Violet Violet

Fuel, Withenshaw, Manchester. 5/5/08.

A late decision this one. Because I was off the Bank Holiday Monday and also the Tuesday and the fact that the Violet Violet gig at the Star & Garter the following week (I was going to go to that one) has been cancelled. The main reason I originally wasn't going to go was the gig was in Withenshaw. A part of Manchester I don't know and being out the way so to speak was going to be more difficult to get to and away from, especially on a Bank Hol.

After some research it turns out it was not too bad to get too. I decided to up and just play it by ear so to speak. If I could find somewhere locally to stay at a reasonable price, fair enough if not I could scootle back home on the last train.

Anyway got sorted found the venue and found somewhere to stay just up the road.

Got to the venue about 8:10 and went upstairs, was surprised to find the place fairly full. There was a merch desk at the back and I spotted the girls from Violet Violet there, so I went over to
say hi. I told them I was due to see them last year but the show got cancelled. I also said I had pencilled in the Star and Garter gig next week but that was cancelled too!! We had a chat and I bought their new EP and told them I was up from Chester to see them.

There were a few faces I recognised here, I knew them from VVC gigs. First band on were 'town Bike' a four piece of two guys (guitar, drums) and two girls (vocol, bass). I quite enjoyed these they played a set of a late 70's punk sound a'la Rezillos!. I was absolutely positive I'd seen the lead singer in another band somewhere and thought I must ask her later. They were ok though.
Next up were 'First Black Precedent' a trio of a guy on guitar a girl on bass and another guy on drums. Again these were pretty good, a bit more anarchic and off kilter than the previous band. As is becoming more noticeable these days they used violin, Operator Please, Paris Motel, Joan, and the New Bloods to name a few off the top of my head. The girl bassist also did the play guitar with violin bow thingy a'la Jimmy Page. Good fun though and another band to keep an eye on.

Main attraction next Violet Violet a three piece band from Norwich who I've been trying to catch since last year. Forget how I came across them now but I liked their sound and ordered their debut 'Bitchbox' album, from them direct I think. I was due to see them last year but the gig got cancelled.

They opened with the lead song off the album called 'Baby's going down' which features a good riff and a shouty vocal chorus reminiscent of early S-K , well close-ish. Most of the set was between the album and the new EP. 'Spicy Noodle Treasure' off the new EP sounded a good one. A problem here was they had a few sound issues, for some reason their sound went 'wonky' on a few songs but they dealt with that professionally. During one song their mikes completely cut out, no matter what the sound girl tried to do. They made light of this and just treated it as one of those things.

One of the things I noticed about their way of playing was the drummer Fliss. She was excellent and headrocked in a good style, different to Janet though as J rocks from side to side Fliss rocks up and down, she was ace to watch. Good little band this.

At the end I went over to Cheri (guitar) and told her I enjoyed the instrumental song. She laughed and apologised and said it probably wasn't worth travelling all the way up from Chester for. She then added "Ah! we'll come and play in Chester", I said "there's nowhere to play there really" to which she added "we'll come and play in your living room then". I laughed and said "ok, I'll give you my address later.

I'm glad I made the trip to this in the end as it was a very plesant night.