Shiny Toy Guns / Viva Machine

With mainstream electro-pop tonight represented by The Killers, performing over at the arena, periphery synth-addicts tuned to a darker dial gather in the outskirts venue of Rock City’s Basement for emo electro escapists Shiny Toy Guns. But before they unleash their wimpy analogue dirge, it’s the turn of Swansea’s own psy-rock pop illusionists Viva Machine, who swoop onto the stage with the gung-ho velocity of a fleet of starship space fighters.

Heavy guitar riffs take on new life with heavily-informed pop cues, with just the right level of Korg squelching thrown in to keep the whole thing operating in the Tron-stakes of electro excitement. There’s a lot of people here to see them, including a proud Viva Army (all girls) that have been following them on tour. Lead singer Chris hangs from the low-level light rig, leering into the crowd as he sings songs like ‘Joe Schnider Carpet Rider’, a lofty rock tale, the product of too many drugs, dodgy b-list movies and afternoons mucking about in sci-fi superstore and geek haven, Forbidden Planet. Much like the fanish indulgences from which Viva Machine have spawned, they’re a hell of a lot of fun. ‘Death Star Trucker’ growls out the speakers, and the girls wail louder. With a bit of luck, these boys will be huge.

Oh dear, oh dear. If only such positive words flowed so naturally for Shiny Toy Guns, the musical equivalent of a greasy Wimpy burger – bloated, tasteless and very bad for you health. Debut album ‘We Are Pilots’ has been on this reviewers CD player for a week or two prior to the gig (sorry, I can’t afford an iPod), and it isn’t so bad. In a general kind of manner, a lot of rising and falling synth chords wash over you and it makes you feel quite happy. A few tracks stand out, ‘Le Disko’ (despite awful cringe-inducing title) and ‘You Are The One’, but really they haven’t got a patch on even White Rose Movement... and look what happened to them. The world of Alt. Electro is a dark one, if you play synth and you don’t have a smile on your face, good luck getting anybody but the Goths interested.

GOTHS EVERYWHERE! Evidently listening to the album didn’t reveal whether Shiny Toy Guns were smiling or not. In Rock City Basement, we’re not presented with four disco robot wonders, rather four quite ugly, uninspiring proto-emo wankers, performing without charisma or character, leaving the crowd stood before them completely bored. TWATS! And after the excellent Viva Machine, what a disappointment.

The studio-polished album does not translate live, sounding gravely, dull and undifferentiated. Where you might imagine colour there is BLACK, where you imagine euphoria there is dystopia. Where you expected fun, there is boredom. Utter boredom. So, in conclusion. Viva Machine : Great. Shiny To Guns : Shit.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.