|
Target audience is the buzzword many an A&R man
converses in. These days you can't be signed unless a
certain constituency is identified.
So, it numbs the
mind when some bands are signed with no clear market
in mind, and with little apparent hope of carving one
out for themselves.
That's the impression you get as you labour through
the beer and biceps of New Yorkers The Smash-Up. Their
testosterone fuelled hard rock could be used as the
furiously loud soundtrack to an ultra violent video
game.
Better still, the Pentagon could procure 100,000
of their CDs and pop them into the tanks deployed in
Iraq. Then your regular trigger happy Joe can happily
drive around blasting 'insurgents' with overwhelming
force screaming "kill, kill, kill!" Smash it up? Give
us a hell yeah!
No the show proper tonight doesn't really start
until The Yo-Yo's show up. Even though they claim to
have given up on giving up, Danny McCormack and co.
look in terrific shape. After years of senseless
pedalling on Uppers and Downers, the new EP was
showcased with vintage gusto. So much so, that you'd
be forgiven for mistaking them for headliners, such
was response from the floor. But there was no doubting
about who and why we were all here for.
3 Colours Red hit the big time at an awkward point
in the mid 90's. Signed to Creation, they were
envisioned to be selling bucket loads and playing the
kind of venues Oasis were swallowing in one
step.
By 1999 Britpop had heaved. Nu-metal was rife. The
'Red upped the ante with Revolt, treading a fine line
between production and pushing the rawness of Pure
into a record welcomed by the critics which steadily
propelled them into the limelight. But the ship was
shaking, and the band split spectacularly at what
seemed the moment the tide was turning, with a rammed
second stage headline slot at the Reading and Leeds
festivals.
The prospect of The 'Red reforming in 2003 was a
genuinely warm one, but when they eventually put out The
Union Of Souls, it was a convoluted mess. A shame,
but considering the band were under pressure to
further their sound in a post Strokes, and as
it was soon to be, post Franz market, which is
as volatile as it is fickle, it came as no surprise.
And so with little fanfare it was left to a briefly
worded Email dispatched to the band's mailing list
that The 'Red announced their decision to split.
As they took to the stage this final time to the
looped intro of Paralyze, the memories of ten years of
thrills and spills were condensed into a breathless
hour. That it was in a small, swanky venue oddly
located in the innards of a North London shopping mall
perhaps wasn't Hollywood as Vuckovic had imagined
it.
Almost ironically this was a band tighter, more
road ready and firing on all cylinders than I had seen
on many other occasions. There was an air of
acceptance from everyone, band included, knowing that
there was no place for them in this world anymore -
The World Is Yours was the only showing from the new
record.
Knowing this, they played their hearts out as the
fans sung theirs, barely displaying an emotion as a
part of their life ebbed away uncontrollably in the
flash of a greatest hits set. With an encore of
Beautiful Day and a defiant Hateslick it was over. The
band darted off in a hurry. Just as the specially
printed shirts had indicated, it was Thank You and
Good Night.
Comments
|
 |
| 
INTERVIEW:
more 