THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER + LAPSUS LINGUAE + SEACHANGE22nd September 2002The latest to arrive is The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Brighton's newest have been causing quite a stir of late with a lot of positive feedback in the music press. Potentially the current Lose To Win UK tour is a chance to catch them before the big time beckons with the logical step up to bigger venues. Having picked up the excellent new single "Celebrate Your Mother" and with the debut album a week or so away I was intrigued to see what all the fuss was about. Before the headliners we managed to catch both support bands. First on were Seachange who played a tight, creative and mature set. Although very much a guitar band they're not afraid to broaden their musical outlook as evidenced by the inclusion of a violin and a Moog on stage. Musically Seachange were very impressive and with such calm and assured performances like this they could have a very good future. Worth checking out if you get the chance.  Next came Scottish upstarts Lapsus Linguae - all black PVC, mohicans and spit. Four maniac ballerinas in a tortured and twisted punk cartoon show to be filed under the category of uneasy listening. Dismal, drab symphonies played out like the last stages of psychosis. Ok there is an evil there, but it's the evil of slapstick - shocking, but funny in a grotesque and unsettling sort of way. Aiming a dig at the lead vocalist one of the crowd shouted out in mock Aussie "can you tell what it is yet?" The reply was a nonchalant "is it a bastard?" - a precious insight into the band and the city.And then the strobe lights announced the arrival of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. Having seen the video for the 'Celebrate Your Mother' single on the Kerrang channel recently we were not prepared for such a young looking line-up. Blimey, the editing on the video makes them all look a good ten years older.  You can sum these guys up in one word: loud. Packed on to a small stage they certainly looked like they meant it and the lead vocalist prowled and growled convincingly at the audience. With a vocal delivery somewhere between the late Joey Ramone and the unparalleled genius of Lux Interior (though owing more to the latter in terms of stage presence) he terrorised the crowd by continually stepping on and off the stage. Meanwhile the lead guitarist looked as though he was picking up messages from the mothership with his insane clockwork robot style mannerisms. As for the crowd, most of who really didn't seem to be familiar with any of the material, they simply stood and gawped.The musical onslaught was ferocious, a vast overdriven juggernaut with flashing lights and a mad clown on top. That said, the sheer force tended to overpower the moments of subtlety, and these moments are not to be underestimated in the Matchbox arsenal. Nowhere was this more evident than during the third track, the recent single 'Celebrate Your Mother'. Live, the track lost its much needed separation, although the in house PA might have had something to do with this. Still, the sleek and dirty beauty that is 'Celebrate...' just didn't manifest during the performance and this was a shame. Maybe the enigmatic Peterborough lot caught them unawares, but the nagging thought is that faced with an almost indifferent audience the current scarcity of top drawer material seemed all too apparent. Towards the end of the set I wouldn't have been surprised if they had just put down their guitars and stood pointing at the crowd. Of course, the crowd would have just stared and pointed back. In fact, when the intro for 'Celebrate...' snaked out there was barely a whimper. Starved of an energetic dialogue with the crowd to take focus away from the samey set, they were forced into a lonely sweat bubble to try and wreak havoc. But no matter how loud the shouting, if no-one is listening... Still, I have a feeling about this lot; they have the attitude, the look and, when the ingredients are blended right, they definitely have the sound. A winding road ahead then, but it's one probably worth travelling down. Bazz, Bizarre Ingredients |