On the advice of a friend we arrived earlier enough to catch ‘Take a worm for a walk week‘, but while I had a modicum of respect for their talent they just didn’t do anything for me. The Beefheart influence was so much to the fore that it was difficult to appreciate anything else about them. I’d file them under ‘too much like hard work to enjoy‘.
Then the Twilight Sad came on. The sound was a bit crap and they really didn’t seem to be making the effort to reach the grandiose soundscape that they do so well in the studio. The vocals were that far into the mix that we didn’t even recognize any of the songs either. I was hugely under whelmed by them and at 8.30 as they left the stage I felt cheated by the whole experience.
Fortunately the band we had just watched wasn’t actually the Twilight Sad.
So much for Stevie Fly and myself being cutting edge music connoisseurs. We couldn’t even tell the support band from the headliners.
In our defence we didn’t have a clue what the Twilight Sad looked like and this band, who were more than a bit crap, did sound like an unimaginative watered down version of the headliners.
The Twilight Sad themselves were however the polar opposite.
Where the support band had dipped they soared. The sound was spot on and the passion for what they were doing is very obvious.
As Stevie pointed out people are keen to jump to a Joy Division comparison, but there’s a heavy Sonic Youth approach that is more obvious when you see them live. Very powerful.
There’s a lot going on musically and while some want to pick it apart I think it works best as a whole. I mean you wouldn’t look at the stitching in a tapestry when you can take a step back and appreciate the whole picture. The sound works best as a blend. Close your eyes and it washes over you. It was so loud that I think if I had held my hands up that the force of it would have had my fingers buffeting in the air. I would have felt the music flowing from the stage in waves.
Yep. Pretty good all in.
After two pretty forgettable supports The Twilight Sad managed to save the night.
hey there amigo, how are things? just stopping by to have a good rock n roll read. btw- i have been getting some questions together for tragic. but its not that easy lol. any advise?
ReplyDeleteSent you an email mate.
ReplyDeleteDid you go for the Buzzcocks interview?
Unwinding Hours were a tad on the shite side but Take a Worm For a Walk Week were superb!!
ReplyDeleteA friend in Aberdeen loved them. but I was unimpressed. My mate who was at the Glasgow show thought that they were too close to Beefheart. Not so much as an influence, but verging on a rip off.
ReplyDeleteWe never even picked up on the name of Unwinding Hours, but now you mention it I did see that they had some merch.