Strange News from Another Star – Kings College London 7/11/11
If rock and roll history is to be believed, there were only 40 people at the Sex Pistols legendary first gig in Manchester in 1979, but almost all of them went on to form a band. Tonight it’s 2011 and there’s plenty more than 40 packed into this top floor Kings College venue, but from the swagger and style on show, there is only ever one band in here tonight.
The thing that immediately strikes you about Strange News from Another Star is how exotic they seem; which is funny when they consist of three young white welsh blokes playing indie punk rock, drinking and telling jokes. But it’s the spirit and energy they carry with them on stage that makes them so unlike the majority of the current indie crop; Strange News From Another Star don’t really care if you’re there for them or not, because they know they’re killing it and they’re loving every minute. Just the way it should be.
Musically, Strange News’ sound is a pretty close approximation of Future of the Left and by extension Mclusky, which, given that the guitarist/singer Jimmy also moonlights as a guitarist in FOTL and the bass player Mark is the FOTL studio engineer, is not such a surprise (it’s a small world kids). Onstage we get pretty much what you’d hope for from a band with such a pedigree; booze-soaked bass-fuzz rock mixed with genuinely funny mid-song banter and a sheer wall of stage presence.
The only problem with the show tonight is the crowd; it’s possibly inevitable when balls our punk rock band support someone like twee indie heartbreak heroes Los Campesinos! but the majority of the crowd don’t seem to understand the band, and don’t seem to want to. Despite the formidable efforts of the band to genuinely perform by gyrating every note from atop of speaker stacks and spitting beer at one another in an attempt to put each other off, the crowd are disinterested and presumably displeased with the riot of feedback and energy happening in front of them.
As has been proven countless times by any number of X Factor winners, there simply is no accounting for other peoples taste. Strange News from Another Star are one of the most interesting, exciting and genuinely funny live bands around, though maybe they’d do better with a crowd more geared up for actual rock but on their form tonight, I implore, no I command you to get drunk, go to a small venue with sweat dripping off the walls, and see this band in what should be their natural habitat and realise what all indie gigs should be like.
Posted by Sam Bacon
