The Catholic Club on Queen Street has seen a number of events hosted there lately, from the mighty John Hegley to Blackpool’s poetry elite. None have had the frankly bizarre mix that The Grubby Mitts Politics of Friendship tour has to offer though.
World famous artist Andy Holden brought his band The Grubby Mitts to Blackpool last week as part of their national tour of artist led spaces. The Supercollider gallery, which organised the Blackpool leg, was a little too small to host the band, so The Catholic Club’s well appointed upstairs event room was used as proxy.
It’s a lovely room, with a nicely sized stage and plenty of seating. Alas, the audience was a little on the thin side but there were still enough people to make the space feel busy. Records (sorry CDs) were on sale as were a variety of other merchandise which all had a very aesthetic feel. Both bands that were playing are artist led so the visuals were high on the agenda.
Visual. Now, that’s probably the best word to describe the first act of the evening.
Blackpool’s own Tirikilatops, who for my money have the best band name in the country, took the stage first. I say took the stage quite deliberately. How to describe the band? It’s like an explosion in a Tokyo toy shop. The lead guitar player was bedecked in a rubber horror mask, a seated figure with an equally bizarre mask lurked at the rear of the stage reading a book and a candy pink cartoonesque lead singer looked like she had escaped from a manga comic written by a madman. The visual impact of the band was quite arresting.
The three piece (or duo, as the chap reading the book sat quietly throughout) played big slabs of shouty wall of sound power pop. It was like Phil Spector had gone mad and watched one to many anime films. Strike that, Spector went mad years ago, but the analogy stands.
Sadly for me, as I’m not really a fan of this kind of art pop, and even though the song Spy Dolphin was catchy enough, I just felt it was a little like watching a hissy fit set to music before someone’s uncle jumps on stage to shout jungle rock a lot. Do seek them out though if you want to see something quite unusual for Blackpool’s live music scene.
After a short break to refill pints, The Grubby Mitts arrive on stage for the night’s main attraction. Now I’m going to use an alcohol related analogy here. It might sound a bit rambling but stick with me altFaithful, it is relevant.
If bands are like booze, it’s fair to say that some bands are like a good pint of Stella. They slam down on the bar and get the job done, maybe lacking a touch of refinement but good nonetheless. Then you get the bands that are alike to a can of Kestrel from the off licence, a little bland and watery but ok for filling twenty minutes of drinking time if the need arises. The Grubby Mitts on the other hand are like a nice bottle of wine, nothing too flashy, a bottle you’d buy for about ten pounds from Oddbins. The Grubby Mitts’ vintage of wine has a full bodied flavour of early nineties shoegazing indie with subtle hints of early Harold Budd running through, with a touch of Pale Saints to finish. A refined and pleasantly cheeky bottle, one that would go well with chicken or fish I reckon.
This might come across as a little pretentious, but I think it’s fair to say that the band would have to hold a hand up to that charge themselves. The music is excellent; waves of reflective dreamlike sound and repeated rhythms wash over us and the songs have the length to be as accomplished as they wish to be without the need to hurry along. Accomplished is the word for The Grubby Mitts. Formed from a lifelong group of friends, this unity, or brotherhood, is apparent in the confidence that the music holds.
There is a very impressive video element to the band. Screens hit us with eerie eyes floating in space or stab at us with sharp short pictures that illustrate the songs. This video aspect on occasion detracted from the music as the line between a band playing songs blurred with a group of musicians creating a soundtrack to an arts video. This art exploration aspect of lead singer Holden is very obvious in places as squeaky roller-skates and bike wheels were brought in to create elements of the Grubby Mitts soundscapes.
It’s all very good. There was the odd tang of art school pretension, and on occasion I got the feeling I was watching Tears For Fears if they had never had a hit and went on to more ambient musical avenues, but it is worth remembering that these are an art band and thus the odd indulgence is part and parcel of what they do.
Overall a great night, an uneven start that carried on to a strong finish. If The Grubby Mitts return to Blackpool, or you can catch them on any of the dates remaining on their tour, do so. As one rather vocal member of the audience said a touch loudly between songs, “They are a lot better than Martin Creed!”
Featured image from The Grubby Mitts on Facebook.
Show Comments (0)