With the conference coming to an end and all the business deals done and connections made it was time for Sound City to let its hair down and party into the weekend.
As the fantastic weather brought the crowds into the city and the music out of the bars, Friday night saw Bagheera take to the stage of the wonderful Kazimier venue in Wolstenholme Sq. The trio have built up a strong local and internet following and a number of journalists and delegates were in attendance. Jacob, Sam & Tom did not quite live up to the recent hype though, with the boys dreamlike compositions seeming lost amongst the dark backdrop of the Kaz. Their gig the following night at the Stanley Theatre supporting Ian McNabb was perhaps a better chance to see them at their full potential.
As is the way at Sound City, no matter how meticulous your planning, you always find yourself off course and watching a band you hadn't considered previously and this was true as we dropped into Zanzibar for a bit of 'Male Bonding'. The Dalston trio were tearing pieces out of the venue with an immense sonic blast splitting the crowd.
Next it was off to the city's premier rock venue the Krazyhouse where Radio Merseyside's Dave Monks was presenting a showcase of North West talent headed up by Manchester's Jesse Rose Trip. The musical style associated with the venue was compromised somewhat and no doubt left many of the regulars scratching their heads, but by the time the headliners took to the stage many were hooked into the Mancunians brand of soulful trip-pop. With a sound not dissimilar to the Noisettes, Jessie Rose Trip are definitely a band set for big things in 2010.
After baking in the Saturday afternoon sun, the final day of entertainment kicked into action early doors. The superb weather served as the perfect accompaniment for the Australian showcase BBQ taking place in the courtyard at Heebeejeebies. Make no mistake though the real juicy cuts on offer where those on the stage with performances from among others the excellent Dappled Cities and Teenagers in Tokyo.
The evening's relentless gigging began in the somewhat sedate surroundings of the Static Gallery where a glamorous crowd had gathered to see a performance by Thomas James Speight. Fresh from a national tour and a foray to the US, he delivered a set of well crafted songs complemented perfectly by lush vocal talent of Jess from The Staves. The only criticism I have is that James needs to work on the transition between numbers and an improved interaction with his audience as there were a few uncomfortable moments of silence during the set.
Next it was over to the Kazimier to catch up with Teenagers in Tokyo. The band, four fifths female, not teenagers nor indeed from Tokyo, have a moody pop sound that is perfectly suited to the dark surroundings of the venue and perhaps a set further up the billing would have been rewarded with a bigger turn out. Nevertheless with their killer tracks 'Peter Pan', 'End it Tonight' and a cover of Hall & Oates 'Maneater' they easily won over the crowd. Expect great things from this quintet over the coming year.
Then as the festival drew to a close it was over to the Haigh for a Liverpool showcase including The Little Secrets and headline act Sound of Guns. Ticket troubles had plagued the build up to the gig and this may have explained the average turn out. The Little Secrets fronted by a confident Stacy-Jo however were not going to let anything stop them enjoying one of their most important gigs to date. With a catchy pop formula all the bands songs seemed to grab your attention from the first note but unfortunately some quickly fade away over the horizon of sameness. With another couple of well written additions to their set perhaps next years festival will be a better platform for the Secrets.
Sound of Guns are a band that have made great strides since their appearance at last years Sound City, with gigs at Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend festivals under their belts and time working on their debut album with Verve producer Chris Potter, the band are sat on the launch pad just ready to blast off into the stratosphere. You can hear it in everyone of their well crafted rock songs, you can see the hunger in every band member’s eyes, they are ready. Be it the sing along choruses of 'Architects' or 'Alcatraz' or the heartfelt lyrics of 'Lightspeed' every song they play tonight is nailed on. 'Collisions' is the real highlight and sounds like it is written by Kings of Scotland not Princes of Liverpool with frontman Andy Metcalfe taking control of the room and his unbounding energy levels getting the crowd to the edge of crazy.
I've said before that they play stadium rock without the stadia and as one message that came through on Twitter put it: 'Sound of Guns are one football advert away from becoming festival kings' Kasabian watch your backs!!
Having been lucky enough to cover the festival since it's inception in 2008, there was a noticable difference to this year’s event. Helped of course by the glorious weather you could feel the buzz around the city. Tremendous effort on behalf of Dave Pichilingi and his team delivered a well organised and easy accessible showcase of new music from around the globe. There was also the move to the Hilton hotel for the conference with the continued use of the Hard Days night hotel for the new Create workshops which worked well.
Highlights of the week for me included performances from Dappled Cities, Sound of Guns, Teenagers in Tokyo, Dr Feelgood's Wilko Johnson at the O2 Academy and the screening of Julien Temple's Oil City Confidential.
Sound City 2011. Bring it on!!
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