Having had to be sensible and adhere to day job commitments, your humble scribe did not make the inaugural awards show but by all reports it was a fun and raucous affair, but there’s plenty of atmosphere left to soak up as we arrive at XOYO for the live show. Gary Numan was awarded a ‘Legend’ gong and has been DJing upstairs and in the live room three of tonight’s winners are gearing up to play.
First up are winners of the best ‘heavy’ category and they certainly bring the noise. Don’t be mislead by the name though, their sound is much more guitar based than electronic. Swaggering on in matching white outfits replete with skinny ties; the Exeter band play scuzzy garage punk. Think a thrashier Hives – It’s not wildly original, and there is alot of posturing and bratty song titles like ‘Music is Dead’ and ’Teenage Tourettes Camp’. It is however, a highly entertaining and energetic performance with the lead singer spending part of the gig crowd side and playing guitar while sitting atop his friend’s shoulders and throwing his shoes into the crowd. After the gig, we high five said excitable frontman. “Thanks that was fun, I needed that” I tell him, he nods and goes in search of beer and shoes.
Next up, a firm KV favourite Mr Gruff Rhys brings his conceptual (and now Artrocker award winning) album Hotel Shampoo to the basement stage. Gruff Rhys walks on, looking very dapper and stands in front of a table full of interesting gadgets and gizmos which make an array of joyous sounds underneath his guitar playing and singing. He delivers a set of beautiful, off beat pop from said album album including ‘Shark Ridden Waters’ and the latin-tinged ‘Sensations in the Dark’ as well as older tunes including his sweetest one, ‘Candy Lion’. While his solo stuff is quite a separate entity to Super Furries; it’s nice to see some of their props like the “Applause”,“Woah” and Thank You” signs being used in his set.
Things take a distinctly rockabilly turn next: glamorous raven-haired girls emerge from the shadows in fabulous 50s attire and the Jim Jones Revue explode on to the stage. I chose my words deliberately as these dudes are leather clad, lacquered and loud. I could also see them sharing a fuzz box ridden stage with my beloved Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Jim Jones is equally fond of howling and hip shaking and everyone is dancing. As with The Computers, their music is fairly rooted in days gone by but JJR obviously love their rock and roll and it’s not all posturing, they certainly deliver, prove that you can do a lot with computers now a days, from music to games, even go online to purchase Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins and other items. Former single ‘Shoot First, Ask Questions Later’ sounds massive and threatens to bring the industrial piping that lines the ceiling crashing down – it’s a really fun way to start the weekend. The bar has been set pretty high for the first Artrocker Awards Show, long may it continue.