The Front Bottoms Return to London Town

Greil Marcus wrote in his publication 'Lipstick Traces' in 1989:

'At Winterland people pushed, but not, it seemed with anger or fear, but with delight, almost as a greeting.' 

This is how I greeted, and was greeted by, the punk followers of The Front Bottoms on the night of the 23rd April* at Camden's Barfly. Usually at punk concerts, I have had to nudge, elbow and tut my way into defending my small standing space on the floor, but the camaraderie at this concert was unique with it's imported all-American friendliness in terms of the unwritten rules of moshing. Although I emerged from the venue covered in bruises and feet so frequently jumped on it was painful to walk, I had a massive grin plastered across my flushed face. But the best way to begin any story,  is well, at the beginning! 

I met Matthew Uychich (AKA DJ Pumpkin...bless!) by the merchandise stand as I entered the venue and so I took the opportunity for a little chit-chat until the support act came on. The support came from a male solo artist, whose name eludes me but I will get back to you on that one! Although his music was on par, average it did include many comical elements which created a relaxed atmosphere. As The Front Bottoms opened with The Beers, I was at the back of the crowd but with the soaring, electrical pulse that suddenly filled the room I found myself unwittingly by the front of the stage in under five seconds time! For those of you who have heard the Front Bottom’s self-titled debut album you would know that the appeal is in the unpolished acoustic, scratchiness of the Punk 'record it in your bedroom' vibes. However at the gig, they managed to keep this appeal while performing the songs from their debut at a faster, electrical manic pace. Matthew and Brian were joined on stage by session musicians which gave their songs a more polished and professional edge to when I had seen them previously last year. This was demonstrated in the teasers which they gave from their next album 'Talon Of The Hawk'. I managed to catch a quick interview with the session bassist following the gig and asked him about the new, professional direction which The Front Bottoms were taking, which he replied was due to funding for a better recording studio and the new album would be a lot more refined in it's quality. 

Jumping and moshing by the front of the stage was exhausting but between songs, Brian indulged in a bit of banter with the crowd with jokes that my Grandad would have been proud of (eg: 'I was wondering why that frisbee was getting closer and closer.....and than it hit me' oh dear!) which gave us a minute or two to gasp for air.One thing that you should understand about The Front Bottoms is that their fans don't like them....they LOVE them with every sinew. This manifested itself towards the ends of the set as everyone became a crowd surfer and as they closed, we all stormed the stage and caught up in the manic euphoria, I threw my arms around Brian's neck and gave him a massive kiss on the cheek. Every kiss has a meaning and this one meant 'you are fucking awesome!!' 

Me and DJ Pumpkin 

Although The Front Bottoms are an American band, you should definitely try and catch them when they return to the UK. Their second album to be released in the UK, Talons Of The Hawk is due out next week. 

*The delay in writing this up has been due to a very hectic schedule due to final year exams so apologies

Man Like Me at New Slang

It is quite difficult to write a review on a gig when many pints of alcohol were involved but I will sift through the hazy blur to try my best to remember the events of last Thursday night.

Man Like Me may be known to many from the Ikea advert as Johnny Langer walks through various kitchen designs as 'you will always find him in the kitchen at parties (at parties!)'. Man Like Me is a fun collage of many different genres with a bit of hip hop, a bit of indie and a bit of rave.
I saw Man Like Me perform at New Slang in Kingston Upon Thames last year and although I had never heard of them before that night, I became hooked. The night was full of mental energy and they performed so well that I worried that Thursday night would not live up to my expectations.

Fortunately I was so wrong.....

Man Like Me returned to New Slang in all their crazy glory with 'Yo True' as their support act and I had never seen such a crowd at New Slang since the switching of venue. Yo True as a support act was rather a let down as I felt their R&B vibe was too relaxed, something to jam to on a sunny afternoon rather then warm up a stage with.  Despite this I did like the set up of having two drummers, one on a normal set of drums and the other on a pair of bongos complete with wind chimes. They exploded with a with what I felt was a promising song halfway through their set, but after this it just seemed to fall flat again.

I acquired a spot just in front of the stage on the right hand for side for Man Like Me just as Johhny was wheeled on stage in a trolly, which I strongly suspect was nicked from the local Sainsbury's, covered in an orange sheet resembling a ghost from Essex. This set the madness for the next 40 minutes (at least I think it was 40 mins, there was no way of me telling being in a crowd of ravers). I instantly fell in love with the two men who were on saxophone and trumpet, dressed like they were members of The Specials but with all the cheekiness as though they were in Madness. Throughout their set they played a mixture of songs from both their debut self-titled album and the recently released 'Pillow Talk.' The biggest crowd pleaser seemed to be 'Squeeze' which got us all whipped up into an electric ecstasy. My favourite member of the band has to be Ade, a powerful African soul singer who has a voice so powerful he could easily conquer the world on his voice alone. At one point during the performance the cheeky Johnny came close to breaking his own neck. As he stage surfed he was pushed backwards where the ceiling suddenly lowered, putting his neck at very scary angle before being hauled safely back onto the stage.

All in all, it was a night full off immense energy both from the band and crowd alike. My own personal highlight has to be when they finished up with 'London Town' as their encore. Any fan of Man Like Me will know the dance moves that accompanies the song and the whole crowd went 'down, down, down.....'

Pillow Talk is out now. Purchase it from your local record store.