So in my mind-sketch of how the Simple Things posts were going to pan out, I toyed with the idea of some sort of clever, post-modern conceit of working from the middle outwards, referring backwards and forwards in a way that both puzzled and intrigued the reader.
But bugger that, I’m two weeks late and I can’t be bothered with all that toot, I’m just going to dip in wherever and however I feel, like some feckless ne’er-do-well whose narrative is far from reliable and who will fuck about with your affections as if they have no meaning.
So anyway, the Knives.
The Knives, Sportsmans, Simple Things
Sportsmans is a decent little bar where in festival days you can both watch the Calcutta Cup and walk to the other end of a packed room and see a local band, crammed onto a tiny stage, thrash their way through a (very) loud set. I like the Six Nations (to a point) but faced with the choice, I’ll always be drawn by the hum of a cheap amp and the thump of a bass drum.
I’m not that fussed about England Rugby but even if I was a die-hard Swing Low fan, decked out in full crusader get-up, I’d have quickly conceded that that glorious racket out the back was going to be a whole lot more fun.
Watch this:
Knives are thrusting young six-piece with two vocalists and a desire to make a lot of noise that will not be denied. One of the vocalists, Jay Schottlander, is a big lad with quite a presence, even when neither he nor his saxophone-toting co-vocalist, Maddy Hill, could fit on the tiny stage at Sportsmans. At ground level, mixed in with the punters and a rapidly forming mosh pit, he still managed to stand out from the rest of us – he had proper charisma…
The rest of the band were pretty exciting too, including an bare-chested, orange-afroed bass player called Ben Marshall who looked both menacing and camp at the same time. From the very start, he played his bass behind his head, Hendrix-style, and I was won over straight away. One of the twin guitarists was at first glance just another long-haired grebo until taking vocals for one song (a bored-looking Schottlander sat on the edge of the stage picking at his nails), he also stood out as another big, big personality keen to assert himself.
They hammered their way through a set that was a crude listen at times but never anything other than exhilarating, exuberant and cheerfully arrogant. At one point, to add to the general mayhem, the fire alarm went off – some metaphors just write themself… I can’t imagine I’ll ever buy a Knives record but I’d happily see them again and again. The official video above is great but doesn’t really do the whole live experience any sort of justice. But fortunately, you can get a taster with this recording of a whole set at Thekla. (If you can’t manage the whole 30 minutes, I’d recommend comparing the official vid with the live performance of “Doppelganger” at about 9:00 mins, preceded by an almost charming Schottlander coaxing a nervous group of punters to come a little nearer to the stage):
(I don’t think they did their version of “Baboushka”, which I regret…)
And then all too quickly it was over, Schottlander thanking a high-spirited crowd and dashing off to continue his shift at work – apparently having knocked out the show in his lunch break.
So much dreadful energy busting out in every direction made me wonder how long such a bunch of waspish, disparate characters can possibly stay together – widening gyre, centre cannot hold and all that. It’d be a terrible shame but all the more reason why you should probably get along soon…
A breeze and an absolute blast.
Partly Porpoise 