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REVIEW
On 9th January 2001 THE MIGHTY STARS played their debut live performance at Cheltenham Branson’s. Here is a review by Phillip Smith.
THE
MIGHTY STARS
CHELTENHAM
BRANSONS 9TH JAN
Tuesday night at Branson's,
Cheltenham, and the majority of the seventy-plus crowd have gathered for a
performance by Cleveland, a local five-piece guitar group. A small section
though, we're there for something else. Opening for Cleveland tonight, their
first time before a live audience, are a Tewkesbury-based trio, The Mighty
Stars, self-confessed "Best New Band in Britain."
That's
as maybe, but if they're to live up to that, they'll need more nights like
Tuesday, and they'll need the word of mouth that leads to bigger crowds - the
type of crowd that turns guitar rock performances into something more epic.
Think Oasis doing Don't Look Back In Anger to eight men and a pot plant in the
back room of a pub.
The
"Best New Band in Britain" comprises Matt Stead (guitar/vocals)
and Darren Smith (drums) of Tewkesbury and
Rob Ash (bass) of
Bristol, all 21. Fresh from college, and living the dream that is rock and roll.
So, buy into that dream, pull up a pint, and settle back for an evening that, I
promise, will bring you closer to understanding the special love of a small boy
for a homeless extra-terrestrial.
The
evening kicks off with Change, a relentlessly upbeat track that draws an
enthusiastic response, people are starting to dance and that's no bad thing. The
next track changes all that. When You're In Love is far darker than the
title suggests, driven by Rob Ash's bass. Maybe the contrast is difficult for
the dancers to take as that part of the crowd calms down substantially. That's
no bad thing for the next track is the one that everyone will know, should the
Stars achieve the celebrity they strive for.
The
track's name is Elliot, and its mildly sacrilegious. You know the name
somewhere down in the base of your mind, and as the song is introduced, you make
the connection. E.T. Beloved of children of all ages. Maybe its an anthem for
the importance of friendship. Maybe not. Steven Spielberg KBE hasn't a grave to
turn in, but he would.
These
first three songs, though different in style and content, are, in my mind,
thematically similar. In all three cases we see a skewing of common perceptions.
They deal with terrible things in the most exuberant manner imaginable, or else
speak of glorious ideas in sepulchral tones. It's a highly effective way of
forcing an audience to meet the musician's ideas on a personal level, and is
highly reminiscent of Irish punk-pop combo the Hitchers who sing of cannibalism,
neo-nazism, and mental instability in all its forms, but with such joy as to
render unpalatable themes ridiculous and a source of great humour. Though the
jokiness is less evident in the work of the Stars, it certainly underlies much
of these early tracks.
The
fourth track out of the bag is Stars & Stripes. Send the kids to bed,
because this one oozes hostility: from the expletive heavy, Heart Of Darkness
lyrics, and the toned down vocals, the stepped up drumming, and the throbbing
bass. This is the Rolling Stones, doing a Vietnam protest song, intense and
provocative. Perhaps wisely, they step off at this point with an instrumental
track that allows each band member to emerge from behind the vocals. However,
it's a little on the long side, breaking the mood instilled by Stars &
Stripes rather than just calming it.
Pull
Me Through
is the next song, and features the same lo-fi, toned down vocals as Stars
& Stripes; a more effective style than the higher pitched earlier
efforts, and one Matt Stead seems more comfortable with. In contrast to the
vocals, the bass has lightened slightly giving the entire song an undertone of
exquisite beauty. Pull Me Through is in one way very like the opening
triumvirate - its tone of lovely melancholy is at odds with the positive nature
of the lyrics.
Though
the influences are many and varied that permeate the tracks so far, it is to
Primal Scream that the cap is most prominently tipped with a cover of Velocity
Girl, a chance for the band as a whole, and Darren Smith in particular to
really open up. Lasting barely 90 seconds, this is a full-bore race through the
capability of the band with each part appearing to egg the others to greater
effort.
And
so the Stars finish, appropriately, with Go!
It's a powerful finish
to the set, catchy, with a good chorus, the sort of song that will
eventually have audiences singing along, waving lighters, in the grandest rock
and roll traditions. Sadly, at this early stage in a career there is little
chance of this level of audience participation. That may be the single greatest
problem with the gig. A smaller room would have provided a greater intimacy, a
better atmosphere, which will come in time. So a little polish, particularly at
the end of a couple of songs which seem to go on beyond there natural finish, a
healthy word of mouth to ensure increasing crowds, and these lads could very
well go the distance.
At
the end of The Matrix, Keanu Reeves says: "I'm not going to tell you how it
ends. I'm going to tell you how it begins."
For "the Best New Band in Britain"
it began Tuesday night at
Branson's.