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Harking back to the baggy days of the Manchester scene Silent Partners take to the stage looking like a bunch of nutters you’d meet down the Salford dole queue. But what you get in the form of song ‘Killer’ is a sweet, swaggering piece of pop genius, which manages to somehow transform them into cheeky whistling whoopers. Instant makeover complete, ex-Northside front man Dermo ends with another top Stone Roses-esque tune, and its grins all round.
Campag’s positioning in the UK music scene is, lets face it, crap. Taking far too long to release second album ‘Its Beyond Our Control’ on miniscule independent Pointy Records has only forced their hands back up their own asses, both painful for them and those subjected to witness. Their debut album ‘Bon Chic Bon Genre’ sold few but gathered rave reviews, and their second offering surpasses (if possible) the gritty beats of the first, and therefore is bound to follow the Campag trend: reversing itself up the high-street into woollies bargain bin, but more than likely you just wont find it.
In typical fashion tonight’s set is dogged by sound and set-up problems galore, adding tension to aggression, something compulsory to the Campag live experience, and the acid to Pete Voss’s perpetual trip.
First off ‘Motown Clic’ weaves and introduces us to, as Voss puts it “medication time” but whatever medication he’s talking about it aint lemsip.
Voss’ characteristic snarl and spit vocals sit high on a wall of sound created below by the floppy mopped bassist Barnaby, static axe-man Arge and jazzy drummer Lascelles. Its an imposing ‘groove’, a word no longer associated with today’s bands but something Campag own, like the Stone Roses did, like the Mondays did, like the Charlatans DID.
A comprehensive set list mainly consisting of ‘Its Beyond Our Control’ but delving into past glories ‘To loose La Trek’, ‘Sauntry Slow Chic’, and ‘Only Answers Delay Our Time’ salute and celebrate the Campag of old.
The new tunes outshine the nostalgia with fierce abandon, this is the new Campag, the aggressive brother who beats you for nicking the last biscuit, set closer ‘Funki Tangerine’ is this ethos manifested musically.
