It’s a bit of a wait with the bands running a little late, but the Craufurd goes a bit lighter than the usual screamo or punk bands, with a more laid back collection of names, Final Clearance are no strangers to the area, though the support is a little new to the area. The Nimblewits are a familiar face to the Final Clearance, already playing with them for a few shows, and Uke’s Not Dead offer something a little different.
As warm up acts go, you don’t get much more minimal than Uke’s not dead. As the name kind of implies, it’s one man, one uke and a shedload of opinions in song form for a bit of a chihuahua punk feel. Needless to say, it’s a tad cheesy, but that’s part of the music not taking itself too seriously, the structures are basic but the heart of the tunes come from the vocals, which feature turns such as Final Clearance’s Tom guesting on the vocals, and all kinds of subject matter concerning the old fashioned causers of grief of war, politics and poverty, plus the the new addition to the list, people who flash their iPhones and where there beloved hardware will be stored along with their apps, and it’s not somewhere where the sun will be shining…
The Bedfordshire-based Nimblewits have been gigging with the Final Clearance peeps for a while now, though this is their first time in MK. Describing themselves as an acoustic-pop band, the three piece has a bit of a light edge that fits in with everyone else on the night, though sliding into more of a minimalist country territory than the folky “Flogging Molly-esque” tones displayed by the Final Clearance camp. The band aren’t without tricks up their sleeves though, and one particular cover of Jay Z and Alicia Keys’ “New York” displays some neat vocal work from both frontman Craig and bassist Gen, definitely the highlight of their set, as for the rest of their set, it was different to what you usually see in the Craufurd’s back room, still pretty enjoyable but nonetheless suited to a more intimate setting.
Final Clearance have had some changes over the times, the crew have been playing minus the usual lead guitarist for some time which has led to a slight change in their sound. The guys and girls have been a bit busy though, with some new material being thrown our way, still unnamed but sounding quite big with the keys being thrown in, hopefully that spells some similar workings for more new material on the way. The old tunes are still popular by-the-by though, Jason might be sitting behind the sound-desk but that doesn’t stop him from requesting “After The Scream” that brings up more of the band’s punk influences with a celtic strut. You do wonder if the loss of a lead makes much of a difference to the whole Final Clearance set. For the most art, the violin and periodic keys seem to do a fair bit of the work anyway and with the punk influences that creep in, most of the rock is rhythm-based anyway, maybe it’s not too much of a loss after all.
Craig \m/
