Synth and Glam Rock?....80's day 2

The rest of the 80s Weekend had a lot to live up to after Friday night’s craziness. Fortunately, it came up to expectations – and then some.

I called in for a quiet afternoon pint, planning to pass on the previous night’s write-up. Instead, Barrie and I ended up clearing most of the furniture from the music room and swapping the dishwashers over. There’s no such thing as a quiet afternoon pint in this place.

By the time the first band started, the music room was pretty much full to capacity. We had signs on the door announcing that it was sold out, but that didn’t deter people from trying their luck. With the Spectrums headlining, we knew we were in for a full-on night. The guys were running through their set on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, and you could hear them clearly from the bar. I think we sold about twenty tickets on the strength of their practice alone.

First up were the Reflex, a three-piece band specialising in classic pop and rock songs of an eclectic decade. It was a terrific set list, with plenty of singalong choruses and danceable rhythms. All three are excellent musicians, and the singer’s voice really suited the up-tempo melodies. They certainly got the party started in fine fashion. In fact, Clint and Ros had to weave between a large number of dancers to get close to the stage. (Now you know why we’d moved the furniture out of the way.)

At one point Alyssa commented that there were lots of young people in the room. Well, people who grew up listening to the 80s hits now have kids in their late teens or early twenties. In the same way that I absorbed the Forties, Fifties and Sixties from my parents’ record collection, the youngsters have grown up listening to their parents’ personal soundtracks. (It’s got to be better for you than bloody Gangsta Rap, hasn’t it?)

The only slight downside was their use of backing tracks for drum figures and keyboard lines. I’m not a huge fan of drum machines as a rule. Then again, when you’ve got a little black box on hand, there’s no need to invoke Rule 23. One of Stuart Cable’s favourite jokes went like this:

Q. What’s the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?

A: You only have to punch the information into a drum machine once.

To me, using backing tracks restricts your freedom to improvise. I know I sound like a Luddite, but thirty years ago you wouldn’t have got a gig at all without a guitar (or, less often, a keyboard) in tow. Some people I know make decent money from putting backing tracks together, though. They obviously have their place. But I still think it’s cheating a bit. That minor grumble aside, the Reflex certainly got everyone in the party mood.

During the interval I found myself standing next to a very attractive young lady named Liz, whom I’ve known a bit for quite a few years. It turned out that she and I share a birthday, which is odd. Unfortunately, sharing a birthday was far as things went – in spite of Paul’s curiosity about her afterwards. Memo to self: sort out a new phone in case she asks for your number next time. (Well, I can dream, can’t I?)

A party mood is the best mood to be in when the Spectrums do their stuff, of course. I was interested to see them on Saturday, as it was their first gig with Brill playing bass. (Connor is concentrating on Discount Columbo and working towards his final exams) I think the newest Spectrum was a bit nervous beforehand, but as soon as they launched into ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’, Brill looked as though he’d been in the band since Day One. Andrew, their keyboard player, has been a huge fan of electropop since it started. With a fine group of younger guys on board, he’s finally playing the music he’s wanted to play for years.

And the Spectrums play the music amazingly well. Mitch’s manic energy keeps everyone’s eyes on him from the outset. With Brill and Liam underpinning the whole thing, Rhys and Andrew’s energetic melody lines, and Mitch’s crazy antics up front, the Spectrums are one of the most unusual cover bands on the local circuit. Their set list keeps growing, too. A lot of bands don’t bother adding new material to their repertoire, which is why the Great Valleys Songbook can sound so stale after a while. The Spectrums are always busy, always in demand, and always worth seeing live. The audience loves them, and the camera loves them. Check out Ros’s photos on her Foxy Noir Facebook page and you’ll see why bringing the professionals on board was such a wise decision.

I won’t tell you what time we all left the bar, but I think the clocks had gone forward. In fact, I was walking past Lidl on my way into town on Sunday and I bumped into a mate who’d been at the gig.

‘How was your head this morning?’ he asked.

‘There was a morning?’ I said.

Barrie had previously showed me some clips of the Majestic 4 in rehearsal, and said, ‘These are going to be the best band of the weekend.’ It turned out that I knew a couple of the lads from their days on the underage rock scene in Aberdare (Mount Pleasant, Glandover, King’s Head …), so we had a brief chat while they were setting up. Clint and Ros came in during their set, and were joined by Andrew, the third leg of our photographic tripod. I’d only met him once before, but he’s a very experienced gig photographer – which is why we invited him on board, of course.

For all that they weren’t around at the time, Majestic 4 really look the part of an 80s Hair Metal band, with tiger-striped fluorescent spandex trousers all round, torn T-shirts, ridiculous wigs, and the lead guitarist wearing a top hat. (‘We call him Flash,’ the singer announced at one point. ‘He’s like a fat Slash.’)

And what a singer he is! He handles what can be quite challenging material with great skill and tremendous energy. How many guys do you know who would even attempt to sing ‘Alone’ by Heart? Nailed it, as they say. I think it’s fair to say that he could slot effortlessly into pretty much any established rock group. And he’s a great showman as well. At one point he left the stage, ran behind the bar, then climbed onto the ‘empties’ area and finished the song from there. Both guitarists were using wireless pickups too, which meant that they could go walkabout. Playing on tables, climbing on stools, running all over the place – they were certainly the most energetic start to a Sunday you can imagine.

It’s not the sort of music I’d listen to by choice, I must admit, but on the strength of Sunday’s gig Majestic 4 deserve to go places. Maybe not to Bargoed, where they were playing in the evening, but certainly places. (Who was the mischievous heckler who shouted ‘Bugger Bargoed’ at one point? Oh, yeah – that was me.)

The Thrillionaires played at Paul’s fiftieth birthday party a few weeks ago, and since then they’ve recruited a new singer. You could tell he was still finding his feet, and he himself admitted he was out of his comfort zone. Nevertheless, their set was well worth catching. They specialise in medleys of unlikely songs bolted together – a twenty-minute whistlestop tour of Michael Jackson’s hits, for example. It’s certainly one of the more unpredictable and intriguing sets I’ve heard for quite a while.

However, once again I found both bands’ reliance on backing tracks both intrusive and rather unnecessary. Majestic 4’s singer can obviously play the bass, because he did it a couple of times. So why bother having a bass in a box instead? Moreover, a lot of 80s rock music has keyboard lines. Is it so difficult to find someone who can play them for real? (Actually, to judge from the number of bands both Chris and Andrew are in, the answer is probably yes.) Maybe it’s my personal War Against the Machines rearing its head, but I’d much rather Keep Music Live (as the old Musicians’ Slogan from the 1980s had it).

The Sunday was quieter than it might have been, but with bugger all public transport to speak of (and taxis costing a fortune these days) I can’t blame people for staying in. Also, it was the weekend before Easter and I dare say a lot of people were planning a mini-break over the holidays. All in all, though, the weekend was a roaring success. I met some great people, extended our network of contacts, sort-of chatted up Liz, and we made a fair bit of dosh from ticket sales and the bar. As Fred Dibnah would have put it, the job’s a good ’un!