KALEL + LUVA ANNA + PAGE 6 + THE GRACE EMILYS - Doghouse, Dundee 26-01-08
There ere 5 bands on but I missed the first one. So, my evening startedd with Kalel and me doing a double-take when approaching the stage as rhe band had started, looking st the guitarist and thinking "Hang on - that looks like Stevie Anderson, the guitarist out of The Law - it certainly isn't Mark (from Khoda), their usual guitarist". As it turned out, I was right. He was filling in for two gigs as Mark was away, and had learnt the entire set in about a week. Not only that, but he played in entirely differently. So, in the absence of one red hot rock guitarist, enter one red hot country-rock guitarist, and he didn't half make his presence felt, giving the tracks an almost sixties/country/seventies feel, while Frankie was looking really confident and the songs were being delivered with strength and passion. For any detail, refer to my last Kalel review (see the archive), but safe to say that tonight was something different, it worked well and provided a neat treat until the "real" band returns. Kalel definitely have the songs, and one of rhe interesting aspects of the performance is how the rhythm section works so well - they manage to make the songs have the necessary indie drive and solidity, while at the same time providing a sense of swing that makes them danceable without actually being what you'd call "dancey". They are a remarkable mix of power, fluidity and drive, for an indie band one of the best bassist/drummer combinations around right now.
Luva Anna played as a band but still played an acoustic set, with Drew and Dave on acoustic guitars and vocals, the drummer on ethnic drums and the bassist playing what looked like a 12-string mandolin. Performance-wise, they kept the set short and largely introspective, playing most of their more impassioned numbers including "Boaby Smith", "Hold Still" and "Coma Girl", only about 6 songs in total but proving themselves to be the consumate band in Dundee whose songs sound every bit as natural in an acoustic setting as they do in an electric performance. Drew ended with a song about George Bush that I'd not heard before, while Dave delivered some excellent singing as always, as the band proved themselves to be several cuts above yer average folk band, and more a Scottish Crosby, Stills and Nash type of thing only stronger, more diverse and solidly contemporary - the comparison is meant to indicate class - pure class!!
Page 6 also did an acoustic set - just the vocalist and guitarist - and if you think hearing solid funk-pop-indie tracks in an acoustic setting would simply not work, you've reckoned without Page 6! Singing strongly, Ryan delivered tracks such as "Antics" (always the crowd pleaser, even acoustically) and "Drunk Man" with the flair and flavour of the band performance, while the guitarist had his work cut out trying to provide both rhythmic undercurrent and melody at the same time, on acoustic guitar, anf the fact that he manged to do this exquisitely, while both of them had the audience's attention throughout, is a mark of how good the both of them - and the band as a whole - are. But it's not the same as the electric set and, although a neat diversion, makes you ache to hear the quartet again.
But tonight was all about The Grace Emilys - with the launch of their debut single imminent, the band about to go on their first series of headlining dates outside Scotland and one heck of a large audience in The Doghouse to see them, it was going to be interesting seeing how the crowd would react to the ecelecticism of the Emilys' set. As it turned out though, this was a wholly different Emilys from the set I last saw them play here. Introduced by a lone piper marching through the venue, the band took the stage amid on-stage lights that made the setting look like some olde worlde living room, and, complete with guest violin player (for the first number only), started with chiming guitars as the bassist provided some half-spoken vocals as the tune rang out. After about a minute of this, the band started to build then - kerbooommm!!! - it was into a powerful and fast-paced slice of indie magic, as the song twisted and turned with staccato sections and glorious vocal harmonies, as the song became a mix of emotive raging indiewith a dancing heart. The second track was more of a punk-funk style, again with the song turning a load of corners as the vocal harmonies and urgent lead vocal provided a track that would have sounded in place in an alternate-universe Page 6 set, only harder sounding as th guitars powred out, before dropping to a slower, more solid style. The third track was a slower number with the other guitarist on lead vocal this time. A short but deliberate track, it featured some well chunky drumming and neat turns of pace. This segued into a song that was a solid, strident slice of rock with biting vocals, scorching dual guitar work, again seriously fast-paced, the vocals and harmonies pouring out on one fast chugger of an indie track. Back to the other guitarist for the lead vocal on the next one, a slower track that's quite anthemic sounding as it soars along with ringing lead guitar work and lurching rhythms from the bassist and drummer. The 7th track reminded me of a faster Richard Thompson-styled electric track only with higher pitched vocals and a more urgent feel, the mix this time of electric and acosutic guitars adding even more texture to the song, the insistent rhythms only adding to the stature of a storming slice of indie-folk with beefy train-like rhythmic thunder, not to mention strong lead vocals that develop into this magical mix of vocal harmonies on the last part of the song - superb stuff!! Next up was their always memorable "Down In Mexico", this time begun in slow-motion mode with an almost country-meets-ska feel as the electric and acoustic guitars and vocals start to dance. During the briefest of drum-bass links, the acoustic guitarists swaps to electric, as the song builds, the pace increases and the band positively surge into the song, the vocals sounding more urgent and attacking on this track than they've ever doen to date, and bringing with them a whole new life to the track, complete with ever more spot-on vocal harmonies that put the icing on the cake. The ninth track was a mix of slow and fast, the lead guitarist back on lead vocal, with a bit of an urgent sounding indie skank flavour to it, the track building via some twists and turns, into a massive sounding express ride of almost indie-punk proportions, only to deceleraqte once more, then burn again, and so on, with some searing lead guitar work, lurching, almost dancey rhythms, and topped off with a roaring vocal that makes the track explode into life. For the tenth track, they delivered another of their long-standing favourites in "Be Bold Be Brave", one that has you singing the cyclical chorus, long after the band has left the stage. With a more urgent approach that typified the new-found confidence and strength that this band had now summoned, you heard huge sounding drumming, urgent guitar work, spot-on three-part vocal harmonies, stong lead vocals and a song that twisted and turned through fast country rock, surging punk and anthemic indie rock, with class and dynamics by the truckload. They finsihed with "Falling Down The Stairs", one of the tracks from the new double A-side single, a song with a fast pace, a soaring ultra-catchy chorus and delievered with this huge sounding sea of guitars and rhythms as it veers from fast to slow and back again, in the blink of an eye, eventually erupting in a dance-derived indie frenzy as a heady and heavy slice of twisted indie-dance surges from the speakers in a hail of magnificently strong dual-lead vocals - and there it was - one stunner of a set that the large crowd delighted in witnessing as the band got a huge reception for the set.
Definitely a newly refreshed band, they've dropped some of the electi intricacy and slightly oddball tendencies, replaced them with a more fast-paced, confident and altogether stronger sense of musical urgency, beefed up the songs, but still kept them inventive, dynamic and full of surprises but at the same time making them completely accessible. 2008 could well be their year - certainly so, if this is anything to go by!