Wednesday 04/01/06 Deconstructors, The Strollers, The Cassettes @ Night & Day Café, Manchester

Bloody hell, how did we get here in one piece? Gigwise has had a nightmare trying to get to Manchester’s labyrinthine Northern Quarter tonight: we get hopelessly lost, nearly cause a pile-up on the Mancunian Way and reverse, unwittingly, only inches away from a very fortuitous pedestrian. As we eventually come to rest in the Night & Day Café, the roads of Manchester emit a collective sigh of relief. We can only hope that tonight’s bands have better navigational skills en route to the venue than those of yours truly.

That said, if there HAD been a massive catastrophe on the A57(M), resultantly destroying a tour van and sparing the world the pain of hearing The Cassettes, then the families of those who died in the carnage would at least be able to take solace in the fact that the lives lost were not in vain. For The Cassettes should, like the eponymous format, be obsolete. Fortunately we only get 30 minutes of their barren, learnt-from-a-guitar-magazine riffery and not the whole C90’s worth - any more of singer Christian’s sub-Paul Rodgers growl and the rest of his band’s sheer sloppiness and Gigwise would be induced to commit a crime almost as heinous as Christian’s waistcoat. The whole aural insult puts us in mind of how, in life, some things only ever happen when you don’t want them to, and never when you actually need them to, chiefly: the way cassettes sometimes get chewed up as you listen to them…
 
 …so, thank God that The Strollers have managed to managed to cross the Midlands safely and bring their-Steve Lamacq-endorsed brand of Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll to this newly-besmirched stage. Quickly the aroma of fetid blues-rock is replaced with that of dry-ice as the Derby foursome launch into exactly the strain of 80s-influenced indie-disco that is so virulent on dancefloors right now.  In contrast to what we’ve heard so far tonight, The Strollers actually deal in melodies – Leigh’s Brandon Flowers-like vocals hem the fabric of the songs together rather than floating shyly, veil-like over the surface or crudely trampling over the tight mesh of guitars and bass.  His voice gives a track like the Rakes-y opener ‘Into The Dark’ a pop edge that is lacking in say, The Departure’s posturing; while the band’s sound is subtly versatile, moving from jagged punk (‘Red Skies’) to the Johnny Marr-like guitars of ‘White City Lights’. It’s a classy set from a band who may be gathering just enough momentum to make this an interesting year for themselves.
 
Whereas The Strollers are now starting to break into a canter, Liverpool’s The Deconstructors are in contrast only really taking their first steps. Whoever came up with adage ‘you have to walk before you can run’, however, seemingly neglected to tell these boys as they proceed to own the stage on this, only their second gig. Immediately they grab our attention with a cheeky approximation of Them’s take on Muddy Waters’ ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’ in the opening bars of ‘Thinkin’ Too Much’, before careering headlong into an insistent pulse of descending R’n’B chords, brick-on-the-accelerator tempos and machine gun drumming. Their onstage cool also belies their relative newcomer status: singer Dave’s Johnny Cash croon oozes a quiet assuredness offset by the contorted, manic shapes thrown by dapper French guitarist Phillipe. 

‘Mexico’ jangles along next, probably the catchiest song in the set, before they slide off the pop scale and into John Barry territory with the trippy mood changes of ‘Reap What You Sow’.  The Deconstructors love a tempo change, with many of the tracks (notably closer ‘Death Valley’) taking late 60s surf and country as the raw materials and thrashing them around ‘til it’s something new, peculiar and, very often, heavy as ****. True, they’re painting from the same palette as a lot of bands, particularly some of those from their home city, but The Deconstructors are rare in that it feels like they’re drawing on their influences (deconstructing them, if you will) rather than merely aping them.  It’s still early days for this band, but on the evidence of this gig, they could be in it for the long haul.  Rejuvenating.