REVIEW OF DJANGO, DJANGO/OMNIVORE DEMON - STEREO, GLASGOW - WEDNESDAY 29 FEBRUARY 2012
This was a gig originally scheduled for 10 days earlier but postponed due to illness. It was one I was talked into going along to by MG - a friend from waaaaaaaaaayyyyyy back in the mid 80s who I don't see all that often nowadays and who this year is re-discovering his love for music and going out to gigs after a long absence mainly due to his duties and responsibilities as a dad (and a really good one he is too!!).
I kind of felt guilty going along. I wasn't all that sure about it as Django Django are a band who've been getting a load of good press and I thought it would be another night like the much-hyped Spector which if you recall had been a bit of a let-down. The guilt wasn't helped by the fact that poor Aldo desperately wanted to go along but had got no joy trying to pick up a last minute ticket, even allowing for the fact it was a re-arranged date.
We arrived at Stereo around 8pm meeting up with Andy, another of MG's mates. While Stereo is one of my favourite venues in the city, it's not one Andy had been to all that often and it was new one for MG. It's a basement brick-walled venue, capacity of maybe 250-300, with a lowish ceiling but a high stage so you always get a great view of the band. When it's packed a it is tonight, it's always very hot....
As we go downstairs we can hear that the support act is on the stage. But there's a concern they can't be any good as there's a swarm of folk leaving to go back to the main bar upstairs. We go in....and spot that on stage are three men in masks making an amazing racket. They are using equipment that seems to belong to The Phantom Band. I'm totally intrigued and drag MG and Andy right down to the front.
This must be what being caught outside in a warzone is like. It is loud, it is scary and you have absolutely no fucking idea what is going on or what is happening next. And yet it is compelling viewing and listening. It's a 30 minute instrumental and what appears to be mostly improvisational set in which hard rock, electro, indie, techo and the blues all blast out at some point in time.
It's only after their performance is over do I see a sign behind the bar which gives the times when the acts will be on stage and I see that their name was Omnivore Demon. It's only when I get home later and google the name do I discover they are an off-shoot of The Phantom Band but tend more often to play one-off gigs and events such as art shows rather than tours of this nature. It was far from easy listening and it was incredibly loud but it is something I was chuffed to catch. Whether I could do it again soon I don't know.....I reckon I need a month to recover, but after that I'd be willing to dive in again and give it a try.
And so the main act....
I went into the gig never having listened to any songs by Django Django. MG tells me though that I better have brought my dancing shoes. Four men in very strange and certainly as far as the bass player is concerned, ill-fitting t-shirts. The lead singer looks a bit like Dougall from Father Ted. As the show goes on his style of playing and how he holds on to the mic and even his dancing all highly reminiscent of a young Bernard Sumner. At times I do want to laugh, not at him, but at the idea of Father Dougall as the lead singer of New Order. It is distracting trying to get the thought out of my head....
The music was dominated by the drums and percussion and keys to the extent that the guitar and bass were inaudible for a lot of the time and the vocals were way back in the mix. Whether this was a problem caused by the venue or whether it is how the band like to play live I really can't say for sure....all I know is that coming home afterwards and checking out video clips on you tube gave me a much different listening experience than I'd had live. And the live experience was better.....
MG was right. It was music to dance to. It was upbeat and had a pounding beat but without ever being formulaic or boring. I detected some elements of Magazine, PiL, Giorgio Moroder, Gang Of Four and Cabaret Voltaire in there...and thinking back now a couple of days later it is the 80s sounds of Sheffield such as the Cabs and their Sheffield contemporaries that spring most to mind.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night and a fine way to round off the first two months of the live music experience in 2012. Nine weeks in.....thirteen gigs and twenty-eight performances**. Who knows what lies ahead on the particular road????
mp3 : Django Django - Default
Oh and a big thanks to the two sites where I pinched the photos from.
Omnivore Demon was stolen from here.
Django Django was stolen from here.
JC, Sunday 4 March 2012
**
5 January - Erin Friel/The Jakeybyttez
13 January - From Our Hearts/Miss The Occupier/Fat Janitor
20 January - Cornershop/1990s
21 January - Butcher Boy/Darren Hayman
24 January - Malcolm Middleton/FOUND/Rick Redbeard
29 January - Bonnie Prince Billy
9 February - The Twilight Sad/Let's Wrestle
10 February - Butcher Boy (instrumental set)
15 February - Spector/David's Lyre/Father Sculptor
16 February - Sweet Sweet Lies/The Wellgreen/Ten Gallon Bratz/Bad Bad Men
25 February - Human Don't Be Angry/Bill Wells & Malcolm Middleton
25 February - Adam Stafford
29 February - Django Django/Omnivore Demon
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