Author: Dave

METZ / Cheatahs / The Wytches
Village Underground
28th November 2013

Stepping into the cavernous realm of Village Underground there’s a real buzz in the air, and no wonder – the three bands playing tonight make for a top notch bill. What better way for two freshly squeezed bands to cut their teeth on the tour circuit than to hit the road with METZ? Playing shows together across Europe for the entirety of November, tonight brings this epic musical relay to a close.

The Wytches kick things off with their dark garage tones. Straight into a psych scare, building shimmering riffs up to fully fuzzed out noise with all the crashing drums and shrieking howls you like. ‘Robe For Juda’ confirms how on point this three piece are. It sounds massive.

Baton passed, contemporary shoegazers Cheatahs jump on stage, rattling off numbers recognisable from the Coared and SANS EP’s. Harnessing momentous, driving rhythms fused with a guitar sound only describable as the duelling banjos of grunge, they are rocking. Cheatahs most recent singles are showcased tonight too, with October double-A-side ‘Cut The Grass’ / ‘Kenworth’ proving instant crowd pleasing material. Despite their complexly distorted sound not being perfect in this air craft hanger-like venue, set closer and arguably strongest song to date, ‘The Swan’, still soars.

Steaming straight into ‘Dirty Shirt’, frontman Alex Edkins emits a vivacious energy that self-multiplies with every song tonight. It’s very hard to pick a favourite of the set METZ play, each song is delivered with even more balls than the last. ‘Negative space’, ‘Wasted’ and ‘Sad Pricks’ all kick the shit out of each other.

If there’s one thing to be said about METZ it’s that they’re fucking loud. This Toronto trio know no boundaries when it comes to making a racket. The aural uproar they generate tonight is so deafeningly good it makes you want to hurl yourself into the PA and shatter into a thousand pieces.

METZ are essentially a one trick pony, but fast paced, thunderous hardcore is exactly what you want from a show isn’t it? Of course it is! And no one does it better than these three. Touring their eponymous debut relentlessly ever since its release in 2012 their live show is utterly destroying.

Closing with ‘Wet Blanket’ and a wall of coma inducing feedback, its clear METZ do nothing by half. It’s either full throttle or go back to sleep. I’m deafened, and I can’t wait until they return to London.

Words: Dave Palmer
Photo: Village Underground

Civil Civic / Jiboia
Corsica Studios
27th November 2013

A strict rule applies this evening: No bands allowed containing more than two human beings, with a minimum of one robot per band. Jiboia makes no exception to this. Flying solo, piloting a table crammed with more gadgets and gizmos than you can shake a stick at. He climbs to a high sonic altitude, looping and layering his way through the set. After fifteen minutes of electronic play he busts out the guitar and spills some Zappa style riffs all over his percussive drones. At times I’m a bit lost in these layers, but just watching Jiboia rocking out in front of his Marshall stack, you can see how much he digs what he’s doing.

Civil Civic ascend the stage, teasing everyone with an extended intro to ‘It’s Krill’ before erupting into full throttle CC groove. There are no buts about it, this duo rock. Their live show is engaging and exciting, full of mean guitar and bass riffs that’ll shred your face clean off, balanced with true pop sensibilities.

When you listen to Rules –Civil Civic’s cracking 2011 debut album- you have a picture in your head of which instruments play particular melodies and hooks. Yet when you see their live show, witnessing the finest guitar, bass and synth ensemble tear it up before your very eyes, this picture is totally flip reversed. There are a lot of hooks and effects on Rules that sound as though they’re indefinitely made with a synthesiser, but in fact most of this wizardry is played on guitar. And some of the more intricate riffs you assume are played on guitar actually lead from the bass.

Listening to this debut post-gig you hear things in a totally different way, and that’s not a bad thing. Tonight, guitarist Aaron manipulates his strings with a finesse one can only attain through a teenage love of Moore and Ranaldo I’m sure. He makes his guitar squeal like a banshee whilst delivering sludgy riffs that sound even meaner than Ben’s boundless bass work.

Watching Civil Civic play you feel a grin unfolding across your face. Rocking around their electronic, cuboid band-mate turned light show, they’re a lot of fun to watch. Bassist Ben’s dance floor antics establish that above all, they’re here to have fun, and they want to have fun with you. Civil Civic aren’t a pair of clowns though, not by any means. The tunes they play tonight all hold the same sincerity and downright edgy cool that they do on record. Highlights come in the form of ‘Lights On A Leash’, a mean slow builder rising to an off the cuff breakdown of epic electronic proportions. ‘Street Trap’ and ‘Less Unless’ both prove instant winners too.

Despite a serious amount of string breakage suddenly occurring mid-way through crowd pleaser ‘Run Overdrive’, this lot aren’t phased. The re-stringing operation flys by as Aaron jumps on the keys for an impromptu synth interlude, then they’re back in the game for a triumphant encore.

With hints dropped of some new music to come from Civil Civic in the New Year, I am more than excited to see what this duo do next.

Dave Palmer