This afternoon warm-up for their REAL show that night was packed with Glasgow�s indie nerds. The setting? A record shop cum caf� cum bar cum venue partly run by Stephen Pastel. Lou played his battered old acoustic guitar which was sometimes drowned out by Jason�s bass. But it was a nice, informal, short set, to whet our appetites for what was to follow. Instead of hanging about for the BMX Bandits set which was to follow, we decided to go on a little pub crawl, which was much nicer! The Sleazy�s gig opened with US band Why? Crazy lyrics, crazy tunes. You could tell certain segments of the audience weren�t impressed while others clearly were. Lou and Jason introduced themselves to the packed room as Sebadoh and played some songs with a drum machine accompaniment supplied by Lou�s trusty 4 track (which he said had been refusing to work earlier, until he explained how important a gig this was!) It was only their second (and a half) show since reforming the previous week (the half gig was the earlier record shop set) and they sometimes sounded endearingly unsure of what they were doing. But they played plenty of classics, like �Brand New Love�, �Vampire� and even an acapella version of �True Hardcore� (requested by my mate!) There was also lots of funny banter, including one tale of how their old drummer Eric would usually refuse to sing any of his own songs onstage until, one time, when they did a really important festival show and ALL he would play were his own songs. Great stuff. I always prefer to see Lou Barlow solo acoustic than with a band and this felt like a solo acoustic show, because Lou and Eric obviously feel really at ease playing together. Although they didn�t play my faves �Too Pure� and �Love is Stronger�, I didn�t even mind!
DEMOTAPE NOVEMBER 2002 Cassette (Shitsuck Tapes) www.shitsuck.cjb.net
Don�t know if it�s meant to be a secret as to who this is by, but since the guy actually told me, I don�t see how it can be. It�s a solo offering from Aki who runs the Shitsuck label. It starts off with a strummed acoustic guitar on a song called �Picking My Nose in Public� but then, all of a sudden, it explodes into a punky thrash. Very unexpected and very nice and it�s all over in less than 2 minutes. Second track, �Warm, Tender and Waiting for You� is a medium-paced rocker. It had another full-band style arrangement, although Aki says on the inlay that he played all the instruments himself. �I Don�t Wanna Be Myself� returns to a more punky vibe, reminiscent of da Ramones perhaps. Nice angst-ridden lyrics too. This is my favourite track, I think. It�s the kind of thing I would put on a compilation, if I still did them! Fourth (and final) track is a Brian Eno cover, no less. Wasn�t he the baldie one in Roxy Music who made tonnes and tonnes of dreary ambient shit? Well, this is an actual real song, and it sounds pretty good. More stripped down than the other songs but no less affecting for that and one of the all-too few songs with a KAZOO solo! Kazoos are the forgotten rock instrument and I commend Aki for including one on this tape! I like how the inlay notes say �I played all instruments and did all the singing also, as na�ve and clumsy as I can get or as real as I can be.� Nice touch. Sure, this tape may occasionally come across as na�ve and clumsy but isn�t that sometimes part of the charm? Who wants 100% perfectly played BORING commercial rock shit when something as charming and home-made as this exists? Something which has no copyright and can be given away for free. That�s worth more to me than a thousand dull corporate rock bands.
CLIFF BARNES �LIMBO�S GARAGE� Cassette www.cliff-barnes.cjb.net
Finnish band with the dubious distinction of being named after the slimy, conniving piece-of-shit oil rival of JR Ewing in classic 80s soap �Dallas�. This is a strange mixture of punk, rock and indie styles. Five songs on offer here, beginning with �Break Your Arm�. This has some nice powerful guitar chords and a somewhat low in the mix vocal action. Can�t really tell what he�s singing about but it sounds like �Don�t break my heart and I won�t break your arm�. Charming! Next up is �Declared M.I.A.� which continues in a similar vein, with more of the submerged vocals and choppy guitars. �Burning Up� does that quiet verse/loud chorus thing which is so popular these days. It�s alright. Best track, in my humble opinion, is the slightly Smiths-esque �Don�t Feel Like Laughing Today�. It actually reminds of the band I used to be in years ago, when I was dangerously obsessed with Morrissey. The vocals sound exactly like the way I used to sing! Quite scary, really, but I actually like this a lot. Again, I can hardly make out any of the words but it almost doesn�t matter. This sounds really excellent. �Sleep Alone� is the final track and is another goodie, utilizing more of the quiet/loud dynamic. There�s also a Cliff Barnes 7 inch single out, which I�ve been unable to play due to a crappy turntable, but I CAN tell you that it�s wrapped in a charming crayon coloured cover which looks like it was drawn by a three year old at nursery school and it also has a nice free badge! It�s good to hear a band from Finland who aren�t just out and out punk rock but are a bit more ambitious at mixing it all up with different styles.