Getintothis’ Matt Eland captures the action from a raucous and rowdy opening night to Liverpool Music Week 2011.
Biffy-baiting local boys Being Jo Frances kicked off Liverpool Music Week 2011 in style.
They act like they’re the headliners and adroitly layer intricate delay loops alongside quasi-military snare beats and heavy riffing.
They’re best when they’re loud and the drummer’s giving it beans; the ballads come close to overstaying their welcome and the lyrics err towards clunkiness, but it’s satisfying to see a band who know they’re already the realised sum of their parts.
Being Jo Francis
They’re not very original and you could perhaps say that they’re stretched too thinly for the sake of their live show (drummer jumps on synth, bassist gets on the floor tom, mix, repeat) but who knows where those avenues will take them?
The Temps, by contrast, look a little exposed up on the wide Mojo stage with combinative singer Joseph Wainwright almost struggling to know what to do with so much space.
They can’t quite match up to the afterglow of BJF’s volume and polish but try to gamefully: the basslines weave like fat bees around their psychobilly hive and they jar and jangle admirably in front of a delightfully bewildered crowd.
The Temps
The Duke Spirit have had a lot on their plate throughout their career and it’s a wonder they’re still around at all.
They’ve been plugging away in the background for years and it’s perhaps no wonder that (barring singer Liela Moss) they look like small-time Ukranian gangsters with their slicked back hair and leather jackets. You can see why Antipop upstarts The Temps got picked as support.
Unlike their predecessors on stage however, TDS deal in soul rather than sin, in Motown rather than mown-down. That said, where they sound restrained on record they’re bombastic in the flesh, and they go about their business with self assurance.
As the set goes on and the subtleties are lost on the uninitiated it’s clear that this is one night for the fans, but there are definitely worse ways to kick off the week of free Mojo gigs.
Pictures by Marie Hazlewood.
