Underbelly Present at the Priory Visitor Centre
Review
This piece is just going to be a litany of praise & my main problem is going to be reining myself in & not straying into hyperbole.
Firstly & secondly are those who put together & made last night's gig happen: Underbelly (the promoters) and Alan Denyer and his LTB team now in their new home in the Priory Visitor Centre.
Underbelly is a "DIY promoter supporting left-field and underground sounds in Coventry. A place for music that sits outside the lines." Thank goodness for that. I do tend to bang on about how much talent there is around currently & the need to maximise opportunities to hear it. Therefore I hope we at ‘Hot Music Live' can do all we can to help, support & promote Underbelly.
The LTB ethos is pretty much the same: they put on events which give non-mainstream artists a showcase and the new premises offer a stunning visual backdrop for performances, a safe & welcoming space and excellent acoustics. And it's warmer too than the old building.
Credit too to the ubiquitous Joe McAvoy-Boss for curating the sound for last night's promotion of What About Eric?, Dog Saints, HomeBread & Pay the Stranger.
My apologies but I missed the set of the latter band but I hope you'll forgive that failure in a review appearing in what is essentially a magazine concentrating on local music: I did, as you'll see, catch the ones from our scene playing.
London based Dog Saints were sadly unable to play a full lineup set for personal reasons but the stripped back, two guitar set (only one song using standard tuning and that was a Neil Young cover) actually offered a good complement to the full on onslaught of the bands preceding & succeeding them: it really helped the dynamics.
Now it's hard to think of too many local bands with profiles rocketing at such vertical trajectories as What About Eric? and HomeBread: I don't know about you but I find them cropping up repeatedly in conversations I have & they deserve it: they are both staunch in their adherence to doing their own thing & consequently have very clear & potent band identities.
I honestly can't believe either will be playing support roles for too much longer: it's inevitable currently with What About Eric? only just having released their sophomore single (check out "wisteria" if you've not one so yet) and HomeBread still adamant regarding quality control and hence holding off recording & releasing until they are totally ready. Respect.
Both have massive live reputations already & the sheer scale & emotional impact of their sets are stunning (I felt sorry for the drum heads: I've rarely heard them hit with such relentless ferocity: and by two separate drummers).
Another commonality is that I think both will sound great in larger spaces, so will benefit from the bigger gigs they deserve to be offered. I feel personally rather smug that as they grow bigger I can relish having caught them early in their careers in more intimate venues wherein they have impact you just can't quite match elsewhere.
What About Eric? whom I heard six days previously at CovTember were boosted by Libbi being in better health than on that occasion. People I spoke to after their set felt (quite understandably) that it was even better than on Saturday, though personally I felt that both were superb sets despite the constraints.. At any rate I greatly enjoyed both & look forwards to seeing them at the Concrete Fun House album launch on October 18th at Just Dropped In.
HomeBread too had a change from their last time out: though a rather longer term one as they played with a new bassist: don't worry, the change was scheduled & amicable with their previous colleague part of the support. Again: you couldn't tell. One of HomeBread's trademarks are sudden violent sonic assaults, changing tempo & tone by playing savagely in unison: this is most impressive but only works if as tight as they are. That these moments are punctuated by passages of exquisite tenderness & Callum making his guitar sound like keyboards or even at one point a melodica only heightens the effect. Hence they stun & captivate audiences.
Individual life arcs are leading the band to London as their next base and this certainly can't hurt spreading the word about the things they do. Hopefully they'll play regularly there (and it would be great when What About Eric? gig in the metropolis too) but don't worry: they value the bond with their audience here as much as we do & they are committed to returning to play regularly. If like me you can't wait to hear recorded material from them (I look forwards both to reviewing them & hopefully featuring on a volume of 'Hot Music Live Presents') then they are commited to that too.
