Saturday 11/11/06 The Aliens @ Bumper, Liverpool

They emit a sense of forbearing. On the penultimate night of Liverpool Music Week Gigwise waits in expectation for the receiving of a dose of empowerment from The Aliens.  There’s a slight wall tremor as five Alien members take to their space.  With dark ‘eyepod’ shaped glasses, (the drummer’s has his equipped with red flashing lights), woolly hats and metal and cloth wrist protectors, these guys ooze invading force.

‘I am an angry young man,’ spout the words from singer Gordon Anderson and without a second wasted the blast of blowaway guitar entrances us all.  Every band member sings; and greatly so as they thrash against drums, keys, guitars and bass.  They exalt a spectral presence and command their stage with mammoth cool.  In a heady brew, there are undertones of Air, Massive Attack, and the darkness of Pink Floyd – a far cry from their Beta Band roots.  There are high energy antics from a frontman who destructively crater size jumps and leaps within an alley of space at the edge of stage.  He flips and throws his microphone in between dazzling his guitar stung finger patterns. 

This was surging music that had more engine power than a ‘Fighter T’.  One of the strengths of this tribe came from their ability to feed off each other as well as their audience.  ‘I am a Robot Man,’ bought about The Aliens’ zenith; apparently rocketing to being a spaceship party piece, it provided a fantastic finale.  Encounters of this kind are now in close demand.