Horsebridge Arts Centre, Whitstable
Horsebridge Arts Centre, Whitstable, 13th May 2005:
So, finally we’ve made it to the all-new, all-singing, all-dancing Horsebridge Arts Centre. This shall be the venue for The Unstoppable Sound of Seasalter, which commences on 15th July, but this is my first experience of this venue both as a punter and as a band. This was another Local Hero night, your favourite junk-shop rock beat combo playing with “Britain’s Palest Rastas” Paul The Other One and Bomber Harris. As I’ve said elsewhere, this venue is by no means ideal and looks like something of an afterthought amid the yawningly predictable luxury flats and retail crammed into the site of the old Assembly Rooms and Brownings Yard. The overall feel inside is akin to a student union or conference centre or even, thanks to the upturned (or should it be capsized?!) boat inspired roof design, an aircraft hanger. That said, the staff are extremely conscientious and much has been done to remedy the building’s shortcomings, although such problems really shouldn’t be present at all in an eye-wateringly expensive “purpose built” venue that is barely a year old.
Due to an urgent search for FOOD (come in, Jones’s chihp shop!), I missed Bomber Harris’s acoustic set. Suffice to say, they are one of a tiny handful of bands in Whitstable attempting original material and are one of the more distinctive propositions on offer — a little reminiscent of Slint, with lots of doomy, drone-laden Celtic powerchords. By some bizarre coin flipping twist-of-fate scenario we found ourselves in the “headline” slot (we were last, anyway), so Paul The Other One were next. This was the first time I’d seen them with their expanded four-piece line up. Inevitably, this made for a greatly evolved sound which was very different to their acoustic duo format: up-tempo, with the funk rendered more explicit (largely thanks to CJ’s infallible drumming and the addition of bass). Still not sure about Paul Whatley’s Trenchtown via Canterbury accent, though, but a good time was had by all.
I wasn’t sure how our mutant strain of lo-fi jazz-punk psychedelic-surf-grunge would go down, but despite one or two pedal “issues”; a slightly unpredictable sound (I think the Laney might be showing the first signs of needing a service); and one or two missed cues (it’s a veritable white-knuckle ride, folks), response from the capacity crowd was really enthusiastic. I was genuinely surprised! Even more of a shock was receiving two encores — not something that happens too often! We even had some people dancing and I know they can’t have been drunk as the bar was extortionate! Well, I think we need more gigs like this!
Set list:
- Buried Alive (Williams)
- ES-40 (Williams)
- Cocoon (Williams)
- In Your Head (Williams/Croft)
- Force of Nature (Williams)
- The New Victor (Dick Dale)
- It’s A Small Town (Williams)
- What’s Under The Stairs? (Williams)
- Encore 1: Put Your Weight On Me (Williams)
- Encore 2: In The Hall Of The Mountain King (Greig)