Acid Mothers Temple @ The Owl Sanctuary

It’s 8.05 pm, there are four people standing watching Wreck Age; lead singer Tommy Nadir is shoeless and already off the stage and preening on the floor a few inches in front of us – I’m impressed. Sporting the finest cheekbones in Norwich and pipe cleaner legs Tommy is a star, in his own mind at least. The band’s sound is hard to pin down, equal parts sleaze rock, indie rock and…well, just ROCK. Then they do a cover of Joy Division’s Shadowplay and it all starts to make total sense. “Like Mick Jagger fronting Monster Magnet” as my mate shouts at me. The guitarist is hunched over his instrument and holds it all together, the bassist has only been in the band for eight days and by the time their set ends the room is busy and the applause is loud. They seem genuinely chuffed that finally they’re getting somewhere and I can’t wait to see more of Tommy’s Gary Holton antics. A great addition to the Norwich music family.

BK & Dad are surely the finest band in the city right now. This is the seventh time I’ve seen them and they just keep getting better and better. You don’t so much listen to them as feel them, it’s a primal thing. It’s good for you, it cleanses you with its pure artful, pummelling noise. Pip on drums continues to astonish; he doesn’t merely ‘play’ the drums, the drums are his instrument and he has mastered them through years of study. Off kilter, angular time signatures give the music a true sense of the psychedelic. Leo’s guitar playing has never sounded better, more full, more in control. Melody lines are looped allowing him to play colossal riffs over the top. I have never seen the gig room at the Owl more packed for a support band, there’s a lot of love for them and their thirty minute set is over in the blink of an eye. The only potential struggle I can see them having is trying to get something so monolithic down on tape to truly do justice to their awesome sound.

I missed Acid Mothers Temple in Norwich last year. Annoying. Originally supposed to be at Epic Studios, this gig was moved to the Owl which allowed us to truly immerse ourselves in the FULL ON psychedelic rock from these Japanese legends. Imagine Gong, Hawkwind or Ozric Tentacles, but way further out in the stratosphere, much further removed from conventional song structure, played by a bunch of freaky looking dudes. The room was absolutely rammed, easily the busiest I have ever seen it, meaning I couldn’t really see the whole band properly so I focused mainly on the bass player, who was amazing. Serious levels of musicianship at play here. They are clearly familiar with the works of Frank Zappa. They obviously have an appreciation for jazz. They also employed elements of traditional Japanese music at times, almost like the soundtrack to Planet Of The Apes as directed by Akira Kurosawa. Not without humour either – my bass playing mate opened a bottle of water, took a swig, then started blowing into it to elicit more weird sounds. For 55 minutes they took us far out, man, until we were all strapped in ready for the final lift off…then they stopped, left the stage and didn’t return. We bellowed for more, but sadly it was not to be. It felt like they’d pulled out before orgasm. It was a tragedy, but it turns out they thought the 11 pm curfew meant we all had to leave by then so they left a window to allow them to sell their merch, which of course is what really enables them to keep this show on the road.

Last night was yet another incredible night of live music; at times it felt like being at a rave, it was so beautifully all encompassing. If they do make it back to Norwich I’ll make sure they understand just how long they have to play so that we get to enjoy every single second of their mind-blowing trip.

@StuPres