Rolo Tomassi + Shapes + Soni-Quella @ Flapper & Firkin – 20th January 2010

So here we are again exploring Mathcore in Birmingham. This has become a common occurrence when invited to a gig with our photographer friend Mark. The usual plan of attack is either myself or Kel does the dancing or watches from a far and Mark devotes his time capturing the performers in their raw form. Although you’d not have known it , the tunes between bands were played a couple of the guys from Youves, who had a split EP with Rolo Tomassi, when they were known as Mirror!Mirror!

First band on were local band Soni-Quella, which shone through in their accents. I really enjoyed this lot with energy and a timing that puts many major acts to shame. They have a kind of indefinable metal quality brought through with the heavily punched out bass line. I say indefinable as it’s metal but not metal – you can’t just thrash your head back to a four four time- I can’t put it better than that.

Shapes now you bl**dy talking! Think an easy listening version of Lighting Bolt then think f*ck off you can’t have an easy listening version of Lighting Bolt and you’ve nearly got a conversation I had with Kel about the Shapes. These guys were incredible even with a technical issue that meant that all their songs had an earthy bass hum through them until the bassist realised he hadn’t plugged his peddle in properly on the penultimate song. The vocals bouncing from guitarist to bassist sometimes like a tennis match showed how absolutely in control these masters of noise were. That and their ability to stop a song on a dime. I also particularly like bands that don’t regard song structures as something that applies to them- some lasting no longer than a minute but none of them bleeding into one another so you didn’t know this was another heavy hitting number. If you can see them, see them soon as they should be massive- they will be massive, as long as you know where to look.

In fact it set the tone for the whole night noise, energy, passion, timing structures that made it very hard to keep your foot tapping and then some more noise. From Soni-Quella to The Shapes ending with Rolo Tommassi my main thought was why the hell are we being given such diluted and unoriginal pap from the record industry when there are bands like these clearly loving the chance to beat the shit out of your ear drums in such an intelligent and skill? If we need a revolution in the industry these soldiers would be my first line of attack.

After the first two song from Rolo Tommassi it became apparent that the dance floor was no place for a petit young lady like Kel as even with a small group of moshers a hair monster leapt into us and rode the crowd for a fair few seconds. Initially the crowd was sedate but after that it all kicked off and reduced dramatically. Difficult as it is keeping your head banging timing to what I consider to be distorted Jazz mainly due to the guitar styling of Joe Nicholson the remainder of the crowd seemed to keep a rhythmical mass of sorts. I think Eva Spence was having an off day requesting for lights to be dipped and nipping out for aspirins. These where the only hint however as she pirouetted and thrashed around the stage like a cat walking Tasmanian devil. My favourite moment was upon one of Eve’s AWOLs from the stage her brother James Spence played an atmospheric synth piece upon which the drummer Edward Dutton rested his head into his hands like a bored school boy Joseph Thorpe (the bassist) checked his nails and Joe hid himself in his hood.

I have not seen a band with so much raw energy in their music look so disinterested. I am not sure if this juxtaposition was planned but it made for very compelling viewing. I always think that a band lives off the energy of the audience and although a small number of nutters did their best there was not enough real appreciation for what this band was creating. An excellent sound, a hard working group, a great venue for this kind of thing but I expected more.

Review Johnny P
Photos Mark Hoy

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