The Arts Club, Liverpool
16th November 2018
Reviewed by Rob Harrison
(Photo above of Hinds)
Hard hitting triple bill comes to the Arts Club in Liddypool tonight. First off is The Strange Collective from Liverpool. These guys and gals seem to do lots of gigs around Liverpool.
Relying on using retrograde fall riffs they end up being boring and noisy, for someone that calls themselves The Strange Collective I was expecting something a bit more experimental like the Marshmallow Overcoat or something like that. Pass.
Next up is Sports Team from Cambridge, posh boys and girls show how it’s done which is a bit sad for Liverpool don’t you think. But anyway they come over sounding a little like Blur, that sort of Cockney swagger aligned with post rock riffs, but push it towards a noughties groove slightly.
This is the future, and definitely a group to watch out for, a band in the true sense of the word. Each member of Sports Team has their own personality within the group context rather than the strangers living in the past along with Jethro Tull.
Another thing that I seem to be noticing with new bands is bringing the guitar solo back into the equation and the Equipo Deportivo (that’s Spanish for sports team) bring it back in true rock god style.The punk rock no guitar solos moment has faded and the guitar is back in fashion, but did it ever go away folks?
So that said, The Hinds bounce onto the stage. They are a girl group on fire. The singer reminds me of Katherine Hanna of Bikini Kill as she bops about with the guitar on stage. it’s old fashioned I know and the snowflakes will kill me but she’s quite vivacious. Yeah I know it’s the sort of thing Michael Heseltine might say but seems to fit on this occasion.
The music is a strange collaboration of styles from the C86 Dolly mixture punk, indie DIY, to the post punk stylings of the Slits and Modettes .
But on closer inspection this DIY sound is a bit of a smoke screen to hide their really good playing and songwriting abilities. On record it appears quite shambolic but live it sounds at times like African Highlife music, very fast treble based sounds.
As the two guitarists, Ann and Carlotta, spar together, each one taking in turns to solo democracy in action. So ends 2018 on a high note. I has been a remarkable year for music musical renaissance anybody.