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| Kinoco Hotel by Paul Slattery |
Well, I must say that organizers Ade, Mr A, Alex and their team definitely surpassed themselves with this year’s spooktastic Horror themed
Hipsville Weekender. We were treated to a wonderful three day event packed full of some stunning international live acts, DJs, Go-Go Dancers and much more besides. Luckily, the sun was out and this added to the cheerful party vibe and ensured that the outdoor activities, such as the vintage car and motorbike show (not to mention the drinking and socialising), could be thoroughly enjoyed in the lovely “Hi-De-Hi” style grounds of Bisley Pavilion.
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| Autoramas by Paul Slattery |
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| Autoramas by Paul Slattery |
Friday night couldn’t have been more International if they’d tried as we were treated to a trip round the globe with the
Autoramas from Brazil,
Kinoco Hotel from Japan and
Les Grys Grys from the South of France. I heard before the show that the
Autoramas have had a recent change of personnel, beefing up to a four-piece line-up, but as this was my first time to see them I can’t really say how this compares with what went before. But what I can say is that this new-look Autoramas is absolutely stunning – I mean I have a few of their albums, but nothing really prepared me for the sheer power of their live assault. Charismatic front-man Gabriel has the quiff and the twitchy energy of Joe Strummer and he plays his guitar fuzzed, phased and flanged almost out of recognition, blasting some seriously wired mutant Surf and Rock riffs.
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| Autoramas by Paul Slattery |
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| Autoramas by Paul Slattery |
Erika, who has recently joined the band, doesn't stand still for a second, one minute she's going through a unique cheerleader routine, then robot dancing and the next she's joining in with the stunning Go-Go dancers
Wanda De Lullabies and
Dottie Gooseberry, who can't resist the band and leap on stage during "Abstrai" to freak-out in impressive style. Erika's busy, she plays rhythm guitar, keyboards, tambourine and sings too, in brief she's one of the stars of the whole weekend. Later on, well after the band's set she's still dancing away at the merchandise stall! Kicking off with the excellent "Mundo Moderno" then into a new track "Quando a Policia Chegar" which is my highlight of the set, a brilliantly catchy singalong, in fact it's so good they play it again for a well-deserved encore. The rhythm section of Fred and Melvin are pretty damn impressive and "Nada a Ver" is one big bludgeon over the head with an intensity that reminded me of Steve Albini's Big Black.
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| Autoramas by Paul Slattery |
Unfortunately "Abstrai" is the only track from my favourite album "Música Crocante" so I don't get to hear the rather wonderful "Tudo Bem", which I always felt was a song that the Pixies would have been proud to have written and put on "Doolittle". "Couldn't Care At All" is a rare excursion into English lyrics, it's a head-long piece of prime Power Punk Pop. Some more stand-out tracks for me included
"Paciencia", "1,2,3,4" which sounded rather like The B-52's and "Jogos Olimpicos" which is a quirky Devo style instrumental that sees Erika rocking out with her guitar. Three more excellent brand new songs get an airing tonight, the manic Disco beat of "Kung Fu", then there is "
O Que Que Você Quer" and "Jet To The Jungle" - all from their forthcoming album "O Futuro dos Autoramas", and yes, I think the future of the Autoramas is looking very bright indeed!
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| Kinoco Hotel by Paul Slattery |
Kinoco Hotel from Tokyo, were playing their first ever U.K. show with the help of a promising new booking Agency called
"Bang The Noise", and what a show it was too! Drummer Fabianne, bassist Julietta and guitarist Isabelle take the stage all dressed in identical military inspired Hotel bell-hop costumes and started off playing an instrumental introduction before the alluring singer, songwriter and organ player Marianne appears and whips the crowd into a frenzy with her thigh-length boots and riding crop. I have not seen so many photographers fighting to get a spot at the front of a stage for ages. Kinoco Hotel play an energetic set crammed full of fuzzed-up organ driven Sixties inspired Garage Rock that goes down really well with the Hipsville crowd. At one point Marianne even gets on top of her organ and poses cat-like for a while and it's certainly a striking image that will live long in the memory! Rock photographer
Paul Slattery was impressed to see such a great Japanese band over here as he has worked extensively over in Japan, touring with Stone Roses and Oasis and also working for the Japanese music magazine Rockin' On. Hopefully Bang The Noise Agency can get more talented Japanese bands over here soon. The band will be playing in London on Saturday May 23rd at the
Dirty Water Club (the Rhythm Factory) along with the excellent
Oh! Gunquit – we’ll be along to that and will be sure to report back on what promises to be another great night out.
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| Kinoco Hotel by Paul Slattery |
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| Kinoco Hotel by Paul Slattery |
Les Grys Grys were much, much better than I expected, they were tight and powerful and blew my head off the moment they took the stage. They had that early, raw Twickenham/Eel Pie Island R’n’B sound down to a tee and having recently seen
The Others, local veterans of that original 1960's scene, Les Grys Grys were what I imagined The Others had sounded like back in the day.
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| Les Grys Grys by Paul Slattery |
Les Grys Grys channel an authentic sound that is far more early Blues and R'n'B based than Garage Rock. There are shades of The Downliners Sect, Pretty Things and The Flamin’ Groovies but it all sounds very fresh and exciting. In fact their opening few minutes were astounding, it sees the Guitarist on stage alone picking out a riff before being joined by the rest of the band and then suddenly kicking into life with a powerful cover of The Kinks' version of "Milk Cow Blues".
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| Les Grys Grys by Paul Slattery |
It was a raw and aggressive visual assault that reminded me of the very first time I saw The Soundtrack of Our Lives. To be honest, I wasn't aware of many songs in their set but I could pick out "You Said" by The Primitives", "Don't Mistreat Me" by Lightnin' Slim and their excellent
State Records single "Hot Gully Wind". They are a great visual band, one minute the guitarist plays guitar with a drum stick and the next he is down playing amongst the crowd. The harmonica playing is also superb throughout and I am determined to find out more about this very promising band. Les Grys Grys have just released a brand new 7" vinyl single and it's out now on
Dirty Water Records.
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| Les Grys Grys by Paul Slattery |
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| Les Grys Grys by Paul Slattery |
With thanks to my Retro Man Blog colleague
Paul Slattery for the photographs - Paul has worked with The Cramps, Flamin' Groovies, The Clash, Ramones, The Smiths and many more iconic bands over the years. Thanks to Mr A, Ade, Alex, Paul at
Dirty Water Records, Fumie, Grant and Sue.
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| Les Grys Grys by Paul Slattery |
For more photos of the
Hipsville Weekend please head on over to the Retro Man Blog
Facebook page and if you are not already following, hit
"Like" for access to the photo albums. Reports on Day 2 and Day 3 to follow soon...Finally don't forget our Retrosonic Podcast
Hipsville Special...
