I went to the gig after listening to the Soulwax album once and being relatively impressed. This was first time I'd attended a gig at The Charlotte and I was amazed by just how small the place is - more of a lounge than a venue!
With Soulwax being quite a big band for the Charlotte, the place was totally full. I arrived about an hour before they were due to come on and got a very good position. Support band Brassy came on about an hour and a half later and by this time the place was already very hot.
The band came out of a side door and had to climb over the audience at the side to get the stage. When there, Muffin Spencer (very gobby but gorgeous lead singer/guitarist) started the band up. All Brassy's songs are very short, and mix punk and hip hop, which really seems to work well. I have since learnt that Muffin is the sister of Jon Spencer from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
After about a half hour set comprising of fantastic songs like No Competition, Play Some D, Work It Out and You Got It, Brassy left the stage to a smattering of applause and, if truth be known, they deserved better. But everyone was there for Soulwax, so they were saving their energy.
Soulwax came on about 10 minutes later to a massive applause - they too had to climb to the stage. They were wearing their usual beige suits, even though the temperature had now hit Icarus-wing-melting level! They played a fantastic set including all the good stuff from the album and saving Too many DJs till last for a great ending. They also played a song that may have been called The Casio Song which was just fantastic; played using a mystical casio guitar, which we told we weren't allowed to even look at.
I left The Charlotte very happy, although very wet. I have since bought the Brassy album Got It Made, which is very good. If you ever get the chance to see them, it's worth it before you have to start paying a fortune, because they have the potential to be very big! We went, we moshed, we sweated, we loved every minute!
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