OTHER HALF, CHURCH GIRLS, APHRA & SUDS
By the time they close with Tiny Head, what could easily have been a disaster has been turned into a massive TRIUMPH.
Up until a few days ago, I was expecting to be here tonight to see Peaness and Aphra. Up until two or three days ago, Church Girls and Other Half were expecting to be playing in Cardiff tonight. With Rach Peaness being hospitalised (get well soon!), Peaness have postponed. In some kind of weird serendipity, thanks to what may politely be called an error by the venue in Cardiff, the Church Girls/Other Half tour needs somewhere to play at short notice, so here we are. In two days, Other Half have managed to sort the venue, keep Aphra on the bill, add Suds and damned near sell the place out. And that is a very fine thing indeed.
This is the first time that I have seen SUDS since Wild Paths 2019. To be honest, I can’t actually remember seeing them before but tonight is pretty impressive. The songs are short and never outstay their welcome. There’s an almost country structure to some songs, albeit that the sound is more C86-meets-90s- indie-meets-early shoegaze. There are some great melodic bass lines and overall it reminds me of Belle & Sebastian or Teenage Fanclub. The mid-paced material is somehow both happy and melancholic whilst a couple of the faster moments bring The Wedding Present to mind. I’ll try not to leave it another three years before I see Suds again.
I’ve seen APHRA a fair few times and always love the show but every time I seem to come away with a different opinion as to just what genre(s) the music is closest to. Sometimes it seems (to me at least) to be melancholy pop, other times it is ska-punk-pop-rock. Tonight, well tonight manages to be both of those things with added funk, soul and, on Carpet Burns, classic rock a la Fleetwood Mac. Whatever the genres - and keeping me guessing is a very good thing - Aphra the person is a brilliant front woman and song writer and Aphra the band are a cracking unit. A storming take on Toast ends the set on a high.
Philadelphia’s CHURCH GIRLS are the headliners on this tour but have ceded the closing spot to Other Half tonight. They have that classic North American alt.rock sound that owes as much Springsteen and Petty as it does to The Descendents and Devo or Television and Talking Heads. Rumbling bass and drums mix with spiky but melodic lead lines and heavy riffing. Church Girls take to the stage to a half empty room but it soon fills up. More frantic live than on record, they certainly win me over.
OTHER HALF aren’t just one of my favourite local bands, they are one of my favourite bands full stop. And yet, it almost wouldn’t be an Other Half gig unless something goes wrong... or maybe that only happens when I am in attendance and I am some kind of hex? For the first two songs, this is quite possibly the tightest set I have seen from them. Just as both band and audience are flying, the power goes. The sound guys run around like maniacs trying to fix it and there are mass singalongs of Happy Birthday whilst the atmosphere builds and builds and builds. It says a lot about this band that they take the tech issues with good humour – Sophie saying afterwards that she just found it funny – rather than pulling their hair out in anguish and taking it out on the crew. Once the power is back on, the pit is soon heaving, punters – me included – are screaming along to every song. By the time they close with Tiny Head, what could easily have been a disaster has been turned into a massive TRIUMPH.
It has been another cracking night in the Fine City. Roll on the next one. But, please, stage divers and moshers, be aware of the venue’s gear. I don’t wanna be a killjoy but bringing down speakers and lights, as nearly happened tonight, really isn’t great.
