'Hot Music Live Presents' eighth fundraiser for The Tin
Review
You'll pardon me I hope any inadequacies in my report on our eighth ‘Hot Music Live Presents' fundraiser for The Tin: the one you'll have seen posters for featuring Stone Bear, Alchemista, The Pristines and Massasauga: I'm sure I've not got my head round it fully: but since I may never do that, I'll give you what I've got today.
I hope you follow us on social media: if so, you'll know that the gig was threatened by poor advance ticket sales: you don't need me to talk you through that. Then, after we'd had to deal with Storm Amy hitting during our previous event in October, her sister Claudia came calling last night: and she seemed in a worse mood.
You may have seen some photos I posted earlier from which Alchemista were absent: only three members made it through to the venue given the flooding of many rural communities. This was a huge shame as they'd worked up a set of material they'd not necessarily played live before and in fact they've not gigged for a long time: you may also have seen their enthusiasm in the promotional phase too.
So: this didn't have the largest audience of the series but that, I can assure you is the end of anything negative.
So many people on the night urged me to see the positives and they are right: so here goes.
The three bands who got through in full order were superb. Top form all round. The gigs aim to raise money for a vital venue for local original music but they are also intended to have high artistic value each time.
They all presented the audience with unique experiences. Stone Bear has not played for a long time either & several of his songs have therefore never been played live. The Pristines unveiled no fewer than three new songs and Massasauga a couple of unreleased ones too: so to have been there was a privilege just in those terms.
But the performances were stunning: all three palpably enjoyed themselves on stage which to me is a key metric of success.
Part of this was the audience response: what was a bit unfortunate in terms of numbers was compensated for by extra enthusiasm and it was great to see people engaging with the artists off stage: another aim is to introduce people to bands they've not seen before. Once again it was a diverse sets of sets which sound engineer Phil Morley, shadowed by Ishmael curated perfectly.
I learned much. The biggest revelation for me was from David John who for the first time spoke about how the loss of his cousin Chris actually sparked the creation of the band (then a duo) and how so many songs were actually conversations with him. This explains so much about so many tracks & also how his sound has evolved over the years. In at least eight years of reviewing Stone Bear, I knew nothing of this and obviously in hindsight every single article I have written could probably need revising with this key information. I'm glad however that he feels that the time is right now to tell us.
It may be the thirtieth anniversary of the release of ‘Teen Fraud, Pop Whore' and while many bands tour key albums on these milestones, The Pristine's response was to play nothing from it but, as I said, look to the future. Isn't that great? You can't help but warm to a band with that attitude. As you can a band who play a song, decide they hadn't played it well enough & play it again. No wonder bands like that inspire others with their attitude as well as their actual hypnotic music & I wonder how much their influence is responsible for the revival of shoegaze locally through the likes of What About Eric?
I've reviewed loads of Massasauga releases but no actual gigs to date so I was looking forward to that (as well as previews of tracks yet to come out) and I also think I may now have been tutored into pronouncing their name properly.
For the record, it's interesting how they cover them selves with both a fuzz rock and doom metal self description (though you know I like artists who defy formal labelling): I would say that I've tended to hear the studio recordings more in the former vein: live they are much more towards the latter… so you can get to hear them in two complementary modes if you shuffle between the two formats. And they are wild live. They take the suggestion that they recruit a bassplayer as something of an affront: as they sang forcibly of how they may be outnumbered by other bands but never outgunned. And Conrad has an octave pedal anyway.
And did you know, could you have guessed that "The Only Good Wizard Is A Dead Wizard" is their audience singalong? I didn't.
I'm still to come to the heart of what went well: and that's the sense of community. I've mentioned the audience response but the gig went ahead because of the efforts of quite a few people, most of whom I've mentioned before in the magazine. I'm humbled by what people did to turn it around and many of them could not be there due to other commitments so hadn't even the reward of experiencing the results of their input. I'd love to name them but knowing them, I suspect they'd prefer me not to: so I'll respect that but I know & you might make a few intelligent guesses.
On the night it was good to see other musicians in support: Julie from The Sunbathers (who are playing at our December 12th event) and all of Stegosaurus Sex Party (date still being worked on) to name but two bands. This is why The Tin needs supporting because there are people who go the extra mile, support each other & are open to the admittedly often startlingly eclectic mixes these events aim to be. And they all got wet too.
I don't know how many people constitute the local audience for original music which doesn't come at them through mainstream media (ie all we heard last night). From what ‘Hot Music Live' does, I know these are good times for numbers of artists and I know all too well that the number of venues is low & they all operate without huge surpluses.
I think we do need to redouble our efforts to ensure the venues don't go & the audience builds and sustains: this event was too close for comfort.
Our next event is, as I've said, on December 12th & features Grail Guard, RobinPlaysChords and The Sunbathers. The poster currentlyshows Abz Winter too but I'm afraid she can't now participate & as yet I've not confirmed a replacement: please watch social media.
Please do also buy tickets in advance: I really don't want to go the brink again. The link is:
https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/hot-music-live-presents-grail-the-tin-at-the-coal-tickets/13893164
Sadly, as another symptom of the current problems with ticket sales, Massasauga had had their gig the previous evening cancelled. However they have another tonight at the Wheatsheaf in Banbury with Bright Black: the weather should be kinder.
Equally, after a period without too many gigs, The Pristines are at Just Dropped In on the 30th
I hope both Stone Bear & Alchemista appear in events listings again soon too.
