carlos_russell's Last.fm Journal

Sandman was there, I swear

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:49:40 +0000

Wed 9 Nov – The Ever Expanding Elastic Waste Band
"Wow", that's all I could mutter after leaving the ND Ateneo, the indie venue in Buenos Aires where the former Morphine members gathered a packed legion of followers. Morphine sounds like Morphine, and that's a fact. Another fact - Jeremy Lyons is no Mark Sandman, as a two-string slide bass player, a singer or a stage presence. Dana Colley has to take charge of the banter with the audience, and does a good job, invoking the spirit of Sandman, promising a job to an unemployed audience member, and playing his baritone sax like it was a lead guitar - effect pedals included! The rhythm section was something else. Conjuring both Jerome Dupree as a main drummer, and Bill Conway as a percussionist was an inspired move. Dupree is a gifted drummer, much more accomplished as a performer than Conway, and the engine behind the vibe of their live performances. However, the combination of percussion and drums, with the emptiness left by the lack of guitar, the slide bass and the sparse vocals, together with the sax attacks, works! I did enjoy the version of French Fries With Pepper, and an inspiring Cure for Pain. I don't know if you saw him, but Sandman was in Buenos Aires that night. And it was bloody worth the wait to see the guys live again.

Strokes night

Sun, 6 Nov 2011 13:20:04 +0000

Fri 4 Nov – Personal Fest 2011

Buenos Aires, 4th November, pissing rain, traffic jams, not an umbrella in sight, but managed to get to a cafe-restaurant around Avenida del Libertador. In spite of the steep price I downed two Isenbecks before I ventured into the rain. Some kids needed directions so we walked through the wood paths of Palermo to arrive to GEBA just in time when the skies poured the heaviest rain of the evening. After check in, we landed in one of the warehouse stages where a crap local band were finishing their set, outside the rain was stopping so we could get into the outdoors stage in time to watch a fantastic performance by Broken Social Scene. Whilst I had only heard a couple of songs before, they were brilliant on stage, really cool melodies, the Canadian combo knew what they were doing, with a entourage of band members, friends, and multi instrumentalists (I saw a saxophone player killing a percussion set) - great night so far.

Then it was the turn of Goldfrapp. I don't particularly like her very much, she did not engage with the audience at all, her band were more playful than she ever was. She was just so far up her own arse that it was like a colonoscopy singing! I recognised a couple of songs, liked that the band were at some stage playing with two keytars, a bass and a hybrid acoustic/electronic drum kit. Like the lady-drummer, she played like clockwork. Not the greatest performance I've ever seen, or the greatest sound, you could spot the lady in keyboards repeatedly asking their sounds engineers to tweak some volumes. In spite of the heavy posturing by Alison Goldfrapp in front of the "special effect" fan she chose to have on stage to give the impression she was flying or singing through a gale it was worth a miss.
After buying the most expensive cup (ARS 20) with an iceberg inside and less than a thimble measure of coke - no drinks allowed in outdoors gigs! - we moved across to the stage where Beady Eye were about to perform. I knew it was going to be interesting when
I Am the Resurrection came on the speakers. Not many people knew the song, or could give a flying fuck that we had Mani with us when Primal Scream visited Buenos Aires last month. Liam Gallagher came on stage with his peculiar hairdo, his Mancunian swagger, and a slightly rasping voice. Beady Eye is no Oasis, but the voice is unmistakeable and Liam still pulls it through. I kind of liked their live performance of The Roller, specially their drummer seemed to be in good form. B+ for Beady Eye, especially for not succumbing to playing Oasis songs.

We made it to The Strokes just in the nick of time. The audience exploded when Julian Casablancas greeted. He looked too cool for the venue and he seemed aloof and distracted as a stage presence. But he seemed to enjoy that the audience knew all the lyrics and where chanting the guitar solos. I really enjoyed their rendition of
Last Nite. The drummer - endearingly called Fabrizio Moretti was always keeping the groove in the pocket, the bass player had a constant big sound and the guitarists were impeccable throughout. I loved their show, they were on fire at certain stages throughout the show. Loved it!

Primal Screamed and Snow Patrolled

Sat, 1 Oct 2011 15:19:53 +0000

Wed 28 Sep – Pepsi Music 2011: Snow Patrol + Primal Scream

A fairly scorching afternoon in Buenos Aires when we arrived into GEBA, a venue that could be better organised but worked out rather well for the event. There were food stands but no beer, which was a sobering experience for me. I could have had a stiff drink right after Primal Scream's amazing performance. Bobby Gillespie and co were in fine form. My wife identified the guitar player as a fellow Maida Vale neighbour. We were on a so-called VIP section, which was fairly empty and up front to the stage. Full of kids who weren't even born when Screamadelica first came out. The show from this vantage position was amazing, impeccable sound and video/stage presence. They played the entire album, starting with Movin' on Up, ending with a series of more rocker songs like Rocks and Country Girl.
Snow Patrol started fairly late in the evening, and they were exactly what the screaming kiddies were expecting. Apart from Gary Lightbody's antiques, the band was quite uneventful, playing without emotion or interest. Whilst Primal Scream were tearing the house down with sound landscapes, the Belfast band were slightly more mellow and boring than Coldplay on a night in town. However, they sound very polished and on cue, they played many of their classic songs and the kiddie crowd was pleased. My money was on Primal Scream and it was an utterly fantastic evening

Curtains down for The Hillfields

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 10:05:08 +0000

Wed 16 Feb – 40 Watt Club presents

Yes, there was emotion and grief and happiness and The Hillfields sang their swan song.

It was a great send off and thanks to everyone that came along and sang/danced/cavorted with us over the last few years.

Next stop: who knows? Watch out for The Wyrd Interactions!

There's still stuff coming out via underused records that is going to be worth listening.

Best gig of 2010 for sure!

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 10:51:38 +0000

Wed 1 Dec – Arcade Fire, Devendra Banhart

A night that was cold, started at the Bunch of Grapes for meet up (could not muster the drinking that night) with the other 1/3 of The Hillfields. Tube was working fine and we made it in good time to see the end of Devendra Banhart. Will need to listen more to this artist!

Arcade Fire are a class act, an amazing combination of proper music, stage antics (including frenzied drumming by the over-excited keyboard player) as well as outstanding small films being showcased to help illustrate the songs.

What a great night! Favourite for me has to be No Cars Go, although the new songs sounded ace!

Catch Arcade Fire whenever you can, it's an amazing band going through an amazing period of songwriting...

The Hillfields @ Indietracks 2010

Mon, 9 Aug 2010 15:59:09 +0000

Fri 23 Jul – Indietracks Festival It all started quite well on Friday afternoon, taking off from a fairly mild London on our car journey, drum gear and kids all packed up. We arrived to the Premier Inn in time to leave our stuff and jet out with my fellow The Hillfields bandmates and friends to the Midland Railway venue. After a short walk through the most scary woods and following a fairly big road I arrived to the Butterley train station and just hopped into the train. Later I realised that I may have needed to buy a ticket, but that was Friday afternoon. I arrived to the site, got my blue tag as a "performer" and headed to the main stage where Allo Darlin' were in full swing. I really rate them, especially Bill, who must be the happiest bass player in the world. Once with our crowd we headed to the "carriage" bar, which was empty. We had a few beers and chatted away, our friends from Town Bike came to say hello and I folded and quietly returned to my hotel for a good night sleep.

Saturday breakfast at the Premier Inn was in full flow, loads of yellow and blue tags on display at the tables, whilst the most incomprehensibly accented waiters were attempting to describe the breakfast menu to us. We nodded and got what we needed. We then headed to the site, arriving in good time to set up for our gig. The Hillfields were up at 1pm, and we needed to soundcheck. I set up the drumkit and noticed the drum stool kept popping down to midget-sized lows, so I had to run to the car to get my own stool and was ready for the gig. We had developed a slightly different set than the one played at RoTA the previous weekend, but it went down really well. The sound on stage was awesome, and we probably delivered our best performance to date, with the biggest crowd we could muster. Our bass player ended all blistered and bleeding over his guitar, my back was slightly playing up again but nothing could steal our moment of greatness! We were quite on time with our set, and got great feedback from some of the attendees post our gig. I really enjoyed the sound and apparently it was quite massive for the venue!

After putting away all of our toys, we had a bit of lunch - BTW, curries were awesome! and a few beers while meeting with more friends and virtual acquaintances! I headed into the tent where Rob was in full sale mode, trying to pitch our CDs to the slightly confused indie pop kids... it was great fun to see Rob in a stall!

I did not know many of the other bands, but I did enjoy La La Love You, with their pink shirts, their non-band member dancing about and their overall explosive 3-chords power minimalist rock.

After doing a round with the kids on the steam train, and looking at the museum we headed back to the hotel for another good night sleep.

On Sunday we did not show up, as we headed down to Whipsnade Zoo - kids were thrilled with it!

I loved Indietracks and really hope we get invited to play there another time!

Rotten back @ ROTA

Wed, 4 Aug 2010 09:48:39 +0000

Sat 17 Jul – RoTa with ODDBOX presents

yeah, it was the week of my bad back, however I had to soldier on, The Hillfields needed their drummer! It was great coming into the NHAC, a basement bar, with a spacious stage and cracking sound. It was around 1pm, so the sweltering London heat was full on, and Notting Hills buskers could be heard in the distance. First thing I noticed was that there was a full drum kit already set up. The Sequins had arrived earlier and were willing to share their kit. That was great, unfortunately I had already carried quite a lot of heavyweight gear to the venue, but it was cool. The Hillfields sound-checked and left promptly to have some drinks. I popped a couple of pain killers and awaited our moment. Paul "Scared to Dance" was providing a fantastic tune backdrop. First up were Sock Puppets, all the way from Denmark. A very entertaining band, with funny lyrics and good hooks, looking like a bunch of schoolgirls from hell! Then it was the turn of The Specific Heats, from USA, donning shiny capes and smiles, they started a rowdy psychedelic set until some guitar string snapped and sound gremlins made them stop for a bit and talk about movies. I really liked their female drummer! After a short break it was the turn of The Sequins, all the way from Coventry and puzzled about our band name, they have invited us to play in the roughest club in Hillfields! Their set was quite powerful, another cool girl drummer, a barefooted guitarist jumping about and a stern-faced but powerful vocalist. Really epic songs on display! Then it was our turn, The Hillfields came on stage to a buzz of noise and launched into colour it in to the amazement of the crowd. There was also a fantastic moment of respectful silence when we played canvey island queen, with Rob's a capella intro. In spite of the painful back, I really enjoyed our set and left with a warm buzz of a great gig. Finally, from Japan, it was the turn of The Monorals. I helped their drummer to set up the cymbals, as he had no idea how to do it! Their English was somewhat broken from the outset, but they delivered a very rowdy buzzy/distorted set, paying homage to Ramones and early Buzzcocks. Unfortunately they blew Rob's amp, but it was a great afternoon, organised by Trev from OddBox Records!

Monarching

Fri, 28 May 2010 14:40:17 +0000

Tue 25 May – Glasswerk presents....

Chalk Farm was awash with the usual Camden characters when the first band hit the stage, Little Things, playing a nice set of acoustic/electric melodies, interspersed with whistles on the mikes, which killed everyone's eardrums! Great fun to watch, sound could have been better. The Hillfields were up next and delivered a tight set, including Talk Too Much from their new EPCome Outside. The drummer was wearing an Argentina rugby shirt, conmemorating 200 years of Argentina's creation. The next band were Mercers. They played a fantastic tight set, really impressive drummer, and overall a great set! Finally, the headliners Iron Door Club, who were on tour from the North, and delivered a great set. They are set out to be a very entertaining band to watch.

Iggy is still alive!

Sat, 8 May 2010 16:43:29 +0000

Mon 3 May – The Stooges Performing Raw Power And not only alive, this was probably the best live performance I've seen from a band I thought I'd never see live. I remember catching Iggy Pop in a packed venue in Buenos Aires, but the Hammersmith Apollo was incredible. This was a fantastic performance, and Search & Destroy was my highlight for the decade. Unforgettable!

Another fab ska night

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 10:08:09 +0000

Mon 29 Mar – Teenage Cancer Trust: The Specials It's been almost a year since my first time seeing The Specials live at the O2, the RAH is a much intimate venue and I was really looking forward to this gig. I was right up front on the standing area and watched in amazement one of the tightest bands in the world. What a great night, really enjoyed it!