The Scaramanga Six @ Leeds Festival 2007
By Richard Garnett
Hadouken! - Radio 1 Stage
A heaving tent full of sweat and dubious amounts of day-glow welcomes semi-home-towners Hadouken!. The buzz in the crowd is obvious but to those less involved in Hadouken!'s MySpace friends list, it soon becomes apparent that this is a bad case of the emperor's new clothes. A bad hat on at a jaunty angle does not a genre make MR NME, but oh how you have convinced the kids that Nu-rave is something worth getting excited about. Hadouken!'s two ideas quickly dissolve into something rather bland and uninteresting. "If you guys don't bounce up and down with me then I am going to look like a complete twat" ... ahem, going to look like? It's like 5 middle class kids have been through a NME pressing plant with evil over-lord Zane Lowe at the controls. Shakes head, lifts shoulders and leaves never to return.
International Trust - Topman Unsigned Stage
Local networking specialists International Trust take to the stage with 50% of them looking comfortable in their suited and booted attire, while the others look like they have been forced into it to look smart for the occasion by their mums. Neil Hanson basks in the beer lobbing crowd and there is a genuine tear welling in his eye as a chorus of "International Trust - Oi!" rings around the assembled onlookers. The sun beats down on the catchy punk-pop of set opener Disneyland, chant-a-long "There's no I in International Trust" and the smooch "I can't believe you fell in love", all of which are greeted with rapturous cheers and applause. This is a healthy dose of good fun and by contrast to the vast majority of other bands performing across the festival this weekend, it never takes itself too seriously. As plastic bottles rain back and forth, to and from the stage and Neil is drenched in beer by one of his own temporary road crew it all climaxes with the fittingly titled "Talk of the Town". Bingo!
Kubichek! - The Carling Stage
Go back a couple of years and Kubichek! were very much in the mix with phrases like "hotly tipped" and "ones to watch". Roll forward to the present and a lowly billing on the Carling Stage to a half empty tent might be a clue as to which direction it went in following the initial hype. Still world domination is not at the top of everyone's wish list and the band seem content enough to rattle through old favourites for the assembled hardcore. It becomes apparent for the first time this weekend that the sound set-up for a number of spots on the festival site is pretty atrocious and Kubichek! suffer with a guitar that is buried too low in the mix, an over powering snare and a general lack of any discernible volume. Combined with a set that is pretty lacklustre, it's a dull and frustrating watch that does not hark of "ones to watch" but more "ones not to bother with again in the future".
The Little Ones - The Carling Stage
Doing our best to avoid the knob-fest of hormones and metal-in-other-clothes that is Friday's main stage line-up, California's The Little Ones are a breathe of fresh summery air. Smiling through-out, their infectious surf Indie wins the day. With hair-cuts you could only get away with on the US West coast they brighten up the crowd with some uplifting aural assaults. Akin to The Shins, The Magic Numbers minus the annoying "Indie Cool", Nada Surf and Wilco it's immaculately executed. New single "Lovers Who Uncover" is certainly worth checking out.
Maps - The Carling Stage
Question, how many men does it take to set-up a keyboard? Maps have about 6 having a go, all stood round conferring. The universal sign for "more in this monitor": looking to the left of the stage and pointing upwards in a panicked motion by your right ear is being widely used across the stage. Maps take so long with this process that they end up with their set being cut dramatically short. The band look surprised by this as the news filters across the stage but surely they knew this was on the cards? Anyhow, they get on with their swelling ambient Indie-pop sound. The Carling Stage's naff PA system is pushed to the limits by the band's huge layered sound and consequently the whispered vocal style is a complete waste of time and the band might be better adopting an instrumental approach live. But the response is good as the beer has now been flowing for quite some time and people are in the mood to head nod. The band look overwhelmed by the massing numbers in the crowd and start taking photos of them. You can only imagine the conversation back stage - "I never knew we were so popular with 17 year old girls, I think we've really got it going on man!" ... "Err no they were just here early for Kate Nash ... she's on next guys". It was the hardest part of the weekend squeezing out of that tent through the massed throng of young bikini glad women... "Oh no I left my map of the site in there... I'll have to go back in again."
The Scaramanga Six - Topman Unsigned Stage
Monster... wow... blimey... and monster again! Bursting a blood vessel with every chord The Scaramanga Six take their task of headlining the Unsigned Stage (a farce in itself) by the horns. Quite literally by the horns in fact and the band's numbers are tonight swelled by a brass section aptly named The F**king Brasstards. The sound is immense as the band launch in to new song "The Evil Din". Quickly followed by new live favourite "Trouble" the lowly turnout is an insult to the excellence going on on stage. If you were somewhere else, like watching those muppets of toss The Lost Prophets then you only have yourself to blame. Tune after tune makes ear drums bleed and hearts glow. A rare outing for "The Coward" is a real treat, the skilful instrument swapping of "Vesuvius" is splendid and the tumultuous set ender of "Pincers" is one of the best songs ever written with just two chords. Hurrah and hurray. Lets start a campaign right now to swap them with Razorshite and have them headline Saturday night. The only thing to be seen wearing this season is a free red The Scaramanga Six badge. It's all over far too soon.
