad.
