Live
< Monkey Swallows The Universe at Christmas Fuzz
words by Chris Ebbs
With a band containing two fifths of The Long Blondes and local heroes Monkey Swallows the Universe, the final fuzz of the year sees a who’s who of Sheffield’s music scene.Kicking off proceedings are The Bon Bon Club, whose mildly interesting take on other peoples’ songs have seen them earn recording rights for an EP in the new year. However, on this viewing it’s hard to see where this will actually sell. With two drummers and a bass they make for a fascinating rendition of Gary Glitters ‘My Gang’ and a kazoo induced ‘Empire’ by Kasabian. The problem is after two songs the interest has gone and you are left with mere boredom and, featuring two of the long blondes, you would expect a little better.
Next up are Slowdown Tallahassee who take off from where The Bon Bon Club left off. But this time they run through bad renditions of their own songs. The vocals are filled with bum notes and are as flat as the music throughout.
Third on is Champion Kickboxer who finally sounds like a band who’ve played together before and actually know there own songs with the highlight of the set coming in the form of a rendition of ‘Oh Christmas tree’, which is about as jolly as a depressed undertaker.
The last band of the evening is the reason many people are here. With Monkey Swallows announcing that after this tour they will be on ‘indefinite hiatus’ this could essentially be the last time many people get to see the folk indie pop band live. And fortunately they don’t disappoint the faithful followers who have turned out to see them. On tonight’s showing they will be sorely missed. Let’s hope the hiatus lasts for mere months rather than weeks.
Originally appeared in volume 1, issue 29 of Loud & Quiet magazine
