Not Squares & Kicks Blue@Twisted Pepper - 12.3.09

First time in Twisted Pepper on Thursday night and what a night to choose to indoctrinate myself.  Noisy Northerners Not Squares had commandeered the club for the early part of the evening.  The venue itself is great with a bar/stage area which allows drinkers to sit and have a chat without having to shout over the band's music.  In saying that though the completely unnecessary dj in the bar area pre-gig seemed to think it appropriate to play ridiculously squeaks for about 20 minutes before someone told him that the few punters actually there might want to be able to hear their friends. I hope so anyway.

First on the bill were Kicks Blue, an interesting combo of guy with laptop and Korg and his Kickettes, two girls who seemed to provide harmonies and swaying. Despite having a really excellent backing track of lovely swooping sounds and the occasional wee glitchy bit of electronic, it was somewhat marred by the school choir vocals of the Kickettes. Don't get me wrong, the girls can sing and harmonise just fine but it was overbearing and completely killed the effect of everything else.  Unusual idea but after two and a half songs it became painful.  Pity cos the recorded material sounds sweet and ethereal (see In Your Sleep).

I lasted longer than my companions however - their comments varied from "missing a bit of talent", "now I know anyone can sing" and "hey, I liked it" - so well, different strokes for different folks. I'd like a little less Kickette, a little more Kick.

Not to worry though, Not Squares were as brilliant as I'd hoped they'd be.  Benefitting slightly from a crowd of mostly Nordies, they did manage to get everyone going.  Nothing like a stage invasion of excitable dancers to get a party started. How to describe the band? Thrash dance has been waved about so I'll nab that one. Northern Ireland's top thrash dance punk band for sure - not that there is much competition, but if there was, these guys would blow them out of the water. Two bassists, no guitarist (or maybe my eyesight really is bad), keyboards, crazy beats and a lot of shouting from pretty much every single one of them - and one of the stage invaders. Excellently organised chaos.  Finishing with You're Still Drunk, the main reason I was there, was the best decision of the night. I've called it bouncy, crashing perfection elsewhere. It is.