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We walked down the stairs into the Basement Bar found below City Screen and took our seats. Attendance wasn’t massive but the cosy, student living room feel of the venue meant that the atmosphere was still good. I sipped sparingly on my £3 pint of Stella (expensive, although we’re told that student deals are on the way) and settled myself for what was to prove to be a night of epic rock and roll entertainment.
Hold and Go, the first band, were very young and inexperienced, but were a tribute to a venue willing to allow bands to take a risk and learn through performance. Their music was interesting but lacked tight rhythmical discipline and their performance was obviously limited by self-consciousness. However, there were moments of great, tight breakdowns and their songs, all self composed, had a nice structure and shape. I think, given time to practice and play more gigs, they will go on to pretty good. To view Hold and Go's MySpace page click here.
He then, after shouting some obscenities, stumbled and nearly put his foot and face through Dan Barton’s amp.
Undergrass, the second band blew me away! I was initially a little worried when lead singer Phil Goodrick attempted some German banter… luckily his vocal talents far exceeded his comedic genius. Their performance was tight, entertaining and musically spellbinding. Rob Lumby, lead guitar, was unbelievable. His solos fitted into the sound of the band seamlessly, never dominating and overpowering the other instrumentalists. When drummer Dave Chitty wasn’t pretending to impale Phil’s head on one of his drumsticks he rooted the band and his slick fills complemented an extremely tight performance. Danny Lee, bass, was equal to his counterparts with funky bass lines giving the band's sound its get-up-and-dance feel. A highlight of the set was their performance of “Show me the Money”, a Stone Roses style track that’s better than most of this weeks top ten. The band also demonstrated their versatility playing music that could be described as Blues, Indie, Rock and Funk with equal merit. Originally from York, Undergrass are performing loads of gigs in and around the area in the future and I cannot recommend going to see them enough. These guys are definitely a band you should catch before they make it big. To view Undergrass's MySpace page click here.
The Federals, the third band, were my entertainment highpoint of the night, unusually not because of their music! The lads, who looked like The Kooks had lent them their style and lead singer, had all the ingredients for an amazing set. The Basement Bar manager reveres them as one of his favourite York bands and their appearance on stage brought a small gathering of groupies through the doors. The set started well with a sharp sound and raspy vocals similar in style to The Sex Pistols. Two songs passed and the crowd were loosening up, when it started to fall apart. Jim Feakes, lead vocals, decided that it would be a great idea in his drunken state to throw his microphone and stand across the stage, closely followed by his guitar. He then, after shouting some obscenities, stumbled and nearly put his foot and face through Dan Barton’s amp. Dan replied, “sort it out”, obviously something Jim didn’t want to do, indicated by his flying fist and screams of “I’ll have him”. I can’t help feeling that we got value for money as a night watching WWF is considerably more expensive than the £4 entry fee. After the tech crew and drummer from Undergrass split them up they were thrown out and we were left listening to a CD and the excited chatting of a stunned crowd. Apparently this isn’t the first time The Federals have split up publicly but several of the guests speculated that it might be the last. To visit The Federal's MySpace page before they split up click here.
By the time The Buccaneers hit the stage they had a lot to follow after the music of Undergrass and antics of The Federals. Fortunately this, and the singer’s self-confessed man-flu didn’t hinder what was a very tight and fun performance. Their sound was fun and dancey, although some of their tracks would benefit from a little variety. The band have impressed their own style on a genre of music obviously influenced by bands such as T-Rex and their ability to do this well almost guarantees their success. However, I hope they don’t slip into the generic Indie band category that saturates the charts and forces lots of bands into the ever-expanding class of one hit wonders. To visit The Buccaneers' My Space page click here.
On the whole the night was well worth the visit. Basement Bar is implementing more and more live music into its schedule and now has as many as six nights of live music a week. With NUS discount set to be introduced soon it is one of the hidden gems of York and I can’t recommend it enough. Details of future gigs at The Basement Bar can be found on their MySpace page by clicking here and check out our interview with the manager of Basement Bar Simon Micklethwaite in an upcoming artscast.
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