OZ Beat: Music That Matters

The Liars / Sparklehorse / GVSB / Interpol

Last week, I finally saw The Liars who really rocked the Casbah! Very good stuff. another album to get ... The Coral cancelled :( .. Sparklehorse was a bit shitty. Well, very disappointing. But the highlight of this evening was a French band.. even The Liars were not as good performers as this band called Dionysos. 6 on stage, happy to be there, all smiling and joking :) The band didn't want to leave the stage, neither did we. I already saw them about 6 years ago, we were about 50 in the venue and they rocked it the same way. So if you ever got the chance to see them (they tour outside France too), they really worth it. Half of their songs are in English so you shouldn't be too lost. ;)

GVSB yesterday was really cool. a nice gig.. less energy though than in 95 in Reading. But hey this was a gig in a little French city, nothing comparing to Reading .. They played their whole new album, their 2 famous tracks (Kill the Sex Player and I forgot the other one title) and covered "She's lost control" of Joy Division.

My gigs of this week should be Guitar Wolf (a Japanese garage band who is said to be completely crazy on stage), Division of Laura Lee, The peepshows, Bombshell rock, Raised fist. I'll let you know.

Know anything about Le Tigre? I heard a title and really like it. Now, Interpol.. here are the dates of their tour in US and the first European dates beginning with UK.
--Suzel

Simple Kid / Mum / The Rapture / The Streets

Yesterday and today there's a little festival here, so I saw yesterday those 4 bands. Simple Kid is a kind of Ben Kweller. Quite nice actually. a bit too pop for me, but he played first and managed to make everybody moves their little asses :) he has been the only one who managed that !!

Then was Mùm which is a kind of ambient, relaxing music. They are something like 6 or 7 on stage playing. They come from Island I think. Take the instrumental relaxing songs of Bjork and you'll imagine how they sound. I really enjoyed them. The Rapture are totally different. They reminded me sometimes of The Clash and sometimes of Mars Volta. The singer has really the same kind of voice that Mars Volta. They were really good and I'll get their CD as soon as I have some money.

Then, The Streets, which is more hip-hop. I really like their lyrics and the way the singers sing. The audience which was more independent rock wasn't really warm for them. Moreover, Mike Skinner arrived on stage saying "hello onions" HAHA little wanker haha… As people hardly understood cockney English, they fortunately didn't understand half of what he said like "Bordeaux, city of ghosts"… They did a good show though, there was excellent videos but the audience was really crap yesterday and not open-minded.

Tonite, I'll see Sparklehorse, The Liars, The Coral and a French band. I really hope the audience will be warmer. Haven't you noticed hat most of good gigs are good because the audience let itself go? Moreover, you're less tired when you dance than when you stand without moving? think about your lovely back which hurt you so much last time. ;)
--Suzel

JSBX / Interpol

I was amazed when I arrived in JSBX gig cuz there was a huge queue and the venue seemed already quite large. I managed to come in finally and the show began. You can feel JSBX is used to stage and loves it. They don't stop between songs and improvise to switch from one song to another according to what John Spencer decides. I heard so many times talked about JSBX but I didn't know very well what they did so it was a big slap in the face!! A garage blues rock that I really enjoyed.

The next day was Interpol's gig. Their sound was really close to what the album sounds like. I had the feeling the concert has been fast whereas they played their whole album plus 2 extra songs. I can get the setlist if some are interested. Everybody enjoyed it. David a friend who is used to see many gigs told me they were awesome. The bass player looks incredible and the others were really in their stuff. Paul's voice was as deep and nice as on the album.. They did 2 encores, one of which was unplanned. The venue was very small. The smallest they did according to Sam, the drummer. He also told me none of their shows has been disappointing. The audiences have always been amazing, so feel free to show you enjoy their gig. They spent some time then in the venue talking with people. I had the chance to join Sam and Paul, the singer, for a relaxing extra backstage.

They are really nice and clever guys. Carlos and Sam really enjoy meeting people and are really easy going. Paul is more discrete, not shy but he just doesn't go to speak on his own to fans. As far as Daniel, the guitar player, I haven't met him. They'll go back next week or something like that to USA, so don't miss them!!!
--Suzel
[France]