(for clarity, that is the genre, not any particular individual within it, or indeed the language)
Last night was the Vileevils gig – they were billed as ex-PWEI but that was pretty much all I knew about them. They have a page on myspace, just like every other band these days, which gives you a few snippets of their tunes.
Everything seemed a little quiet when I arrived, they hadn’t put any pre-gig music on yet, so there was a weird dead-time before anything kicked off. After a little while a band emerged, only two of them a guy and a girl. They were enthusiastic but didn’t have much variety in their music, it seemed like they needed a bit more to them, a keyboardist or drummer would probably liven their music up no end.
Then the Vileevils came on stage with a somehow familiar, but somehow unknown, mix of guitars and samples. They have energy, they have drive, they have an audience that is prepared to have a good time, they have nothing to stop them *rocking*.
Some of the tracks are ones I know from the Poppies, but theres a good chunk of new material too. I’d forgotten the reason I like grebo music, nothing is out of place, punk one minute, ska the next, a sample from a fifties classic, dance, guitars, everything. No shame, no fear, no talent, no problem. It just works.
The end of their set came all to early, they’re a new band and don’t have that much material (though arguably they could plunder more of the Poppies back catalogue), the lights went up but the audience wasn’t having it, we wanted more. One final song, a repeat of one from earlier in the set (embarrassingly, one I felt I should know but didn’t) and time to go home.
Top night. Go see them if you get a chance.
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