Seven Go Psycho In Cornwall
WWJD/The Eyelids: Friday 27 May, Penzance, Studio Bar
If you’ve not been before, the Studio Bar’s not so easy to find. It’s basically a blue/grey door, next to a patch of ‘urban art’ round the back of Bread Street. But there’s a pub down the road that serves generous rum and coke – my tip is to sit outside and wait for the Eyelids to go past, then follow them.
Once inside, it’s evident that the venue has recently undergone something of a refurbishment, with patches of new plaster still drying on the ceiling. Still, both bands blasting through their soundchecks proved sufficient heat to bake that nicely. The temperature levels increased as the venue filled, and reached boiling point as the Eyelids opened up tonight’s double-header, belting through a set that seemed to shoot by in the blink of an eye, but still included around a dozen laboratory fresh examples of splicing psychobilly DNA to helixes of coruscating garage rock.
Undaunted by the necessity of some running repairs on a stricken double bass, the Eyelids’ titanic rhythm section of Michelle and Louise lock together to provide a geologically solid foundation for Gary’s Soviet valve fuelled guitar frenzy and Kelly’s black freighter grounding siren song. As Gary pitches his not-inconsiderable woo at all-comers, bladders fill and one stricken thrill-seeker hobbles toward the target of her desire, borne upon aluminium crutches. Some fancy footwork averts a disastrous tangle of surgical appliance, mic stand and double bass, and our intrepid invader lurches on toward the venue’s ladies’ khazi, handily placed behind the stage.
As the Eyelids’ set reaches its vertex with a monumental rendering of crowd favourite ‘Burke The Butcher’, some manic frugging breaks out around of the room. The quartet return to perform an encore that speaks directly to the people who live in our heads and leaves all panting for yet more Eyelid frenzy. But not this night – that’ll have to wait ‘til Sunday.
What Would Jesus Drive blast into action as the witching hour draws near, set opener ‘Masquerade’ detonating like a sonic stick grenade in the confined space. Many here, catching the band for the first time, are unaware that the group are short on personnel; Gemma – sadly stricken – is absent. Ignorance, in this context, is bliss – as the remaining trio add an extra dimension to their trademark punktronic sound, established across three EPs and one mighty debut album.
Tighter than the proverbial ant’s foreskin, the Jesuses’ combination of Amy’s booming bass, Tim’s Saturn V guitar, and John’s electronic alchemy pushes superheated waves of air across the room, forcing their infectious sound into every corner via a series of devastating sonic bursts. It’s fortunate that the Studio Bar hadn’t had time to paint their newly plastered ceiling, or WWJD would have stripped that shit straight offa there with sheer, visceral energy.
It’s a set peppered with highlights – the storming, psychotic ‘Transylvania Time’; the kitchen sink domestic incident ‘Girls Are In Charge’, and the megalithic ‘Your Awful Kids’ all heave and shudder their way into the collective consciousness, before – all too soon – we’ve reached the anthemic finale of ‘Fragile Mansions’. Then, after some efficient car park limbo involving a chain, almost a dozen people and a small car, both bands are depart into the night, leaving naught but trace echoes and spent bodies as their calling cards.
WWJD/Nick Skuse/We’re Still Breathing/Petite Debauche/Pete Clogg: Saturday, 28 May, Wall Farm, Tishfest
With the Jesi off to perform at a (Nuremberg) rally for VW Beetle owners in Plymouth, the rest of us are left to wander through the bleary morning mist for this year’s Tishfest. Yesterday’s warm sunshine, has given way to grey skies and intermittent drizzle that would dampen the spirits of less hardy festival-goers. But not here, and not today – fuelled by a veritable smorgasbord of tasty home-cooked tucker and fortified by all manner of home brewed brown booze, the attendees are strewn across the site engaging in all manner of activities laid on by our hosts.
After some early hassles with the generator, a jam jar full of precious petrol gets us underway with Pete Clogg’s acoustic folk stylings, which demonstrated not only his mastery of the form, but also his command of the French language. His well-received set is followed by Petite Debauche, whose languid reflective sound is more suited to hot, endless sojourns spent in some kind of mythic glade, than the damp froideur of this particular Saturday afternoon. The gathering crowd needs warming up, rather than chilling out, and as polite applause gives way to spreading indifference, the quartet’s lengthy set sadly seemed like an increasingly evident matter of wrong band/wrong day.
The afternoon wore on and We’re Still Breathing picked up the baton to provide some much-needed light relief via a series of eclectic 80s cover versions, delivered in deadly deadpan style. Hits such as the Cure’s ‘Love Cats’, Depeche Mode’s ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ and a faithfully Germanic rendering of Nina’s ’99 Red Balloons’ lifted spirits and drew smiles. They are followed by Nick Skuse – perhaps best known as lead guitarist in local legends Elephanthead (who were unable to appear on account of several of their number either being incarcerated or in rehab). Undaunted, Skuse seized the opportunity for sedition, reversing the accepted norm by heckling his audience, and after rattling through some engaging solo material, was joined on stage by a backing band for a muscular twelve-bar workout.
As twilight fell and the wailing and gnashing of teeth from a group of sporting enthusiasts viewing the death of Manchester United echoed through the darkening air, What Would Jesus Drive arrived fresh from a mid-afternoon appearance at the Volksfest and a medieval banquet. Scarcely pausing to set aside their horns of mead, the trio rook the stage and quite simply detonated. A shorter set (due to local restrictions) than the previous night’s created a pied-piper like effect, as festival goers converged on the stage from all corners of the camp to catch the group on scintillating form. Surly youths dropped their i-Phones and began to dance, and the sense of joy bounced from band to crowd and back again, culminating in a transcendent penultimate ‘Fragile Mansions’ and a fun filled four-letter free encore. It’s not easy to blow the roof off at an open air gig, but WWJD managed it tonight.
The Eyelids/WWJD: Sunday, 29 May, Live Bar, Truro
Tonight’s gig at the tiny Live Bar was a celebratory affair, as both bands let their hair down to party with one another and the cognoscenti who had turned out to catch the second show of their titanic team up. This time around, the Jesuses opened up and despite John needing to nursemaid a sampler that seemed bent on making noises like a strangled Clanger at every opportunity, the trio belted through a set – that on account to repeated hearings across the weekend – was beginning to sound like some perfect rendering of the Hit Parade from some advanced technocracy. Like The Eyelids, WWJD possess an abundance of unstoppably groovable numbers that work their way into your Fissure of Rolando and stick there. Glowing.
Sunday night licensing laws ate perniciously into the time available for both bands’ sets, so there was no time for any of Gary’s trenchant observations and essentially libellous anecdotes. Instead, the Eyelids crashed through a fat-free set, cherry picking several of their most riotous numbers and culminating in an encore of their (criminally as-yet-unreleased) classic, ‘We Always Want More’.
It’s rare to see a genuinely great band these days, rarer still to catch two, together, twice. But that’s the way it is. EYEPLUG can only recommend that you check out both bands’ sites for future gigs, and haul your asses out to see them at the first opportunity. You’ll thank us. These are bands that will leave an impression on your hearts, minds and, quite possibly, the front of your house.
What Would Jesus Drive: www.whatwouldjesusdrive.co/
The Eyelids: www.myspace.com/theeyelidsband
Eye See Sound: www.eyeseesound.tv/
