Kidd Dynamo,
Desert Hearts and Tracer AMC
@ Katy Daly's, Belfast | 3rd February 2000 |
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£2 at the door. Some of the sweetest
words in the gigger’s phrasebook. Snitcher called me up to tell me
about this gig and these words swung it for me. My previous
experience of these bands had been quite slight, Kidd Dynamo sounded
cack from the outset, for that name alone, I’d read about Desert
Hearts on the Fastfude site one desperate Sunday afternoon where
they were reported to be sort of flaky but in possession of enough
decent moments to be worth checking out and I’d seen Tracer before
in Morrisons about 6 months ago. I really enjoyed them at the time
but I wasn’t exactly sure how drunk I had been for them to truly
warrant a rave that I’d end up regretting in the cold light of
day. I’ve never woken up with an ugly woman but I once bought a
Pogues album when I was tanked up so you can understand my
reluctance in these matters. I went to the gig with these thoughts
in my head and the 2 coins in my hand hoping for the best but
fearing the worst.
The vibe there that night was less than electric, just the usual
pack of self obsessed seen-it-all-befores and hair wax jockeys in
this week’s T-shirt milling about no more interested in catching a
band than catching a lingering glimpse of themselves in one of the
many reflective surfaces a bar can offer. One guy wore two hair
slides and leaned on people a lot, let’s hope he does well with
his Accountancy Exams this spring. Elsewhere, Katy Daly’s were
serving swilly beer at tomorrow’s prices and smiling at me while
they were doing it, I felt at home and in good company with my
friends, then the first band started and ruined it all. Kidd Dynamo
sounded duff from the outset and I hope to Jesus I never hear tell
of them again. Snitcher said the guitarist looked like the bass
player from Cecil’s Flea Circus. Game Over. As they shuffled their
rightly ignored sorry asses out of our sight they were replaced five
minutes later by Desert Hearts. Apparently their guitarist
Dave/Darren/Bill/WhoTheFuckCares? was not on with them and he would
have made all the difference. I was very disappointed in any case.
They droned they sagged, they heaved a sigh in a vague Palace
Brothers attempt then the singer got a bit arch on it and started
pissing about in a “You lot don’t deserve us” manner and they
disappeared in a cloud of indifference. If the audience had
contained an ounce of wit anywhere within it the heckle “Fuck off
back to the desert” would have/should have been heard. It
wasn’t. The evening, musically at least, wasn’t panning out at
all well and even at £2 I felt a bit cheated. Then Tracer came on.
And they ruled.
Since I’d last seen them Tracer had recruited a new drummer and I
had some doubts about this move, the last drummer had been shit hot
by my hazy recollection and would be a hard act to follow. This guy
was far better. Jonny the guitarist is incredible and even though
the bass player was wearing a Pokemon T-shirt of the week (non
existent heckle #2 “Have you caught them all yet?”) he had
improved greatly since I’d last seen them. For over an hour they
played moving seamlessly from one aching, towering moment to
another, sonically distorting, gliding and suffusing melody to
electric noise as effortlessly as breathing. I felt as if I was
really watching something special even though most of the crowd
still milled around waiting for their parents to come and pick them
up at midnight. Tortoise-style drums punctuated solid looping bass
grooves whilst whale song flew out of the amps and stole our
thoughts for a while. Snitcher would look over at me now and again
and nod slowly, he was as blown away as I was. Tracer have suddenly
become one of the most important bands around, not in parochial dead
end Watercress terms, not even in U.K. boring turd-like Oasis terms
but in real all encompassing
go-out-and-buy-their-first-album-immediately terms (if and when it
ever comes out). Like you would for your favourite band. This band
has that rarest of rare qualities, they matter, and when they
finished we were smiling and clapping our hands like idiots. Next
time they’re playing go and see them, find out for yourself and
take their hands off when they pass out the free demo tapes at the
end.
About a half an hour later we were out on the streets of Belfast
again, wending our way home talking about the gig and shooting off
comments about the bands we had seen, some enthusiatic, some highly
detracting. The question most asked was “When are Tracer playing
again?”
Which to me says it all.
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Reviewed by Gordon Peppard
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Kidd Dynamo,
Desert Hearts and Tracer AMC [ a
2nd Opinion ]
@ Katy Daly's, Belfast | 3rd February 2000 |
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There is not much
more that I can add to what Mr Peppard has said already, so I'll
keep my review brief and to the point...
Upon hearing that Tracer would be playing Katy Dalys on February 3rd
there was no way I was going to miss out. I had heard Tracer on two
occasions before and both times I had been blown away by their
sound.
A band called Kidd Dynamo kicked off the proceedings with the type
of music you'd listen to before going to bed at night (think slow,
ponderous indie rock). I nearly fell asleep watching them, as did my
mates. Still, it was their first gig and maybe I'm being a bit too
harsh on them.
The Desert Hearts were up next and they didn't start
off too badly (at least they injected a little more life into the
proceedings). However, later on they deteriorated, quitting halfway
through one of their songs. Seemingly, they had attempted a Palace
Bros song, but to be truthful I had switched off by this point and
was just waiting on their final note being played. I think they finished early, not that anyone really
cared. On this performance I don't think they gained too
many fans.
Tracer then followed with a little extra time to play, thanks
to the Desert Hearts. The sound in Katy Dalys wasn't really the best
but the quality of Tracer shone through regardless. A new drummer
had been installed since the last time I had seen them and I didn't
think he would be able to compare, since the last drummer they had
was astounding. By the end of the night I knew they had done the
impossible, amazingly they had found a better drummer (make sure you
don't lose this one). The set was pretty much the same as the last
time I had seen them (no bad thing) although there were two new
additions. One of them was so new they were still working on it in
the soundcheck! The other new song brought back memories of the best
of Tortoise. As we sat listening to each instrumental landscape
being painted we were swept away by each wave of noise. We knew we
were watching something truly special.
If you haven't heard Tracer
before check them out now and prepare to be amazed, while you can still see them for the
measly sum of £2. The Official Tracer site... http://www.traceramc.co.uk
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Reviewed by David Majors
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