The next gig I’ll be heading to will be the annual NME tour at Manchester Academy 1 on 6th February with my brother. In the past the NME has been as showcase for the best of upcoming bands and has been the starting point for a few careers. I’ve been to a two of these before seeing The Killers, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys and the Kaiser Chiefs. This year’s line up is The maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink and the Drums.
The Maccabees are a Brighton based lo-fi indie five band that have actually been going since 2004. They currently have two albums and have been bigged up by a few important people including the infamous Hannah Witton. I’ve never been grabbed by the Maccabees but I do love their song “Toothpaste Kisses”. If I were to serenade anyone I would play this, as it’s simple but effective and he doesn’t really sing it so I could make it sound good!
This is the band that I’m looking forwards to seeing the most. I was turned onto them by the their song “Always Like” this that has been floating about for a couple of months. They have a Vampire Weekend kinda vibe about them and are a very young band from LDN. You can tell by watching this video clip. The bassist looks to be 7 and a half years old! Also look out for the ginger afro – a modern classic!
I’m not yet convinced by The Big Pink. Their “Dominos” song, shown here performed on Later…with Jools Holland is above par but quickly becomes repetitive. Their other songs don’t really compare. The most interesting thing about them is that all the covers for their songs have half naked women on the front with nipples showing and everything. I’m hoping they pull something out of the bag when they perform live. It would be cool and a big surprise if they pulled a rabbit out of the bag. A giant panda would be even better!
The Drums
I know the least about The Drums and I think I’m going to leave it that way. I want to see what they are like live at first hand with minimal preconceptions and let their music do the talking. The Drums are a surfer indie band, come all the way off of Brooklyn and have been named as a BBC sound of 2010 so they can’t be shite. Can they? I picked the song “Lets go Surfing” to show the video for as I really like the idea for the video but think that it could have been done better.
K*
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