Balmy evenings, BBQ’s and Brick Lane. Ahhhh the cacophony of the common man, clattering humanity and ground cumin. It could only be Clash Club slap bang in London’s Curry capital.
Returning for the second instalment after the Guillemots so deftly rocked the relaunch; this time it was the turn of The Shortwave Set to lead the long charge in summer. With the courtyard bubbling away and the support bands no less than Cut Off Your Hands and Poppy and the Jezebels the Saturday night was assured of musical confidence and boldly we set forth accordingly.
DJ duties were aptly spread across the digital superhero Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and London’s old acid hip hop rave swinger DJ Prime8 and a mystery book reading Ska lord but with a breaking band line-up such as this all eyes were on the burgeoning live talent.
Poppy and the Jezebels opened to a swelling crowd with their scuzzed up indie pop. Attentions were slashed short as rumour of a courtyard fire spread like…. well, ketchup actually as shrill cries led to tripe investigations. It transpired the hype was borne from an overly chillied burger whilst the victim was doused down with kraft cheese blankets the Jezebels monetarily felt the blunt end of a crisis dwindle their robust bolt for Clash immortality, but only for a second as their twee n glee pop pick n mix quickly wrested the assembled’s mindset back on track.
After the hubbub had resided Cut Off Your Hands demonstrated aptly how useful having hands actually are by playing bass, drums and the complicated notion of a six stringed guitar – nasty when bleeding stumps are all you have to rely on – and made swift work of smashing into their musical oeuvre.
The singer, somewhat hypocritically gripping the mike stand with 10 rather fetching digits, jumped about with the vigour that only Kiwi’s in London can muster. With melodic Hakka this post punked pop adventurer immersed himself in his own wild notion of stadium glory banging away on his own little drum and leading the charge of the perfectly pitched 4 vocal harmonies. They were easily the most energetic band of the night and many people’s dark horse favourite.
Svelte headliners Shortwave Set had long grabbed the Clash office stereo as their own. A five piece of mixed backgrounds their Replica Sun Machine on Wall of Sound was deftly produced by Danger Mouse meaning one of two things: either they were brilliant throughout and why such a wizard had sponsored them with his time. Or we were all sitting on a studio album.
Thankfully the former prevailed from the off. Bursting from cold Beatle’s refrains of Harmonica through to the slow but thrilling glide of Replica with haunting melodica the Shortwave Set pack a deliciously slow punch. But one that you’ll want to kiss as it takes you down so seductively. With a gloriously delivered moment of silence for nothing in particular this perfectly delivered crowd non-participation moment also perfectly summed up the subtlety of the Shortwave punch.
Read our review of the April Clash Club, supported by Oakley, featuring Guillemots.
