The Velveteers, Excellent Skeleton & Livin' Cheap, The Moon, Cardiff
So as I was supposed to be at Kings X on this evening but the whole European tour was cancelled so I went in search of other gigs on the same evening (talk about commitment) so it was into Cardiff on a Tuesday night just as Freshers fortnight was beginning to go down to The Moon for something a little different to our normal heavy as all hell live gigs.
Opening the night were Livin Cheap (7) who over some feedback drenched ambience introduced themselves and went into some choppy power rock which had a punky edge but also the alt style of Biffy Clyro due to the way they attacked their instruments and moved between alt rock riffs and quieter moments. Playing to about 8 people is never an easy thing but they took it in their stride moving from emotional rocker to another. This is what I've always called Telecaster music, broad open chords with an indie twang and raw vocal phrasing. Livin Cheap really impressed me despite not always being a fan of this style on record live you can really hear the passion that goes into this style. Friendly and warm towards the audience there is real conviction in their music that was reciprocated by the crowd. An excellent opening band for this evening's entertainment.
Next up were the psych drenched sounds of Excellent Skeleton (8) who I can describe as a less heavy Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard with a heaving load of Sonic Youth and The Pixies as the feature stoner/doom riffs with again a jangly alt rock edge but they also have extensive use of keys and samples that bring an extra dimension to things, along with haunting at times droning (in a good way) double vocal. Their music is ethereal with some colossal grooves and swirling lead breaks taking you to a another plain as the band were clearly deep on their own happy place as there were numerous eyes closed just feeling the music. The crowd had swelled (in fact it was the biggest of the evening) but I'd never seen this band before, I had heard good things from someone who I share a lot of similar artist likes with, so I was keen to check them out and their psych-meets-alt grunge sound is one that welcomes you with open arms and then pulls you down the rabbit hole into a bad acid trip, this isn't music you listen to its music that envelopes you with a major chunk of heft...and it's all the better for it!
Then it was time for some filthy Detroit styled garage rocking from The Velveteers (8) who are a Denver, Colorado three piece consisting of Demi Demitro on vocals and guitar, with John Demitro and Adrian Pottersmith on drums. Yes folks two drummers who basically took up the back of the stage with one sprawling drum setup as they also incorporated keys, percussion and slide guitar. The desert rocking second track really emphasised this bands primal sound with hefty does of 60's psych getting the heads nodding. It's a thrilling of amalgamation of Jefferson Airplane, The Stooges, The White Stripes and QOTSA built around the often syncopated percussive assault and Demi's soaring sneering vocals and searing guitar work which incorporates fuzzy riffs and woozy lead breaks. There's real grit and guts to their music with the attitude just pouring out of their frontwoman while her brother and Adrian let the kit breathe while always giving a driving groove for Demi's riffs as they weren't shy about moving into some Summer Of Love freakouts either, though they are badged as punk I suppose it's more about their attitude as only really one or two of their tracks could classify under the banner of The Ramones and even they eventually gave way to head nodding grooves. As the climax of the evening came the band excelled themselves with their two hardest rocking numbers that got the room, which happily had quite an even split between men and women throwing themselves into things., moving in unison, the ladies especially rocking out down the front. As I said was supposed to be at Kings X tonight so when that was cancelled I luckily had this to fall back on and if I'm honest for the princely sum of £5 this was a much better gig!
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