Friendly Fires / Jape

Whilst conducting my research on indy/nu-rave's latest 'prodigal' sons (and I use that phrase with a tongue the size of a cow in my cheek) and listening to their track 'Jump In The Pool' I began to get quite excited about this gig. Here was a well produced and fantastically constructed piece of modern mainstream electronica (with guitar twinges, of course) from Hertfordshire based Friendly Fires. However there was that niggling little nerve ending sitting at the back of my mind screaming "They can't pull it off live!" Optimism allowed me to ignore this and go into the gig with a fresh and open mind.



This was only accentuated when Dublin based Jape took to the stage. These two Irish trend setters created massively interesting and genuinely innovative synth and drum machine soundscapes while the front man (who according to my research does go simply by the name of Jape) swung his drumsticks around with the enthusiasm of a five year old overdosing on Smarties.

For those who haven't worked it out yet, that is a very good thing. With each song I was getting more and more riled up for a good dance, alas not being able to due to my somewhat cumbersome notepad. However as a testament to their pure underground rave groove, which they kept going strong from the very first tune, my handwriting became increasingly erratic with an almost caffeinated desire to shake it until the sun went down.

Mark my words, if the British populous have any sense at all (I feel I need to ask this question, Kate Nash anyone?) these lads are going places. Hopefully further than supporting an admittedly bland counterpart in small pubs and clubs, at least. Anyone who samples Jeff Wayne's prolific "ULLA!" sound effect gets respect in my book (Orbital fans will know what I'm talking about).



The venue itself had a great low-key feel to it, the kind of place you would expect to find a young Pixies playing their first gig. The sound travelled well, and the guy at the sound-desk was extremely kind to Jape with one of the best live sounds I've heard for an electronic band in such a small venue. The bass hit you hard and fast in the chest, almost to the point of pain (again, this is a compliment). Having said that however it seems that, somewhere between Jape's unfortunately small set and Friendly Fires setting up session, the sound engineer decided to take a snooze on his desk setting the faders to 'dull'.



So, Friendly Fires took to the stage with the first song of the night, 'Photobooth'. The mix was clearly oddly handled, at least from where I was standing, with the guitar's indistinguishable riffing sinking somewhere into the sonic field while drums blew everything else's head off, taking the forefront. This song pretty much set the standard for the evening with its stock 4/4 drumbeat and a strong bass guitar backbone.

These things were found in an almost completely lifted form in practically every song of the evening. But this is trendy, this is cool, this is where the magic happens. Musicality and an even simple grasp of theory? Hey man, we're here to dance, not to study. And dance their punters did. While they were doing nothing special or revolutionary (in fact some of the regurgitated synths and schoolboy attempts at 'noise' came across as more annoying than anything else) the lead singer, Ed Macfarlane, sported an impressive stage presence which carried through to their small, but enthusiastic, crowd as they bopped away in their skinny jeans and brightly coloured skirts.



So now I've mentioned the good points about Friendly Fires' set (which I'm of course obligated to get out of the way) I can rest my hand firmly on my chin and polish my beret as I take a moment to look at them from a musical stand-point. To put it in laymen's terms every song flowed into each other with a similar B.P.M, identical drumbeats and fast descending keyboard riffs that I suspect were merely transposed to suit the next song. The result we ended up with was a patchwork quilt of bland familiarity. But to be fair, we waren't at a Mahavishnu Orchestra gig here, although I was constantly wishing I was, and the kind of clientele (you know the type, you get all hopeful when you think they're giving you the eye but it turns out they just checking your trousers for 'cred') in attendance are only out for a bit of a dance and a jump about. This is fair enough, of course, but the point I'm trying to make about this band is simply that it's almost impossible to enjoy them from any kind of technical perspective.

When you have artists such as LCD Soundsystem and even to an extent the Klaxons (although they also offend in all the areas Friendly Fires seem to be fond of ignoring) around doing what Friendly Fires want to do with far more prowess it's hard to give them too much respect. Dynamically however, they were fairly good. They were able to bring a song down slowly before kicking back into the beat again and of course vice versa ('White Diamond' and 'On Board'). At one point they pulled out the couple of beats silence before smacking back into the tune on 'Throw'. Unfortunately, except for an interesting stage persona that seemed to work well at getting the crowd going this is all they had going for them.

In conclusion, if you're into this kind of music I believe that you'd have had yourself a good time at this gig, and Jape are definitely a band you shouldn't miss if you're firmly set in this Nu-Rave scene. But in all honesty, you'd be better off spending an extra few quid on a Simian Mobile Disco or Klaxons ticket. Needless to say, the niggling little nerve ending at the back of my mind was completely right.



Set list:
Photobooth
Your Love
Skeleton Boy
White Diamonds
In The Hospital
Jump in the Pool
On Board
Stride
Pairs
Ex Lover

FUTURE GIGS

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