Cult of The Octopus

18 March 2013 - First gig of the year for us, which is really not good enough, but hey ho. Support for tonight was from Charlie Barnes. We were up the front against the barriers when Charlie appeared behind us, acoustic guitar in hand, in the middle of the audience. He started gently strumming then, with some massive foot stamping, launched into an string shredding song with howling vocals, extremely impressive. I have no idea what he played. At the end of the song he clambered onto the stage where he remained for the rest of his act.

Charlie hails from Huddersfield and, live, he makes his music by using live looping, beatboxing and vocal layering via his laptop. His voice soars like Chris Helme's, his compositional constructions remind me of Radiohead, Bjork, and Martin Grech. I was so impressed with his performance that I bought his album, Geekk which also included his five track EP home//live//. It's difficult to reconcile the live performance, which was raw, exciting and edgy, with the polished product of the CD. It's almost as if they are different artists. Except the last two tracks from the EP, Balloons and Final Call, which do manage to capture some of the live act. These are, I suspect, the newer versions of his music. Apparently he is currently working on a new album.

The main event for tonight were prog/psych rockers Amplifier. They are currently touring their new album Echo Street which is on my birthday list. I already have two of their previous albums and this was my first time of seeing them live, but I was wondering how they would be able to re-create their sound playing live.

The vast array of guitar effects boxes and pedals on the floor gave us a clue and the band came on in smart black shirts and ties bearing The Octopus logo everyone of them clutching distinctive Hagstrom guitars. Charlie Barnes has joined band for this tour playing keyboards and guitar, alongside the usual band members; Sel Balamir (guitar/vocals), Matt Brobin (drums), Alexander Redhead (bass) and Steve Durose (guitar). The band immediately launched into Mary Rose off the new album. God, it was loud but by George it was good. This was followed by two tracks that I recognised from The Octopus album; The Wave and Interglacial Spell. We then had another couple from the new album; The Wheel and Extra Vehicular. Knowing that the new album had only just been released and that many in the audience might be unfamiliar with it, they proceeded to play some old favourites; Motorhead, Interstellar, UFOs, Fall Of The Empire, and Panzer before ended with another new one, Where The River Goes.

Sel came back and said that this was the hardest gig that they'd ever played because all they could hear through the monitors was a wall of white noise. The audience convinced him that we could hear them just fine and it hadn't impacted our enjoyment so the band played a final old favourite for the encore, Airborne off the eponymous Amplifier album. Afterwards Sel came down from the stage and was shaking people's hands. They were incredible and utterly superb. Very highly recommended.