Live
< Drive By Argument at Soho Revue Bar
words by Philip Dixon
Scottish five-piece Drive By Argument shuffle their way onto a cramped stage packed full of equipment. Synths, keys, guitars, bass, drums – one might expect some kind of ambient trip-hop or eclectic Broken Social Scene mélange from a band dressed like Weezer on laundry day. The assembled crowd certainly weren’t prepared for this.
It’s been a while since the band have played live and they come out swinging, determined to make an impression. Like a poetic Hadouken! or an edgier Bloc Party – the same wounded, disillusioned sensibility expressed with a cathartic intensity – it’s a multi-layered blast of full-force techno-rock that explodes from the off and never lets up.
The stunned crowd take a minute to recover, but from then on they’re hooked. Guitars are thrashed during the aptly-named ‘Disco Storm’ and the boys are clearly having fun, visibly feeding off the crowd’s energy and giving it back to them. ‘Lower Your Piece’s’ starts off melancholy before giving way to an insistent and pounding backbeat, while frontman Stoke’s yearning, tortured vocals really come into their own as the wall of sound builds to near-operatic crescendo behind him.
In case anyone thought they were getting too sissy, the adrenaline really kicks in with the hard-hitting ‘Sex Lines Are Expensive Comedy’ – Stoke in danger of shredding those vocal chords as both band and crowd gyrate frenetically. By the buzzsaw synth opening of forthcoming single ‘Dance Like No One’s Watching’ more bodies have amassed down the front ready to do just that. The performance reaches fever pitch as the band go into mega drive on hook-laden closer ‘The Sega Method’ – drums pound, guitars squeal, innocent folk are bandied about in the mini pit. By the end, the throng still aren’t entirely sure what they’ve just witnessed, but know it was something damn special.
Originally appeared in volume 1, issue 31 of Loud & Quiet magazine
