See that word in the title there? The 'Cardiff' one? Yes, I've moved to the Welsh-land! And it was only after moving all the way to Cardiff that I finally managed to see a band I've been getting more and more into, who hail from my hometown of Kingston, go figure!
Set in the very edgy photo-plastered upstairs room in Buffalo Bar (which does a good pie in the downstairs restaurant), a great line-up of past and present Big Scary Monsters bands gave us a highly entertaining show, starting with Muscle Club, Tall Ships, and finally headliners, Tubelord.
Muscle Club gave a really strong performance to start the night off, some really punchy tunes and strong vocals that had a maturity exceeding the guys' boyish good looks! Since I hadn't really heard much of their material before, they definitely warrant some more research.
I've been fortunate enough to see Tall Ships some 3 times now, and they're incredible every time. It's not often you get to see a band who are so talented that they regularly swap instruments, create such a rich and varied sound, whilst having a great time on stage as they cheekily grin their way through the set. These guys have quite a following now, with most of the audience singing along to tracks like 'Vessels'. As part of their new EP release on 25th October (go buy it!), they also played new song, 'Plate Tectonics', "dedicated to anyone that likes rocks", and I can honestly say that after the massive build of tension that carried the whole audience along with it, everyone just stood there gobsmacked once they'd finished. They're bloody good.
Last but not least, Tubelord. Sporting a slightly different formation than usual, with borrowed vocals from Alan Welsh from Tangled Hair, as usual frontman Joe Prendergast had reportedly mislaid his voice. Or lost it, whatever. While Alan put in a damn good effort - after all, it can't be easy singing someone else's songs, especially when he's bashing away on the guitar behind you, probably itching to be able to do the job himself - it wasn't quite the same as Joe has a set of pretty distinctive vocal chords that do really lend themselves to the songs. Despite this, it was a better choice than cancelling, and the performance was really enjoyable.
I may just have to go and see them again once Joe is fully recovered. Maybe just for research purposes...Maybe because they're achingly good...Maybe to see if they play 'Synthesize' next time, please...
