We Are Scientists

Imagine, for a moment, a more melodic incarnation of the Distillers. Imagine less distortion, but a similarly visceral performance. Well in that style came Your Army, the Brighton-based four-piece chosen by We Are Scientists to start Friday night’s Topman CTRL show at Audio in Brighton. In what could have been a tutorial in how to work a small crowd, their frantic energy manifests itself as a riff-heavy, technically intricate arrangement, led by the dominant and charismatic vocals of Lucy Caffrey. Chris Skelly, lead guitarist, manipulated the reverb diligently ahead of solid rhythm and base support and the overall effect was engaging without a hint of awkwardness.

After a brief sound check, a familiar face takes to the stage, as Andy Burrows (formerly of Razorlight), arrives with I Am Arrows, to further test-drive their new material ahead of their coming tour in September. And with plenty of encouraging reviews already in the bag, Andy is confident and spritely. Chris Cain, wonders into the crowd, joining ex Spice Girl, Melanie Chisholm, to watch on. After a couple of tracks, you have no trouble believing that Andy had written a couple of Razorlight’s hits, with his blend of soft rock possessing almost cathartic properties. The absence of a certain pale band mate with a god complex doesn’t hurt matters either, as Burrows addresses the audience with a previously undistinguishable conviction. ‘Nun’ and ‘Park Slopey’ seem to lend particularly well to a live setting with Andy throwing in a well-covered version of Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ after announcing, “This one is special because it’s the most unrehearsed”. Ending on Green Grass, I Am Arrows head off stage, but seeing as Andy played drums for the entire ‘Barbara’ album, there’s more than a little suspicion that he’ll be back later.

One of the first things Keith did when We Are Scientists took to the stage was to point to a member of the audience and shout in jest “You’re no fucking historian!” in reply to some light heckling. Unusual, but this is how We Are Scientists operate. Having seen them both sides of the Atlantic, at festivals and stand-alone gigs, they are consistently unpredictable to a comedic end, which contributes to their endearing nature.

The set begins with ‘Nice Guys’ as a crowd friendly offering from their new album ‘Barbara’. ‘Chick Lit’ follows and the tracks are crisp and well practiced, with Danny Allen, becoming their full-time tour drummer in the absence of Andy Burrows. They continue to roll through ‘The Great Escape’, where Keith plays nonchalantly with the solo, to ‘I Don’t Bite’, which involves Chris throwing down an aggressive base line. The duo would appear to play with a never-grow-up, Peter Pan complex, where they can do anything they like and the crowd will revel in it. And they can. Keith uses the intro of ‘After Hours’ to run his beer bottle up the guitar fretboard, Chris threatens to “destroy” the audience and none of this is to the detriment of the music. Keith even drops an iconic Back to the Future quote with “watch me for the changes, and try to keep up” as they charge through favourites such as ‘Let’s See It’ and ‘It’s a Hit.’

Upon finishing ‘After Hours’, Andy Burrows returns to the drums and despite having not played with We Are Scientists for over a month, he looks comfortable. Aside from the inter-song antics, it’s undoubtedly all business in their music and ‘Jack and Ginger’, likely to be the next single from the album, gets a good reception. However, the set climaxes on final track “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” and chaos momentarily breaks loose. Andy laughs at Keith balancing tenuously on one foot leading into the song, whilst during, Chris climbs the kick drum as the audience push excessively on the feeble barriers. As the song concludes, Andy climbs over the kit and onto both Chris and Keith who laugh uncontrollably through their farewells, carrying him from the stage.

Friday night’s Topman CTRL worked effectively in showcasing Your Army and I Am Arrows, where as We Are Scientists brought in the numbers purely to cause a ruckus. In doing so, Keith and Chris, as in many other gigs, show a way in which a band can go full throttle every time without it becoming repetitive. They’re outstanding when they’re action-packed with self-deprecating humour, and they’re compelling when they’re touring an excellent album, so my advice would be to see them in November, whilst they’re both.

For more on We Are Scientists. Head to the latest interviews, where Nick Hewitt talks to Chris Cain about being stranded in Switzerland, the new album ‘Barbara’ and getting toilet paper stuck between your butt cheeks.