Wednesday 12 March – A mid-week excursion to Fibbers to watch one of my current favourite bands, The Mexicolas. But there are three support bands to wade through first....
I arrived a little way into the first band’s set and Cool Cat was already propping up the bar. Kid Gloves are a five-piece from York consisting of: Oliver Regan (lead vocals and tambourine), Rory Brown (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), Adam Skalski (bass guitar and backing vocals), Robin Moss (drums), and Dan Thompson (lead guitar). They have recently released an EP called Osbaldwick. The second song I heard was a non-too-shabby cover of the Kings of Leon’s On Call, but I’m afraid most of their material was a bit Indie-by-numbers; Revolution, Home. Their one good song was She Ain’t My Girl, which I believe is on the EP.
So, next up were Red Chevrons, another five-piece from York consisting of: Nick Stephenson (vocals, guitar), Rob Rhodes (guitar, backing vocals), Glen Pepper (guitar), Andy Wardell (drums), and Max d'Alquen (bass, cool surname). I’m sad to report that they didn’t seem to enjoy what they were doing, there was no conviction in the vocals, and the performance was very lacklustre. Songs included: Fall and Rise, Maybe Someday, Rock and Roll (which wasn’t at all), and something about “Never Forget My Name”. They sounded like a weedy cross between Oasis, Shed Seven and Snow Patrol. Come on lads, put some welly into it!
Fortunately it was a game of two halves and by my second pint of Landlord, and Cool Cat’s second hand-pulled Tetley’s, band number three were treading the sticky boards. A noisy group in front of us were progressively moving back towards us so, thinking laterally, we moved in front of them. They were last seen talking themselves backwards into the toilets! Manifesto are a four-piece from York consisting of: Adam Molzahn (vocals, percussion, mouthorgan), Ben Molzahn (guitar, vocals synchronised surnames), Will Cook (bass, vocals), Tom Cook (drums, synchronised surnames). Now these were much better. Adam sings in a style reminiscent of Robert Smith of The Cure, or Martin Rossiter of Gene (well, not quite, Rossiter does have one of the best voices on this planet, IMHO). I couldn’t make out what the songs were called, but some seemed to be something along the lines of Just not happening, and Let’s pretend/There’s something there. I’d like to hear this band again.
So to the main event, and the crowd at Fibs was a bit thin tonight, maybe because it was a Wednesday, maybe because The Mexicolas haven’t received the publicity they so richly deserve. Shame on you! Anyway, we shuffled down near the front for the maximum volume experience. The Mexicolas are a power trio from Birmingham, consisting of: Jamie Evans (vocals, guitars), Del Carter (bass, backing vocals), and Tim Trotter (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Jamie fronted several bands (Lukan and FIN) and started working with the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Ruby Turner and Brian May. He has toured and supported the likes of Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Thunder, Rachel Stamp and Wheatus. Touring took its toll and Jamie returned to the UK and hooked up with TT, and a little later, Del. The band name comes from when Jamie was taking a flight in America and the inbound flight ticket read; Mexico-LA. The name stuck.
My high anticipation of this gig was not unfounded, and the band played practically every track from their beautifully crafted debut album X. The volume was LOUD, but they delivered clear (gruff) vocals and instrumental work that exceeded the high production values of the album. Absolutely first-class. Big In Japan with its early-Police stop-start dynamics. Easy Smile with its Byrds-like harmonies, which Jamie says “reveals to a few people from the past that all smiles were forced more often than not”, Spies “I’m trying to say how it feels to be in the same room as someone, but be somewhere else altogether in my head”, Belong – “finally accepting that something’s are better left alone, you can’t force happiness.” They didn’t bother leaving the stage for the encore, but just played on. The only disappointment was that they didn’t play the haunting Times Infinity, one of my favourite tracks off the album. Cool Cat was so impressed that he bought a copy as we made our way out. Best gig of ’08, so far.
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