though. leave the best (i.e. The Pattern) until last. (David Pollock)
Music
ROCK
ROCK SIX BY SEVEN
VEx RED ”‘ Venue, Edinburgh, Tue 23 Oct eeeee CRACKOUT GO ..
THE PATTERN eeee King Tut’s, Glasgovillflol Oct.
The Pattern kick off and while. sartorially. they appear to be the result of some strange genetic experiment — one part Charlatans. one part Strokes, two parts Green Day and a bloody hippie on drums — they combine all of these elements into a dynamic. bombastic musical onslaught that sounds like Led Zep on skateboards. Shit-hot. in other words.
Everyone goes nuts for Crackout. whose resemblance to Green Day. Foo Fighters and their ilk is compounded by bassist Jack Dunkley's uncanny resemblance to Dave Grohl. Unfortunately, though. they're furiously. energetically. anarchically uninspiring and no amount of loud noises and sweary words will ever change that.
So it's left to Vex Red to swing the vote either way. and they start promisineg by setting their poppy nu-metal against all sorts of floaty noises and synthesised space-punk whirl. In the end the guitars win out. but at least frontman Terry Abbott — a man so charmingly posh he doesn't pronounce the 'r' in ‘arse‘ — is brave enough to throw a couple of snippets of low-key melodicism in to bemuse the bounce-happy crowd. Next time.
Follow The Pattern
ROCK EELS Barrowland, Glasgow, Thu 18 Oct 0000
Increasingly, however. E (aka Mark Oliver Everett) appears pretty damn prescient
given our current millennial madness. Touring to support the latest recording
Sou/jacker — the title track of which states ‘he can shoot me up full of bullet holes/but
the souljacker can't get my soul' — E and company may be on to something. I
For all the preoccupation with doom and death, Eels have often displayed that }
time-honoured pop tradition of combining gloomy lyrics with sprightly melodies. But i
frankly Mr Shankly. the formulas been largely binned since E and trusty sidekick i
Butch the drummer teamed with one-time Polly Jean Harvey collaborator John .
Parish. The new tunes are altogether heavier and in concert the back list has been l l l l
l
V . .
Eels front man E takes a fair amount of stick for being a morose singer/songwriter. i
l
i The sound that Six By Seven make is so big, so utterly and astonishingly humungous, that you almost can’t fit it in your stupid little head. And singer and guitarist Chris Olley’s London five-piece band are so single-mindedly driven, so focused on the I job in hand, as to be quiet literally, jaw-droppineg awesome live. l They start their UK tour in a criminally under-populated | Edinburgh Venue on a rainy Tuesday and promptly set about filling every corner of the dingy place with so much passion an energy you think you’re in Wembley fucking Stadium watching Armageddon unfold before your eyes. . And guitar-fuelled apocalypse is what Six By Seven are all about. Confidently opening with their new single, ‘80 Close’, the l pattern is set for the evening - monolithic slabs of one-chord guitar and dizzyineg repetitive rhythms shake your very soul to the core while Olley, wafer thin and about 7ft tall, screams and whispers and generally looks like a man utterly possessed. i And the intensity never drops, with a head-shredding ‘European Me’ followed by the colossal feedback carnage of I
recast as well. Some may have missed the playfulness of Eels' last appearance. Too bad.
Kitted in formal. fully kilted regalia from Prince Charlie jackets to sporrans and sgian dubh, Eels render ‘l Like Birds‘ as a post-punk anthem. Last year's minor hit. ‘Mr E's Beautiful Blues'. opens with the chords to “Louie Louie' and out pop bald-headed I stage-front security to mop up those pressed from the mosh pit. In the middle of 'Souljacker (Part 1)‘, Parish plays a deeply distorted. frantic guitar solo. Later. E and l he display a rather startling repartee with howling harmonic guitar feedback in ‘Not g Ready Yet'. Whoa. And when E laments “you will never be the same' in “It's A l , Motherfucker' you can‘t help but wonder if he isn't now singing 'bout NYC. its i wounded cityscape and psyche.
Finally. 'Friendly Ghost' — with its timely advice: 'If you're scared to die/You better I not be scared to live' — serves as the fourth and final encore. ‘We'll see you later.‘ I l says E. leaving the stage after almost two hours. “We have to change into something ‘Ten Places To Die', and onwards and upwards. Six By Seven are less woolly.’ Sad misanthropic. bastard or maudlin pop prophet? Quite possibly the end of the world as we know it, and it feels fine. neither. Perhaps both. (Barry Steven Shelby) l (Doug Johnstone)
wTicket Tickets most medium/large concerts can be bought from the following:
Glasgow: Virgin Buchanan Galleries. 332 4400 - Credit card bookings from: Ticket Link: 287 5511 8. Way Ahead: 339 8383 Edinburgh: Virgin Princes Street. 220 3234 - Ripping Records South Bridge. 226 7010 - Way Ahead 0141 339 8383 .
Book now
I Mother Earth
Liquid Room. Edinburgh.
I Angelica Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 2i
I The More Specials Barrowland. Glasgow. 17
Nov.
I 31 1 Garage. Glasgow. 18 Nov.
I Joe Strummer 8- The Mescaleros Barrowland, Glasgow. 18 Nov.
I The Handsome Family The Arches. Glasgow. 18 Nov.
I Low King Tut's. Glasgow. 19 Nov; Liquid
Room. Edinburgh. 20 Nov.
I Wheatus Corn Exchange. Edinburgh. I9 Nov: Barrowland. Glasgow. 21 Nov.
I Bush Barrowland. Glasgow. 20 Nov.
Nov.
I Pulp Barrowland, Glasgow. 22 Nov.
I Stereophonlcs and Feeder SECC. Glasgow, 24 & 25 Nov. SOLD OUT I They Might Be Giants Garage. Glasgow, 25 Nov.
I The Dammed Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 26 Nov.
I Paul Weller (acoustic) Corn Exchange. Edinburgh. 28 Nov. SOLD OUT
I Human League Usher Hall. Edinburgh. 30 Nov.
30 Nov. I Gabrielle SECC.
Glasgow. 2 Dec.
I Faithless Corn
Exchange. Edinburgh. 3 Dec.
I Tori Amos (‘lyde Auditorium. 5 Dec.
I Stereolab Liquid Rooms. Edinburgh 5 Dec: Arches. Glasgow. 6 Dec. 1' Breakestra La Belle
Angele. Edinburgh. (1 Dec.
I The Bluetones Barrowland, Glasgow. 7 Dec.
I Jools Holland Playhouse. Edinburgh. 7 Dec: Clyde Auditorium. 8
. Dec. I Ash Corn Exchange.
Edinburgh. 8 Dec.
I James SECC. 3 Glasgow. 9 Dec. I Machine Head
Barrowland, Glasgow 1 1 Dec.
I Basement Jaxx
Corn Exchange.
1 Edinburgh. 12 Dec:
Barrowland, Glasgow. 13
Dec.
I The Charlatans SECC. Glasgow 13 Dec. I Fun Lovin’ Criminals SECC. Glasgow. 14 Dec.
3 I Stereo MCs z Barrowland. Glasgow, 14
Dec.
l
I New Found Glory Garage. Glasgow. l4 Dec. I Delirious? Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 14 Dec: QMU. Glasgow. 15 Dec.
I The Wonderstuff
' Barrowland. Glasgow. l5
Dec.
I Guns “N Roses SECC. Glasgow. l6 Dec. SOLD OUT
I The Pogues SECC. Glasgow. 17 Dec.
I havls Usher Hall. Edinburgh. 17 & l8 Dec. I Saw Doctors Barrowland, Glasgow, 2] Dec.
* Incubus SECC. Glasgow. l5 Jan.
* The Beta Band Corn Exchange, Edinburgh. 18 Jan.
* Slipknot SECC. Glasgow. 14 Feb.
” Mln Barrowland, 14 Feb.
* Ian Brown Barrowland, Glasgow. 28 Feb.
" Travis SECC. Glasgow, 8 & 9 Mar. SOLD OUT 8.; i9 Mar.
' Simple Minds Clyde Auditorium. Glasgow. 17 Apr.
" Kylie Minogue SECC. Glasgow. 17-19 May.
I Aimee Mann Liquid Room. Edinburgh. 6 Jul.
1-15 Nov 2001 1’". LIST 47