IT’S STARS WEEK :: THE FIRST TIME I SAW THE STARS

Current mood: RE-REWIND
Category: RE-REWIND Music

Well, as you may have guessed stars week is here..

Yes boss, to comemorate the release of the 6 years lost LP

and the video for (it's always boomtime, part 1)

this next week or so will bring (together with the regular Giovanni fayre) the best in stars coverage from gig reviews, a full back catalogue review, features, videos, pictures etc and blah...

The aim is to properly appreciate and documnet one of the most under appreciated bands of the current era and pave the way for their future and inevitable world dominance...

So, what better place to start than with the review of the first time I saw them. It was a gig the band would far rather forget, but I have a soft spot for it because it was my induction.

So here we go....

Current mood: ENLIGHTENED
Category: ENLIGHTENED Dreams and the Supernatural

BB Gun
The Sharmills
Eugene Machine
They Came From the Stars I Saw Them

@Gingliks 22^nd March 2007

Gingliks is the sort of place where men used to go to find other men. I'm not talking about a Working Mens Club. No, Gingliks is a converted public toilet in the aptly named Shepherds Bush.

Weird that.

Not the Shepherds Bush bit, but the whole toilet cruising business. I mean I know being gay wasn't easily done in years gone by, but why public toilets? Why not art galleries or museums, or somewhere else a little less dark and unhaunted by the smell of industrial strength cleaning chemicals??

Well, weirdness is about the only thing this gig had in common with the buildings former use. Yes boss, this night ended very strangely, but let's not get ahead of ourselves…

BB Gun was first on, and he delivered a selection of songs that whistled along much like the wind. No shit. They gently gusted, ebbing and flowing and I liked them a lot….

The Sharmills were next. It's a week later as I write this up and I'm still not sure what I make of them. They've got a kind of PJ Harvey meets Kate Bush at the rock opera thing going on. The songs didn't really grab me, but they sounded pretty original and the front woman looked stunning. I wanted to like them, but this gig left me unconvinced.

The strangely named Eugene Machine (hosts and organisers) followed.

Here we're talking a funk robotic electro thing and boy did they execute it well. The sound was double bass loud heavy, and dead funky phat with it. The tunes themselves were competent and strong, and everything was just smart down the line. This lot are a class act, go and take a look next time they're in town…

And so to the headliners…

For my money 'they came from the stars i saw them' are one of, if not the most interesting band of the moment...

There's no guitars other than a bass, there's a mountain of electronic bliss from Jupiter, a clarinet, a saxophone, gay masters, white robes and cacaphonic glory reigning from the speakers like the holy Jesus spirit minus the dogma.

Yes boss, it was them I'd gone to Shepherds Bush to see and I assumed that would be the case with most of the crowd. So, you can imagine my surprise and disgust when I noticed half had gone to beddy byes before the 'stars' had even strummed their first electropic chord.

Now, if there's one thing that annoys me on this lonely and dear little planet we live on it's people leaving events early. Whether it be football matches or gigs this whole 'Oh, I've got to home to my boring shitty life rather than risk oversleeping tomorrow' is pure catshit and I'd like to take this welcome opportunity to publicly admonish all of you who practice it.

I mean what's the fucking point?! You've paid to get in and something special could happen and you'd rather get the last friggin tube home so you're up bright and fresh for you're damn job….

I shouldn't get upset, but I honestly think that people who leave gigs early should be beheaded on their way out, especially when the headliner is 'the stars'.

So, the gig???

Well, I won't lie and say the set went as smoothly as planned. There was tension and equipment with it's own agenda and by the impromptu end there can't have been more than 10 clever people left in the room.

Afterwards, Horton Jupiter said it was one of the worst times he'd ever spent on a stage and when Sculpture threw his bass on the floor as the final act of frustration, it seemed that the sky had maybe just fallen in a little..

But despite the myths and the stories, the sky never really falls in on anyone and even on a bad night, 'the stars' still sparkled with the kind of energy and ideas that most bands are too simple to even imagine, let alone perform live on stage.

It was a rough night, but you can't keep a good band down for long and despite the problems, it was a blinding set of the sort of musical controlled chaos that makes this band so very special.

So, if you weren't one of the ten and you weren't at the 333 last night, you've missed out on this particular feast twice in a week and you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.

Make sure it doesn't keep happening....

Currently listening : They Came from the Stars I Saw Them Vs. Reality By They Came from the Stars I Saw Them Vs. Reality Release date: By 18 September, 2007

18:51 - 7 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

	Paloma First Lady of Infinity & Queen of Hearts	yeah! It's Stars Week!!! A-fucking-Men: "Now, if there's one thing that annoys me on this lonely and dear little planet we live on it's people leaving events early. Whether it be football matches or gigs this whole 'Oh, I've got to home to my boring shitty life rather than risk oversleeping tomorrow' is pure catshit and I'd like to take this welcome opportunity to publicly admonish all of you who practice it. I mean what's the fucking point?! You've paid to get in and something special could happen and you'd rather get the last friggin tube home so you're up bright and fresh for you're damn job…" Plus it is just plain rude. Even if I am not enjoying a show, I hate to walk out on a band because it is just rude. As crass as I can be, I think there are unwritten rules...plus staying out late to even a substandard performance is still better than waking up for work the next day...i'd rather miss my shower and go to work in the clothes i wore the night before, which I do often... Posted by Paloma First Lady of Infinity & Queen of Hearts on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 22:41 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	There was a football game this week. It was the 125 anniversary of the club concerned and a big hoohaah celebration.... A short way into the second half the 125 year old team were loosing 4-1. People started leaving... It ended 4-4 with the equaliser coming in the 92nd minute. The commentators could barely talk they were so excited - the remaining crowd were going absolutely FUCKING MENTAL!! What kind of twats must those who left have felt, when they heard the final score...??? Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 at 23:15 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Clinker	I have left gigs early before, but only cos i'm so pissed and disorientated. It's not something I approve of though in general. AND get there early enough to watch all the bands (my bands first on at Kings Cross Water Rats Nov 17th, so I had to get that one in). Posted by Clinker on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 01:10 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :	Yeah, we all fucking of it. In fact I did it within a week of writing this piece... I do however stay the full course from begining to end 9 times out of 10 and will do so on the 17th of Novemeber... So who else is on the BLINGING bill?? Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 01:20 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Clinker	I have asked for the line-up, but he didn't tell me. He just said keep an eye out, the website will be updated. At the moment it says Sidecar46 Additional Moog Love on the Radio Dunno if there's 4 bands or ones pulled out, but we're there!!!! Thats all that counts. It'll be great to see you there. Posted by Clinker on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 14:54 [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Onomatopoeia Records	That was the first time I saw them (!) too. F'ing amazing. Posted by Onomatopoeia Records on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 09:22 [Remove] [Reply to this]

: THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI :

It was intense, edgy and difficult but I don't go to a gig to be bored with perfect yet static renditions. It was very clear that if that was a bad a show - a good one would blow my head off!! Posted by : THE FUTUREPROOF MUSIC BLOG BY PIOUS GIOVANNI : on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 12:00 [Remove] [Reply to this]