Nov.21.09
There’s one drink I can never stomach, the guys at the Craufurd, where I’ve ended up tonight can vouch for that. A certain band called Terrorvision also sang about it, their frontman making an appearance in Laikadog who are headlining tonight. It’s a hard one to gauge in terms of a turnout, but the supports of Last Of Our Heroes and Scared Of The Ocean seem a good combo as it is having both played the Pulp night not too long ago.
With all that in mind, it’s time for Last Of Our Heroes to get on board with their set. The four-piece punk outfit seems to be getting bolder by the show and while most bands stick with a rigid structure, the guys have still been keeping up with new material, with the usual set finisher of “Swings & Roundabouts” cropping up unusually early. “We usually end here, but not today!” say the band, it seems like Last Of Our Heroes have actually tried messing around with the set, going for a different set layout to keep things fresh. Their new last number actually shows a much larger side to the band’s music, with a pretty epic breakdown that gallops away. Despite the fact that the set had a few cock-ups with capos and the like, the new format added a bit more life to the set, and that’s always a good thing.
With Scared Of The Ocean, it was almost like being in the same boat, seeing that we only seen them about a week back, but this time around the four-piece seem content to let their music do the talking, only introducing the tracks and taking the set as it goes, it’s not exactly like there’s a lot of people to talk to, mind. As ever, the gig is channelled well with a bit of a rough edge to the sound, but it almost gets a little too rough. In the middle of the set, strings break and guitars are traded as frontman Ben goes for a new guitar mid-song, but the rest of the band jam on with a filler and makes the whole thing pretty seamless, rescuing what could have taken their set down a notch. Still, strings are breaking again later on in the last number, though the guys still play on, a real display of rock n roll.
It was a bit of a strange mood during the set, the band were good and got into their set with a wide sound, but it still seemed a bit “brit-pop”. It like a bubble from the nineties with a broad sound similar to Ocean Colour Scene and the like, verging on the borders of rock with a bit of boogie-woogie piano, blues and funk. The format sticks mostly the same for most of the set with tracks like “Revelation” offering a lighter slant on things while the weight is still around there for a lot of the set with “Just My Kinda Luck” and “Best Learning Curve”. Though the guys also had a bit of an infectious side with “Daddy What’s Your Soul” offering a sharp beat and a funky bassline peppered with a little psychedelia. At the end of the night Laikadog played well, were on good form and seemed to enjoy their set, but the sound was overall a bit mainstream, in a trend-based town like Milton Keynes, it’s not a combination that takes off too well, though at least there were a few people around to see them.
Craig \m/
