The Cribs + Crocodiles + Martin Creed

A third trip to Rock City, Nottingham since Valentines Day on May 7th meant that I would be in the crowd for Yorkshire family trio The Cribs, with two support bands (Crocodiles and Martin Creed). This would prove to be a very eventful gig, from hat-wearing hissing men on stage to an air-guitar-playing and alone lad in the crowd.

First up was Wakefield born Martin Creed (who really did look like a man you would not like to approach in the street due to an uncomfortable glint in his eyes) with his band, formerly known (or maybe not known) as 'Owada'. At this point the venue had a surprisingly little amount in the crowd, and it was hard to believe there wouldn't be more people at an opening date of a Cribs tour. However, Martin Creed got started with much confusion as no one really knew who he was or why he was on stage, but it was soon made obvious why the majority of people going along had clearly decided to come later. Although most of the crowd were laughing at him, he carried on as usual and by the end of the gig it was more like laughing with him. His songs were... different to say the least and to be quite honest most did sound like he had just figured out a string of chords and was shouting (and in some cases hissing) anything that came into his head, including numbers from 1-100 in one song, an another was based entirely around the two words 'fuck off'. On stage next to Martin Creed was a woman who literally contributed nothing to the gig, except if you count banging two sticks together a few times in the set closer. Everyone was quite relieved when they went off, as it was time for Crocodiles, who couldn't possibly have been worse.

After quite a long gap, California-indie band Crocodiles came out, with lead singer Brandon Welchez carrying a bottle of white wine, looking drunk already. Standing to his right was guitarist Charles Rowell, both formally in punk band 'The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower'. They started off relatively well, but didn't quite get the crowd going like they would of expected, bar a bloke playing air-guitar amongst us, dancing with anyone that would and laughing at everything, with everyone around him laughing at him (which did improve this half an hour slightly). However, they made sure they had a brilliant time on stage, with Brandon Welchez stumbling around the stage pulling faces looking like something between a toddler's tantrum and depressed man who'd just been shot. Meanwhile a few metres away from him, a mixture of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton had taken to the stage, or so he thought. Rowell was swinging his guitar around knocking various things over such as his mic, his mic stand and his cup of beer. After this he began to drink the white wine, and play to the drummer who looked anything but impressed. By the time they were playing their last few songs the crowd were bored and restless, shouting things like 'we want cribs' and 'wakefield', and they had to wait a while for them even after Crocodiles had left the stage.

On came The Cribs after what seemed like hours, another Wakefield formed band but this time with a lot more popularity, and with a much better welcome from the crowd. By this time Rock City was full, and with the brilliant set opener 'Chi-Town' from their album 'In the Belly of the Brazen Bull', (which was out on the same day), the whole building was alive with every person screaming the words. At this point, the crowd were mental, and this was the trend from then on, with no one going home without a bruise. They played songs from all of their albums such as 'I'm a Realist', 'Cheat On Me', 'Come On, Be A No-One', 'Mirror Kissers' and 'Direction' which were incredibly big hits with the crowd. Ryan Jarman was ringing out the high riffs of their tunes and at one point did slip off a speaker he was standing on but he carried on all the same an no one minded. At one point in the gig just after halfway, Ryan Jarman asked the crowd which song they should play from the first album, which was greeted with screams and shouts of mostly 'Direction' an 'Baby Don't Sweat' which they played both in the end, and both were incredible. After this they played my favourite Cribs track, which is 'Be Safe' from their 3rd album 'Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever', which everyone tried as hard as they could to shout all the words out, which proved to be quite impossible. They played a few more after this, including 'Men's Needs', a hit also from their third album before closing with 'City of Bugs'. This last track included Ryan Jarman a metre away from me playing guitar on his knees before lowering all his strings pitch and playing with the edge of an amp. During this time brother Ross played briefly on top of other brother Gary's drums after sliding a mic stand up and down his bass, still keeping with the song perfectly. This was a fantastic end to an incredible night, which was without a doubt the best gig i've ever been to, despite the support bands. I hope to see The Cribs as many times as possible in the future!

New album 'In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull' out now!

http://www.thecribs.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha2utKmXnKo&list=UU5GKdcPf9ZDbSbJEQjOtelw&index=3&feature=plcp - Be Safe

TLH

Lana Del Rey, amongst other things

oh cheer up!

Lana Del Rey’s ‘related artists’ on Spotify seem to show a lot about the status of female vocalists in the music industry, with females apparently similar to her ranging from Amy Winehouse to Nicki Minaj to Lykke Li. In the false illusion that a deep soul voice is similar to jerky pop-drenched rap, it seems that this segment of the industry is in desperate need of development so that these women may be defined further than the fact that they possess a pair of tits. It’s undeniable that internet sensation Lana is captivatingly beautiful with a distinctive, haunting voice; but what does she contribute as a female artist?

The female vocalist, unlike her male counterpart, has to come as a whole package. Magazine photoshoots and gossip columns mean that faces are often more recognisable than a song on the radio. Picture an all-male band. Can you picture each member, or are even the lead singer’s features blurred? Now question how many of them are what is typically classed as attractive. Compare that with the female music market. Adele may be associated with her physical size as well as her vocals, but at the end of the day she’s been on the cover of Vogue. So has Lana Del Rey, incidentally.

‘Video Games’ exploded last summer in a rush of husky American sunshine, followed by the heartbreaking nostalgia of Lana’s full studio album ‘Born To Die’. In her Vogue interview, she described the subject matter as ‘being faithful in my mind to the memory of a particular person’: in short, a relationship gone wrong, broken hearts, etcetera etcetera. Despite being in her mid-twenties, Lana seems to resemble a vulnerable teenager in the throes of first love punctuated by hints of instability, concisely summarised in her line ‘you like your girls insane’.

This theme seems to continue for the length of the album, teetering on seemingly unhealthy aspects of a relationship, with ‘tell me you own me’ and ‘I need you to come here and save me’ displaying signs of female weakness, dependency and submission, something relatively unusual in a society broadcasting lyrics like ‘come on rudeboy, can you get it up?’ on music channels and radio stations. Rihanna may be boasting the sexual liberty of modern society a little too graphically, but Lana seems to demonstrate equally questionable attitudes where female role models are concerned. Then again, there seems to be far more pressure on women in the industry to comply to ‘acceptable’ standards in comparison with the chart-topping ‘I'm on a mission, don't even want to kiss her, honey I won't miss ya when I'm done with ya’ (thank you Tinie Tempah for your casual sexism – it’s nice to know that a Brit winner and Mercury Prize nominee is setting such an example!)

Returning to Lana Del Rey, the singer sums up ‘Born To Die’ perfectly with concluding track ‘This Is What Makes Us Girls’ through her admission that ‘we don’t stick together ‘cause we put our love first’. In a music industry where female bands and artists that actually write their own songs are the definite minority in the charts, surely sticking together and standing up for their art is what is needed more than anything? Lana may be beautiful, haunting and beneficial to the popularity of female singer-songwriters, but behind her memorable voice what is she really saying about women in love? It’s a good job that she’s as thoroughly addictive as the ‘diet mountain dew’ she sings about.

KLH