Live Review

Little Volcanoes – Jabez Clegg, Manchester

• 7th Apr 2008

Roomy venue Jabez Clegg opened its smaller upstairs room on Friday to three promising North West bands: The Hideaways, Contact Mo and Little Volcanoes.
Two graffiti-covered boards sat at the back of the stage, and with some creative lighting managed to give the dark room a bit more colour. A small bar and a crowd of loyal fans, friends and family gave the room some atmosphere, which grew as The Hideaways took to the stage.

With influences like Nirvana and Muse, The Hideaways have rock potential. Sadly there was a buzzy quality perhaps to do with tuning, or the acoustics of the room, that made them sound a little too raw, but this improved as their grunge-inspired set went on. Front man Ash Rushworth’s mumbly vocals became clearer as the band went straight from song to song with little banter in between, which suited their style well.

The most energy on stage came not from Ash’s voice, but from his formidable talent at guitar solos, so that for thirty seconds of the song the band was firing on all cylinders, which re-animated the audience. If they could have kept that momentum for the entirety of each song, the crowd would have been buzzing with excitement.

A bunch of nice lads with a genuine love of music, and some catchy moments, The Hideaways were tidy, if not slick, and with just a little more punch, they’ll be a band with great tunes that you can’t get out of your head.

Next up were the quite lovely Contact Mo, a gentle five piece of 2 guitars, bass, drums and keyboard/synthesiser. The room filled up for the bands refined, earthy tones, a harmonious mixture of Snow Patrol and Sigur Ros.

In the way that Arcade Fire layer melodies and distortion to create a sort of sad hopefulness, Contact Mo are a similar band that you could put on your iPod and brood around the city to.

Surprisingly, they’ve been together for ten years without much big label interest, but this goes some way to explaining their effortless ease together on stage. The delicate vocal style of lead singer Jonny has clearly developed over their time together, combining with the instrumental talents of Phil, Hywel, Jacko and Monkey, to create a full, original sound of sweeping cloud vistas and city sunsets in the brilliant ‘Whisper’.

‘Risor’ finished the set, building into a massive crescendo that swept around the room in echoing arches and ended a thoroughly impressive set.

Finally, Little Volcanoes drew the largest crowd, making heads nod with their pop-tinged indie hooks. A more individual style distinguished them from their indie counterparts, yet the popular, slightly angular styles of Maximo Park and the Kaiser Chiefs could still be heard within their sound.

Singer Philip Quinn certainly knew how to tease a crowd. With a voice like Damon Albarn’s combined with Morrissey’s light falsetto, his style was consistent, and his larger than life stage persona certainly kept your attention.

Favourites with the crowd included ‘Unemployable’, a catchy dance floor filler, and ‘Stranger than Hollywood’, a funky ode to living in a new city. The band was well received by newcomers and familiar fans alike, and Quinn lapped up the attention. He did seem to be the major focus of the band, with the other band members having to take a bit of a backseat through the performances.

Little Volcanoes played a striking set popular with the crowd, yet different enough to not belong in a specific box. The gig was an all round success, and I’d definitely see the bands again.