Vex Red At The Marquee, London, 12.15.2002
Posted by Phil McCann on 02.03.2003
Hard to recommend a band who won’t be playing for a while, but buy their album- it’ll line Virgin’s sleeves, but it’ll show them what a band they missed out on.
Remember these guys? Well they parted ways with Virgin’s ‘I Am’ label after pretty bad treatment from the get-go and are now starting up on a new album. No idea where they’ll end up in terms of labels, but I’d say ‘Geffen’ would be a safe bet, that or a smaller indie label that’s willing to let them make the music they want to and not have to change their image- Vex Red are at their best being themselves, and not who people want them to be.
This live gig, as you can imagine for an unsigned band, had pretty awful promotion, but just enough to get a decent sized audience. Impossible to judge how many, but it was definitely an kind of industry insider gig with Hundred Reasons being scattered throughout the crowd, and a couple of members of Fallen To being around as well. I’m sure there were others, and record execs hanging round too, the night just had the feel of a try-out for a few bands.
The first band needed no try-out, though, as Sack Trick consist of musicians trying to be KISS as a break from their regular jobs such as the Vex Red drummer, a Robbie Williams guitarists and a couple more platinum album sellers- an impressive set-up for sure. And the band’s comedic, yet musically brilliant approach saw the crowd on their side. ‘Blue Ice Cream’ was probably the band’s most entertaining song, but the rest of the set included great work from both drummers…yes two drummers, both guitarists and the lead singer/bassist. Great work all round, and not much else to say about the band other than- buy the ‘People=Sheep’ shirt, bet Slipknot fans will love that.
Next up was recently signed ‘Saint Rose’, who I really couldn’t enjoy. Maybe it was because they were straight after Sack Trick, maybe it was because their song ‘Butterfly’ seemed like a blatant attempt to recreate Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’, or maybe because they seemed to be plain boring. I don’t know, but after about twenty minutes the band sulked off stage, seemingly with the attitude that we’d love them in a few months time when they get their single into the charts- I damn sure hope not. Offence meant? Not really, but I hate to see a band getting told they’re going to be the next big thing, when there’s a huge chance that they won’t take off, especially if they develop the attitude of stars.
The third band were the industry darlings Biffy Clyro, a band that soon after they came on stage I was completely confused about. Admittedly they play with passion and their songs are well constructed, but I still don’t understand what the fuss is about. The three piece often power-chord their way through their screaming/shouting chorus’, and that just didn’t appeal to me on a night where the comedy band Sack Trick were providing cool solos, and Vex Red were performing five minute long instrumentals. However I can say that Biffy Clyro are going up in the world, the music industry loves them, and as soon as a record company lets them into the mainstream they’re going to sell a lot. They seem to be the next step-up from The Vines in terms of crazy attitude, and the sound is one that kids can probably latch onto. However, not for me, not on that night, it was time for Vex Red.
Many say that Vex Red are unpopular within the business, not sure how that works as the band were helped by Hundred Reasons to set-up, and now that they’ve been released it seems many are warming to the fact that they deserve to be where they are…and I don’t mean as an unsigned band, more as a band with a great live reputation.
The problem with Vex Red is that many resent the use of their keyboard, and the fact that the band has so many damn members, playing different instruments for different songs- the keyboard player also plays guitar I believe. The sound produced is very abrasive, and contrasts to Terry’s softer voice, although his growls are pretty damn effective.
Their live performance started badly with a technical fault causing the keyboard to play the build-up song for about half a minute too long. However once this was fixed the group launched straight into ‘The Closest’ the opening track from the album. It was a brilliant start to the evening as the song brought back Biffy Clyro’s heavy riffs, but with a more structured nature, and one that the crowd could identify with. This set-up the feel of the set as one of celebration of the debut album, as the band announced that they wouldn’t be appearing for at least the first half of 2003 to regain their bearings and get the album written.
The band played through ‘Cause and Solution’, ‘Clone Jesus’, ‘Dermo’, and ‘Bully Me’, whilst introducing an angry new track, which seemed like a lash-out at Virgin that went down very well with the crowd. All the album tracks were well received, especially ‘Cause and Solution’ the instrumental track that built up to the final two tracks of the evening.
However, before we skip there a special mention for ‘Sleep Does Nothing For You’, which was amazing live, with a great sound to the spy film intro, and an overall decent reception from the crowd. This song kind of proved that the album was a success in most areas as the crowd were singing along, and knew exactly when the song was getting heavier, a show of a good fan base to work on at least.
The last two songs were ‘Can’t Smile’ and ‘Itch’, the band’s two singles, and possibly their best songs, which capped off a brilliant set. ‘Can’t Smile’ had the usual rendition of ‘Genie in a Bottle’, which Terry announced would be the last time that the band used that song to replace ‘Think you’re so good when you’re toking…’ and the rest of that sequence. The track was another stunning live song, with great work from all involved and a definite sing-along for the crowd, although that’s to be expected as many called ‘Can’t Smile’ the underground anthem of 2002.
To finish off the band played ‘Itch’ to a rousing reception, with a brilliantly playing of the song. The crowd had accepted that they wouldn’t see the band for a while, and gave it their all during the last track, something which the band latched onto sending Terry flying into the crowd, surfing his way around, before heading back to the stage and waving farewell for at least the next few months. A kind of mixed evening as the band definitely gave off the feeling of being beaten up and knocked down, but still wanting to give off the best performance possible, and in that they were amazing.
The 411: Hard to recommend a band who won’t be playing for a while, but buy their album- it’ll line Virgin’s sleeves, but it’ll show them what a band they missed out on.
