Live Review

The Chapman Family – The Flowerpot, London

• 1st Nov 2010

The Chapman Family @ The Flowerpot, London, 28th Oct

The first half of the London leg (they would go on to play another show up the road later that evening) of the Chapman Family’s tour to promote their new single ‘All Fall’ was slightly marred by sadness. The show was to be one of the last to take place at the Flowerpot, which despite having some of the foulest toilets in London according to my companion for the evening, was a genuinely well loved – and reasonably priced – Camden haunt (which has played host to some pretty darn illustrious names).

The Flowerpot’s website reassures us that the proprietors have found new environs, and I wish them the best of luck, but you have to worry because [insert hard financial times cliché here], and besides, what locale can match the southern end of Kentish Town Road? The latter was certainly one of the factors that contributed to making the place perhaps one of the most quintessentially Camdenesque places in, well, Camden…

But enough of this eulogising, let’s shift our focus to the living, a category into which the Chapman Family most distinctly fall. These guys have definitely got some pull, and the place was full to the rafters – to the extent that the bunting around the ceiling became subject to some unfortunate abuse. People at the back were standing on chairs, the main body of the room was a seething sweaty – and drunk – mess, and as far as I know the band have the bodies of humanoid centipedes and have a bear for a drummer, as I could only see their heads.

The Family did a good job of thinning the room, albeit marginally, when they took to the stage in a wonderful cacophony of noise and feedback that was somehow given direction by interjections of guitar that were fairly liquid in character (Alan Partridge much? You know what I mean though). Think Acid Mothers Temple or Boredoms perhaps. Anyway, it was not a sound that suited the casual punters, who could be found gravitating towards the exits.

However as they kicked into the next song, single ‘All Fall’, it fast became evident that the first song was a statement piece, and not in fact an accurate depiction of the band’s sound. I was ready for this though, as this was the only one of their songs I was previously au fait with. I confess I wasn’t looking forward to this gig as a result of this knowledge, as I found the song a little ordinary – and the video is a little embarrassing to boot. But live, it’s quite a treat, the driving and satisfyingly distorted bass providing the perfect template for the ‘black’ and ‘red’ guitars (as they call them) to do their thing.

Now I said the first song wasn’t properly representative, but maybe I was being a little hasty. The same combination of noise and shards of pretty noises permeated every song, but served as embellishments of straightforward indie-ish songs – reminiscent of their Northeastern brothers The Futureheads, but only if they were crossed with And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (when they were good) – rather than the driving force of the music.

The interest added by the guitars was indispensable, as the songs themselves are easily forgettable. The set as a whole remained interesting though. I have a bone to pick with the sound engineer though – the vocals, which betrayed a love of 80s stalwarts like Ian Curtis (alright, he didn’t really hang around for the 80s) and Robert Smith – were as good as incomprehensible. Although I honestly think vocals are more important as a sound rather than a set of words, it would’ve been nice to be able to discern some lyrics. I did hear an unrepeatable insult directed at southerners though, which made this old Derbyshireman pretty happy.

So all in all, good stuff and a band that I for one will be keeping an eye on. One only hopes that their future recorded output retains some of the indiscipline of their live show. They state themselves that they’re an antidote to tedious Mumfordish bilge, so we can only hope they stick to their guns…