By: Jody Dunstan
Los Trasgos Muertos | website | facebook |
Support: Barbado Slim | website
Castle Hotel, Manchester | February 6, 2015
The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, is a typical old Manc boozer. Somewhat faded from it’s former glory, it still manages to retain a certain charm.
Up first as Elle Mary & The Bad Men, a 3 piece from South Manchester. Their sound is a bit hard to describe: very minimal, dark, moody folk with an electric guitar and occasional distortion. Elin (guitar and vocals) has a charming, cute, if slightly nervous stage presence. This is in direct contradiction to her powerful vocals, Elin’s persona changes once she is in mid-song, and her evident emotion comes from a very personal place. Elin is backed by Michael on bass and Pete on drums. The combination works well although I would have liked to hear more bass on a few tracks. Pete shows a wide range of influences and is not your typical meat-and-potatoes rock drummer. He uses brushes and beaters to good effect on several tracks.
The thing you will notice about EM & TBM is that they build to great crescendo several times but never really go full-on. This is both a charm and a frustration. Oceans and Deserve are fantastic and powerful tracks that just ‘end’. At the end of their set Elin looked up slightly surprised and said ‘oh, yeah, that’s it….thanks.’ It will be good to see where EM & TBM go. Elin is the creative force behind the band but would be interesting to see what Michael and Pete can continually add to the mix. Hopefully they can grow and develop the powerful, brooding sound if theirs.
I don’t think I, or many of the people around me were prepared for what was next – Barbados Slim. A four piece punk outfit, the lead singer was in a rugby shirt and facepaint. He was sidled by a frantic looking bassplayer, a guitarist tuning up with huge distortion and an oddly chilled out drummer. The lads tore into their set; fast, furious, straight-up punk. The bass player leaving the stage to jump around and the singer literally running around the small room. There was nothing wrong with this band at all, other than wrong place at the wrong time. In the right place the band probably would tear the roof off, their energy was immense. A few people evidently enjoyed it and the singer was quite entertaining, not taking himself too seriously at all.
Headlining was the almost impossibly hard to remember how to spell Los Tragos Muertos – which means The Dead Goblins, apparently. They took to the stage in long hooded capes and masks, presumably in some kind of day of the dead thing. They started the set with Fire in the Sky, with the bass player, Captain Reed, taking vocal duties. Night of the Living Trasgos saw the guitarist, Von Beek, taking over the vocals. A riff driven, choppy track, the band showed great energy. It Rises had a bit of a funky edge to it, even a bit of a John Frusciante feel to the guitar, which was a rather lovely Fender JazzMaster. Toungetied really reminded me of Whisky in the Jar, so much so I was convinced it was a cover for a while. After this track the band decided that not enough people were wearing masks and threw some out to the crowd. The track Step One was accompanied by a human pyramid on the dancefloor and few, now mask-wearing members of the support bands have a good dance. Great song played with good energy, went down really well. Honeybun and Stanger Danger were more heavier, chunkier tracks with a bit of a sixties edge. Breakdown was a fantastic track, bouncy and lively. Friend of a Friend is another good track, several people on stage at this point – a seriously fun vibe with lots of energy and a massive guitar sound. They ended with Roll with the Punches, lot of feedback and very much a jam band sound going on.
A great set to finish a good evening entertainment, with a shed ton of variety and energy.
