Wednesday 3 November 2010

299 WEKNOWWHEREYOULIVE, Understand, Bath Moles Club, Monday 17 July 1995

Another gig at the recently rejuvenated (for me, anyway) Bath Moles; this one a breakneck dash down the M4 after Monday night footy at the Oasis, with fellow players Ady and Clive. Got in at 10.15ish and met up with Jared - who'd missed the footy to come to the gig! Ha!

A packed Moles - as busy as I'd seen it for a few years - greeted support Understand; they were a clumsy sub-Faith No More "rawk" band, featuring a diminutive yet energetic vocalist who actually just wanted to stare at the speakers. I dunno, my problem with bands like this isn't necessarily that they wouldn't know a tune if it bit their balls, but that they make their "performance" seem like so much hard work. If they don't enjoy it, why should we?

Thankfully, the terribly-named Weknowwhereyoulive are a different proposition. Featuring Eat's charismatic vocalist Ange Doolittle and the 3 back row boys of the Wonderstuff, they kicked off with "Mental Hygiene", their best number and a rollicking pop tune with a chunky chorus in the best Stuffies tradition. The ensuing set was a mixture of good slightly-delic sinister rock stuff, mixed with more patchy, directionless numbers. However, Ange is still a total superstar and mesmeric frontman (a couple of quips including inventing a new genre for the band, i.e. "post-psychiatric", and introducing one number as, "woolly hat in the Summer - what a twat!"), and the overall impression was favourable, albeit decidedly work-in-progress. Worth checking out when they've got some vinyl out!

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