Good Shoes

It’s a relatively pleasant day in sunny old Wolverhampton, nice enough in fact that you’d be forgiven for not turning up to tonight’s indie shindig to instead favour a trip to the park with a beer and a Nobbly Bobbly. Nevertheless, the West Midlands crew have stayed faithful, dodging the temptation of weather based frolicking to instead watch London four-piece 'Good Shoes’ bring their Indie Rock to the new-ish stage of Wolverhampton’s very own Slade Rooms.

It’s down to 'Barefoot’ (***) (or 'Galahads’ as they now call themselves) to kick the night off, and while things start dead as far as crowd size is concerned, things soon pick up halfway through the groups set as more folks pack into the venue to see tonight’s openers set the mood. Sadly though, that mood is 'stand still and look moderately bored’; not a fault of the band, as they deserve an A+ for effort at least. There are a couple of songs that sound like everything wrote by everyone else, but it all levels itself out by the end of the set when the lads pull out a couple of excellent movers that demonstrate a fair bit of talent. There are a few hiccups along the way - maybe down to inexperience of being on stage and all that, but it doesn’t put the boys down too much and they execute their fast paced indie rock to a decent level despite not being overly well received.

Local lads 'Cajole Cajole’ (****) are rather unexpectedly the highly of the evening. Not unexpectedly in the sense that I thought they would be bad, but for a relatively unknown small band the lads easily outshine the headline act. The three-piece have perfected the indie art, hitting the crowd’s ears with catchy contemporary tunes that use all three members musical ability to create distinct and easily accessible tracks that you will fall in love with from the off. It’s a joy to see the crowd lapping it up and actually starting to move to tonight’s entertainment. This is far more than 'Indie by numbers’; the lads actually have genuine talent. Most importantly, they look like they are having fun, giving off a vibe of enthusiasm that rubs off on the audience. Overall, 'Cajole Cajole’ pull off a short but blinding set, earning points for musical ability as well as for wonderful live execution. Check 'em out.

The same kind of praise can’t totally be given to main touring support 'Is Tropical’ (***), who’s mix of indie-electro-synth-whatever-else-we-can-chuck-in falls relatively flat on a crowd that look like they’d rather be anywhere else right now. That’s not to say that the music is bad, in fact at times it’s actually damn interesting, if a little strange; 'Seasick Mutiny’ has the oddest bunch of noises thrown into it, but it works - sort of. This is the thing with 'Is Tropical’; there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction with their sound. Some songs are total indie two-by-two tracks that you hear day in day out, whereas other songs carefully tread into a more abstract synth based sound that suites the band a whole lot more. By the end of the set, it has all accumulated into not very much at all, and while the band put in a lot of effort, I’m unsure that the crowd 'got’ what was going on completely, leaving the threesomes set feeling underwhelming.

It’s easy to see how you could mistake 'Good Shoes’ (***) for another support band. They stroll on stage with all the enthusiasm of a kettle, the band doing little else to let you know that this is their gig. It could well be down to the terribly dull crowd, who are still insisting on mostly remaining still, but 'Good Shoes’ don’t do an awful lot to help themselves – at times the band look as interested in being there as the crowd does. The lads remain true to why they are here – they have a new album out n’ all, so they spend a majority of the time playing tracks that are mostly unknown to a crowd that are more familiar with, or at least prefer, tunes from the bands first effort. They open with
'The way my heart beats’ and continue to head off into a few more tracks from the second album, each sounding as dull and repetitive as the next before sliding a few oldies in to please the fans. There isn’t a lot to say to be honest, and even though things pick up in the latter half of the set when a few favourites make a welcomed appearance, it’s more of a case of too little too late. By the end of the set, 'Good Shoes’ have managed to motivate the crowd enough to get a decent reaction, but they never really captivate completely, and while they sound decent enough, the lack of energy given off from the headliners makes for a mediocre affair.

It’s a bit of a shame actually; I wanted to enjoy it more than I did, but, as with all things, you win some you lose some. Either way, I guess next time I’ll get me a 99 and hit the swings instead. Decent, but definitely could have been better.