Last night I saw Hadouken! in TJ's, Newport. and this is my review.
For starters this was the first time I have been to a gig in agesssss, so it felt good to be back in that environment. Hadouken! are a "cool" band, and as such the majority of the crowd reflected this "coolness", all wearing brightly coloured clothing and waving around glowsticks. The average age must have been about 16, there were alot of kids around, which made me feel very old, but also quite nostalgic remembering that back in the day I was one of these kids, getting overly hyped about the band I was seeing. They were still pretty irritating though...
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Arriving at the venue about 8, I presumed things would be underway, but they were not. In fact the first band didnt start playing until 8.45pm. It later transpired that this was because of an illness within The Ghost Frequency camp, particuarly annoying as I was looking forward to seeing them. Anyway this meant Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames were the warmup to H! (thats how the kids do it).
Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames come from Leeds, and are currently (somehow!) unsigned. I was really impressed with this band, whose post hardcore punk style reminded me in parts of Refused and iForward Russia, aswell as taking on influences from the nu rave scene. There were lots of effective repeated vocals, strong rthymic drumming and some intricate guitars. Definatley a band i'm going to look out for, and for me were the best band of the gig.
And then Hadouken! took to the stage. and the kids finally got to let out all their hype ness, with lots of high pitched screaming and bouncing around. Oh and waving their glowsticks. I can't pin down what it was about this Hadouken! display, but something wasn't quite right. Don't get me wrong I had a good time and the band put on an entertaining gig, playing all their "classics" from Liquid Lives, Dance Lesson, and That Boy That Girl. I think its got something to do with comments from the band along the lines of "we're enjoying playing smaller venues like this because after this tour we'll be playing bigger venues". It just made me think it doesnt seem quite right that a band like Hadouken! can out of nowhere enjoy this much success, when compared to say Hundred Reasons who've had to really fight hard to get to where they are, are probably not going to reach the level that Hadouken! are already at. How much of this is down to the "marketing industry" i'm not sure.
mmmm i'm not even sure what point i'm trying to make here, I might have to return to the discussion when i've thought about it some more. If you know what i'm feeling or think i'm talking nonsense, then i'd love to know what you think, so please comment away!
MP3: Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames - Signal Noise
SiD, firstly thanks for the awesome comment on my Breakcore review. As for Hadouken (shit, did I leave off the exclamation mark - well I'm obviously not worthy enough), I know exactly what you mean... and this goes for most pop emo punk bands - the music industry is lapping them up looking for the next big thing (that will subsequently sell a million copies of one album and disappear) when hard-working and long-lasting bands playing interesting music struggle to find a chink in the industry armour. It's all quick sell and unfortunately the emo brigade don't seem to fully appreciate the privileged position into which they've stumbled. I've just been to an MC Lars gig (which I'll review today/tomorrow) and it contained an absolutely marvellous piece of irony involving emo's and haircuts - keep an eye out for the review.
ReplyDeleteI really like hadouken!, and when I discovered them they were still unsigned and only had 2 or 3 songs. I don't actually think that their success is all down to cynical marketing, I think it is down to the music. Hadouken are a band who have genuinely done something new, and their style of haircut shouldn't be used against them in order to belittle what they've done musically.
ReplyDeleteAnd the whole industry is about supply and demand, I am not interested in hundred reasons, they're just so annoyingly similar to many other bands.
its funy cos ure saying the whole "cool" thing but its you thats actualy trying to act "cool" because ure patranizing youngsters having a gd time i mean wht are u on about they were high pitched screaming... wht did u expect the mso pull out cchairs nd tables nd have a game of chess and a cup of tea!! c
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