The Postelles at DC9, September 18, 2010. Tiny little club whose future remains in doubt (unfortunately), you can’t get atmosphere like that anywhere else in Washington. The band sounded amazing, and the audience reaction was absolutely mental. And they haven’t even put out an album yet! Definitely a band to watch in 2011.
The runner-up show would be the Joy Formidable at Black Cat Backstage, November 11, 2010. The Backstage is of comparable size to DC9 (hint hint to bands, management, and promoters) and perfectly intimate. I had no idea how hard this band from Wales was going to rock out, and rock our hard they did. I almost got hit in the head by frontwoman Ritzy Bryan’s guitar a couple times.
Most Anticipated in 2011:
White Lies’s second album, Ritual (Fiction) – the lead single, “Bigger Than Us,” sounds grand and gothic, just as “To Lose My Life” was in 2009. It seems a lifetime ago that I saw them gig, when in fact it was March 2009. So I’m looking forward to the new material and seeing them live again.
The Joy Formidable’s debut album, The Big Roar (Atlantic) – I have the band’s EP A Balloon Called Moaning, which is nothing short of amazing, so a whole album coming in early 2011 will be great.
Two Door Cinema Club’s second album – I know they’re working on new material, I just hope they can work fast enough so they can get it out before Christmas 2011. Here’s to hoping.
Frankie and the Heartstrings’s debut album, Hunger (Sex Pop Ltd) – the Sunderland band has released three singles so far, “Hunger,” “Tender”, and “Ungrateful,” all of which I adore. While in America the big thing this year has been to go backward to Beach Boys-esque surf pop, England is returning to Beatles-esque guitar pop, and I look to this band to do well next year.
Most Overrated in 2010:
Kings of Leon. I still don’t get their popularity. I’ll be honest, the pigeon story about their show in St. Louis in July made me giggle.
Hmm, who else…Kanye West on Twitter. Do we really need to hear from him via his electronic soapbox?
Favorite Musical Memory of the Year:
It’s really difficult for me to choose among all the amazing shows I’ve been given the opportunity to cover, so I’m going to give my top 3.
I went to my first major European music festival, Roskilde in Denmark, this summer and saw 28 bands from all over the world during the entire experience. It was truly mind-blowing. There were so many bands that I never expected to ever see live – Bad Lieutenant with Bernard Sumner (playing his new band’s songs along with Joy Division and New Order classics), LCD Soundsystem, and Pendulum, just to name three – and of course lots of Scandinavian acts playing right in their backyard, like the Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Miike Snow, the Kissaway Trail, and Casiokids. My trip had been booked months before Delphic was announced as a late addition, which was an unexpected surprise. I could have however made do without getting shoved to the ground during Biffy Clyro on the second night, having to get pulled out and over the barrier swiftly by vigilant festival security.
Watching the Temper Trap play triumphant shows in September at Philadelphia’s Trocadero and Boston’s House of Blues signaled to me that they have the goods to be superstars. I’d already seen them in April in DC and also at Roskilde. In my opinion, they played the best set of the entire festival and completely smoked Prince, who played on the adjacent, huge Orange stage just after their set and bored me to tears; I along with some new friends I’d just made that day left early. When preparing to see them again on the last of their many tours of our continent this year, I expected to enjoy their show. But I was overwhelmed both times. I saw girls looking like they were going to faint and people jumping up and down like crazy during “Sweet Disposition.” And when you hear fans have come from as far away as Asia for these shows, you know the band has to be special.
Delphic’s first-ever show in DC, at DC9 on October 8, was pretty amazing. All my friends had come along to this Friday night show and afterwards, they all came up to me with these starry-eyed expressions, telling me the show was far too short and asking me when they’d return to Washington. I’ve always thought that as a music blogger, I have two main goals: 1, to spread the word about music I love and get people excited about it and 2, put Washington on the map as a city bands want and need to play. This show and the mental crowd reaction gave me validation that all my hard work blogging concerts in town does make a difference.
Before Manchester electrorock and dance outfit Delphic were a household name in Britain, they were notorious for staging well-received and well-attended illegal raves in their hometown, made possible by a portable generator owned by their touring drummer Dan Hadley. Friday night at DC9′s Liberation Dance Party proved that despite more mainstream success at home, playing more traditional venues, the band can still put on a rave that wows clubgoers. Their DC appearance on the 8th of October was the only headlining gig during their entire stay on our side of the pond this autumn, mostly providing support to Australian band the Temper Trap.
“Clarion Call” is the first track on the band’s debut album, Acolyte, and it’s truly a monster in disguise. It is the perfect song to being a set, as it starts out modestly enough with a very chill vibe but then it quickly builds into a massive wave of sound that is Delphic‘s forte. The trio have said in numerous interviews that having watched other bands perform and lose momentum between songs by dedicating songs to a girlfriend or telling a story. The DC9 set indicated Delphic still believe this, barely allowing themselves a breath between one song and the next. The result ? The energy level was way up on their side of things as well as on the audience’s side. The manic reaction that night had to have been the best of all Liberation Dance Party shows I’ve seen so far: girls were dancing like they just didn’t care, and guys were pumping their fists in the air to encourage the band on. It was quite a sight.
Upon conclusion, “Doubt,” with its lively vowel beginning and engaging chorus, morphed into the ultimate rave-up of “Red Lights,” a personal favorite of one of my close friends. To be honest, who wouldn’t fall for a song that has lyrics like “I put my heart into your hands” and “I’d risk a second broken heart for you“? Critics often complain that electronic dance music has no soul. Obviously, these people have never heard Delphic before. Singer/bassist James Cook, upon seeing the effect “Red Lights” had on the Washington crowd, gingerly asked with a smile, “DC9, how are you doing? Are you ready to dance? Because now is the time to dance.” With those fateful words, he and the band unleashed an insane sequence of synth programming that further pumped up the crowd. Wow.
By this time, Delphic had everyone – and I mean everyone – at DC9 jumping, dancing, or a combination of the two, just really going for it. I couldn’t have been more pleased for these three guys who wanted to make a record on their own terms, writing and recording music that really meant something to them. Having a crowd reaction like this, especially on this side of the Atlantic where they are not known in the mainstream yet, must be incredible validation, and it is completely deserved.
It’s hard for me to pinpoint one highlight of the evening because you could just tell by the way Cook smiled and guitarist Matt Cocksedge, keyboardist Rick Boardman, and Hadley attacked their respective instruments that Delphic brought it. “Acolyte,” the title track of their debut album, is their 9-minute, mostly instrumental opus with snatches of heavenly vocals from Cook and Boardman. It is an incredible rush of euphoria live and the perfect way to end a set if there ever was one – percussion, synths, and guitars meld together for an atmospherically complex yet astonishing piece.
After the song was over, Delphic departed from the stage amid a crush of well wishers and cheering fans. Compere Bill Spieler, who has to be given much credit for booking the Manchester band for the night, appeared onstage to say with a shocked look on his face, “O.M.G. How did Liberation Dance Party get Delphic? I want more Delphic. Do you?” He paused and received the applause he was waiting for. “They’re telling me no.” Audible audience disappointment. But Spieler remained hopeful. “Maybe they’ll come out and dance with you.” My thoughts? I just want Delphic to make another appearance at DC9, and soon.
Set List
Clarion Call
Doubt
Red Lights
This Momentary
Halcyon
Counterpoint
Acolyte
Tour Dates
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit*
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago*
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee*
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis*
Oct 16 – Capital Festival / Mexico City
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA*
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles*
* supporting the Temper Trap
& with the Hundred in the Hands
After getting beaten up in a highly unexpected mosh pit at a small club show on the outskirts of Boston the night before and making a hasty retreat from that mess, I was actually looking forward to seeing a show at the House of Blues the next night. I’d heard mixed reviews for the House of Blues and their many outposts scattered across the U.S. – huge places with overzealous security and little atmosphere was the consensus. So after a fun night at the Philly Trocadero 3 days earlier, I wasn’t expecting much from the WFNX-sponsored Temper Trap show Wednesday night.
Security at the House of Blues was professional and courteous. Maybe it was my photo pass but everyone I encountered at the venue was super nice. And I didn’t get patted down like I was in Philly, so I didn’t feel violated. Once inside on the ground level, I gasped as I looked around. The place is massive (twice as big as the Trocadero, with room for 2,400) but it’s beautiful and breathtaking. Helpful security inside advised, “watch your step, ladies,” as there are several steps to negotiate. Well lit, well stocked bars and clearly marked restrooms on this floor – definite pluses. While I was waiting for the show to start I got to talking to two kids from the local Berklee College of Music; it was really cool to talk to “the young people” and hear their appreciation for the Temper Trap’s music. I also advised them to invest in a good set of earplugs, which turned out to be an excellent suggestion given that this was the House of Blues and the size of the speakers hanging from the ceiling should have immediately told you that the gig that night was going to be loud.
It is really cool to see how bands get more at ease after the first night of a tour. The Hundred in the Hands, while being only two people on an expansive stage, sounded better on the House of Blues’s state of the art sound system than they did in Philly. Lead singer Eleanore Everdell was visibly more confident as well, smiling broadly as the audience not familiar with their music politely clapped between songs. Guitarist Jason Friedman looked like he was having a ball on stage, strumming on one of his two guitars.
Highlights were “Lovesick (Once Again)” and “Young Aren’t Young,” showing me yet again the understated beauty of Everdell’s voice. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Gold Blood,” one of my favorite tracks from their self-titled debut album released on Warp Records last month. By the end of the set, the Brooklyn duo had already won some new fans, as evidenced by the people who shouted in displeasure when Everdell announced their sixth and final song. Great to see people responding to them.
Once the Hundred in the Hands‘ equipment was removed from the stage, it was time for Delphic to set up their gear, which is a lot. Standard drum kit and guitars but a couple synths and electronic drum pad setups as well. This is a band that has played to thousands at Glastonbury so I didn’t think the bigger stage (compared to the Trocadero’s) would faze them. And I don’t think it did, really. Singer/bassistJames Cook looked more poised and his voice sounded better than ever. Multi-instrumentalist Rick Boardman, guitarist Matt Cocksedge, and touring drummer Dan Hadley were completely on.
The problem was the audience. They never really got into the music and generally just looked bored for both support bands, all waiting (impatiently looking at their mobile phones, I might add) for the Temper Trap. There was no fist pumping or rampant dancing like Sunday night in Philly. (It should be noted that the venue was pretty empty at the start of the night and it wasn’t until shortly before the Temper Trap were due on that the floor filled out.) Too bad, their loss. There was one girl who talked to me after the show who said she was going to buy Acolyte in a music shop as soon as she could, so I was pretty happy about that.
It’s been over a year since I first heard “Counterpoint” on BBC Radio, and I’ve had Acolyte for a long time now, listening to it constantly, so I know all the words on the album. I like to sing in general and this spills over into shows too, so you can imagine this is potentially embarrassing at gigs. But when I did sing, Cook looked my way a couple times and smiled, as if acknowledging this dubious mastery. Haha. Also, I got my wish for “Submission,” my favorite song from Acolyte, and maybe it was the echoes in the huge venue, but the vocal key sounded a bit off. Maybe they are a little rusty after having a couple weeks off between gigs, but I imagine this will wear off after some more gigs stateside. (As of this writing I’ve already read some great comments about their set from the New York and Montreal shows that followed.) I’m looking forward to seeing them in DC in a few days.
Delphic Set List
Clarion Call
Doubt
Red Lights
This Momentary
Submission
Halcyon
Counterpoint
It is a real joy to watch the Temper Trap at this stage of their career. When the well-oiled Temper Trap machine gets fired up, hold on tight, because you’re in for a wild ride. “Fader” was the first Temper Trap song I learned on bass, so it holds special meaning to me, but wow, when it’s offered up to fans live, it’s like a explosion of energy. With its jangly guitar riffs and emotional lyrics, the Melbourne band’s power ballad “Love Lost” is going ensure their place in popular music history. I’m not one to get emotional at gigs, but I have to say that this song brought me to tears. It’s just perfect.
It was fun to witness the thrill of fans who had waited to see their current favorite band. I was surprised to learn that of everyone I talked to, I seemed to be the only one who’d seen them before. One woman came with her boyfriend and requested that he catch her if she fainted when Dougy Mandagi appeared. (She didn’t faint, I’m happy to report. But she was so animated after the gig, she was practically glowing with excitement, chattering away on how great they were.) The students I mentioned before were waiting for their favorite song, “Down River,” and with its fun chorus that got everyone singing along, they weren’t disappointed.
Part of me wishes that the Temper Trap would mix things up, because Wednesday night in Boston was the fourth time I’ve seen and heard that exact same set list this year. I can’t imagine it being too difficult to change song order, because it’s not like they have complicated synth setups like their two openers. But really, how can you complain when they put on such an amazing show, night after night? Cheers guys.
The Temper Trap Set List
introduction
Rest
Fader
Fools
Down River
Love Lost
Soldier On
Sweet Disposition
Resurrection
Drumming Song
//
Rabbit Hole
Science of Fear
Tour Dates (dates with all three bands except those noted)
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits / Austin*
Oct 09 – MOTR Club / Cincinnati%
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Oct 18 – Crocodile / Seattle%
Oct 19 – Woods / Portland%
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles
^ Delphic only
* the Temper Trap only (festival appearance)
% the Hundred in the Hands only
& Delphic and the Hundred in the Hands only
The exciting debut album from Manchester, England’s Delphic will for sure be in my top 2 albums of 2010. The electro / dance / rock trio is currently touring as support for the Temper Trap, and this is their first significant tour of North America to boot after just playing three gigs in America in June. It was my distinct pleasure to speak with Delphic‘s accomplished guitarist, Matt Cocksedge, before their gig at the House of Blues in Boston, the second night on a month-long tour of our continent. I have to say, he’s probably one of the most (if not the most) eloquent musician I’ve ever had the chance to interview. In part 1 of this interview, we discuss the cynical music media and why they seem intent on comparing Delphic to fellow Mancunians and hometown heroes New Order, why he thinks their tourmates the Temper Trap are actually more similar to them than you might realize, and how Radiohead is a real inspiration to them.
Mary Chang, PopWreckoning: I think every single blogger I know of wants to be different [taking a different album review approach] than Pitchfork, endeavor to not be like them. My mom doesn’t get the blogging thing, when I was explaining to her what Pitchfork was, she thought it sounded like people who were going after other people with pitchforks. That was the way she interpreted it, not knowing what it was. Matt Cocksedge, Delphic: Yeah, makes sense. PW: But when you’re talking about promoting music to the masses… MC: But it seems like an accurate description of the press, doesn’t it? Hanging them out to dry. It’s difficult really. PW: Maybe I can ask you, have you discerned a difference between the British media and the American media? Have you felt one given you a harder time than the other? Or maybe you haven’t had a lot of exposure to American media, yet. MC: That’s the thing. I don’t know too much about American media reaction to us. All I know is that Pitchfork [when Pitchfork reviewed their debut album, Acolyte, released in June onDangerbird Records here in America], that was out ages ago. I don’t know what else has gone with the release of the album, beyond that, I haven’t really heard [anything]. PW: To be honest, I don’t think I ever read that review. I’m sometimes scared to look… MC: Yeah, I’m scared to look! Really nervous. [smiles] PW: So you said that they slagged off Everything Everything? [the fellow Manchester band's debut album, Man Alive, was released in August in the UK] MC: They did, they did. And I just can’t help but feel there’s some sort of…the Everything Everything album was critically received in the UK… PW: Yeah, I reviewed it for another site and I really liked it. MC: It’s a great album, with so many ideas. PW: And very original. MC: So original! And even it doesn’t connect with you, potentially you can still appreciate the ideas, the originality, the experimentalism. You know, they’re trying to do something new with guitar music in a band. And certainly with our review, it was more an indictment of British music than an actual review of the record.
PW: Oh you know what, I think I did read it. I think they focused on the New Order aspect… MC: Yeah. PW: Which is interesting, because in almost every single American article I’ve read about you guys, it’s always focused on New Order. Now, I was too young to appreciate New Order at their height of fame and you also, neither of us were there for the wholeJoy Division / New Order thing. So I don’t come from it from that perspective. MC: That’s the thing. We know New Order‘s music a bit. What I always think about the New Order thing, if “Doubt” wasn’t on the album, if you kind of take “Doubt” out of the equation of the album, and then look at it in terms of New Order, it’s very, very different. But when “Doubt” is included, I think it’s the most New Order, most obvious New Order kind of touch point on the record. I’ve always wondered about that. But people will hear what they want to hear and say what they want to say. And we’ve made this music and put it out, and then you take what you get given. It’s certainly interesting, you know, going around the world…especially places like Japan, there’s much more positive feeling, I think. There’s a lot of cynicism in the UK especially And the UK press and the UK audience. It’s because we’ve been spoilt for choice [when it comes to music], we’re just completely spoiled.
PW: That’s the thing, I think that’s the reason why I’ve gravitated towards British music in general, because you have people like Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephenschampioning the little guys. MC: Every evening there’s a new band starting out… PW: Yeah, like clockwork every Wednesday I listen to Lammo’s “New Favourite Band” feature and while we don’t see eye to eye on every band, but it’s nice to hear different opinions. MC: Definitely. PW: It’s hard to hear about new [British] bands on American radio. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Delphic song played in Washington. Back in February, VV Brown played the same dance night you guys will play in DC next Friday, and one of the songs being spun that night was “Halcyon”. Me and a girlfriend, we’ve got our tickets and we’re coming up the stairs and it’s coming out of the speakers. And we went crazy because we knew the song! We were very excited. But we were the only ones in the club that knew it. MC: That’s great! [grins] PW: So to have you guys come to DC is really exciting. I think it’s the only date you’re doing by yourselves on this tour? MC: Yeah, I think so. I don’t know if we’ve got one in LA… PW: I know you guys are doing Club Nokia [in Los Angeles] with the Temper Trap… MC: Yeah, we’re doing that…yeah, basically we’d come over here to tour with the Temper Trap. They’re lovely guys, which makes things a lot easier. Always a pleasure when you’re on tour with a band that is just nice, and good guys. Makes it a lot easier. PW: When I saw you guys in Denmark [at Roskilde Festival], Rick [Boardman, Delphic's keyboards / synths player] already knew you were coming to America to support someone else but couldn’t tell me because he’d get in trouble. The Temper Trap never even crossed my mind…when I first saw this tour’s bill, I was kind of surprised because I think of the Temper Trap as more of a straight forward rock sound. Did you have any reservations supporting them? Not that you really had much choice as support but…did you wonder, is this going to be an issue when we play to crowds primarily there for the Temper Trap? MC: No, not at all. We were really excited about it. We respect the Temper Trap a lot. I think what we do is very similar but we put it in different clothes. We both try and write songs and yeah, we’re songwriters…we put them in different contexts. Theirs is a more guitar-based thing and ours is a more synth-based thing. At the heart, we’re quite similar and something we share with them. I think it’s good. We’re not trying to steal fans, we’re not trying to be a better Temper Trap or trying to compete with them in that way. We’re a band on a similar tangent, but doing our own thing. They’re doing their own thing. Hopefully when people come see us, they can understand the similarities but appreciate the differences. And yeah, we’re really excited and thrilled that they asked us along. And really, really happy to be out here with them. We’ve only done the one show [at Philadelphia's Trocadero on Sunday night, 3 nights earlier], so I’ll let you know how it goes! [laughs] But at the moment, it’s been good!
PW: I have to ask, what did you think, coming back to America after 3 months since your last shows here? Did you approach that with trepidation? The last “gig” you had before that was Bestival, that was a couple weeks ago? MC: Well, it’s certainly different than a festival. You can’t do so much jumping up and down and getting people to clap. You’ve gotta be a bit cooler! [smiles] Yeah, we’ve done the support band thing for a while, we know how it works, we’re just happy to be back out here. The crowd was good. It was a really stressful gig, to be honest with you, because it’s the first date of the tour. Backstage is always bit hectic. You hope everything works. It was really hectic, but I really enjoyed the gig myself. Great venue, the crowd was loud, yeah, I enjoyed it a lot. PW: I have to say, as your set progressed, I could feel the audience getting behind you. I was in second row on the floor, which I was very happy about. I was surrounded by devoted Temper Trap fans and I basically explained who you guys were, and who the Hundred in the Hands were, because they’ve just put out their debut album last week. MC: Yeah, I’ve been meaning to get it. PW: It’s really good. I’d say that along with yours and Two Door Cinema Club‘s [Tourist History] albums, it’s up there in my top 5 albums of 2010. MC: Oh wow, cool. PW: And I heard smatterings of conversation after your set. One girl said, “yeah, it was kind of a slow start but after the third song with all the synth action, I really liked it!” MC: Yeah, what was really cool were the pockets of people who were really going for it! PW: [laughs] Yeah, that was us! We were the ones jumping up and down and pumping our fists. Expect that, I’ll get people excited for you guys tonight. MC: Cool, I’ll keep a look out for it.
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to Duran Duran. MC: Really. PW: What would say about that? MC: Uh…I’d be quite speechless! [laugh] PW: Me too, and that’s because I’m a Duranie. MC: I’d never have saw that coming! Yeah, I dunno…I’m not offended by it at all. Certainly didn’t see that one coming. I dunno, it’s one of those things, you make music to put it out there and people will read into it what they want. “So this bit is like this…” and we would’ve never even heard of that band! And then sometimes they’ll write, “so this bit is like this…” and yeah, we did just rip it off a bit. [grins] Yeah, I don’t know if it was Duran Duran influenced, but I can honestly say I didn’t think anyone would say that. PW: It reminds me of what people said about We Are Scientists‘s second album [Brain Thrust Mastery]. I liked it better than their first because it was more polished and had the synths. People said it sounded like Duran Duran because it had synths. Just because they have synths doesn’t mean they were influenced by Duran Duran. Similarly, some people think anything with synths can be classified as ’80s new wave.
PW: “Submission” has the right balance of synths, guitars, beats, and everything is so clean. The echoes are absolutely perfect to me. It’s the perfect song. I can put on my headphones and go into my own little world listening to it. Do you remember how the song came about? How do your songs usually start, does it start with someone’s lyric, “hey, I have an idea“, or “hey, I got this great guitar riff, let’s work off of this…” MC: I think with “Submission”, I really think it came about from the beat, you know? We wanted a more down-tempo number. It’s still quite quick, but it feels a lot slower than a lot of the record. We really wanted a bit darker of a tune, more of… that kind of feeling, and it came from [Matt starts tapping the table with his hands in time to the killer main rhythm of "Submission"]… PW: I think that’s why I like it, it’s so funky. MC: Yeah, we’ve got the guitar riff at the end, that came quite early as well. Yeah, all the songs, they all come from different places, there’s no set way of doing it, at least in terms of the initial idea. When we have an idea, and we’re developing it, then you kind of have your way of working on it, trying to flesh it out and make that transition from idea to song. And that’s difficult, because not all of them make it through. Sometimes you have a great idea but you can’t fit it in the right context. That can be difficult. But that came from a beat. Other tune came from a sound on the synth, or a chord sequence, and there’s no rules with this sort of thing, is there? We have strong instincts with these things. We try to work within a concept or the framework of an album for the set of songs we want to write. And once you have that framework established, it’s constrictive yet freeing because you can explore all areas in a certain kind of musical world, in a way. That definitely how it happened with the first record. We knew the kind of record we wanted to make in terms of sound and what we were talking about, and really then it was seeing what worked within it and what didn’t work, and how best make an album flow and what we needed to do to give it more depth. There is no real right or wrong, it’s whether you get that feeling. James [Cook, Delphic's lead vocalist and bassist] might play me something. So do I get it, do I feel it in my gut? Does it give me that kind of emotion? If the answer is no, let’s write another one. And if the answer is yes, okay, let’s take it to the next stage, let’s develop it and put an arrangement around it, put words to it. Are there any words that fit that we have already? You know, so you build it from there. But the initial idea is always the most important thing. It’s whether you get a buzz off of it… PW: Like a spark of inspiration. MC: Yeah, definitely. Sometimes…we’re writing ideas for the second album now, and there are some things…James played me something he’d written the other day, and sometimes you can just hear immediately, “that’s a finished song,” even if it’s just something on the piano with a bit of melody. I just know what that’s going to be. And that’s the most exciting thing. That’s when you know at the heart, there is something really special. It doesn’t happen all the time, but then it’s something you really need to grab onto and protect, in a way. You want to keep it true and make something real out of it.
PW: I think it is a gift when you’re able to create a timeless melody. A lot of music today, say hip hop, doesn’t necessarily have a great, underlying melody. It’s just not there. Or even some harder rock stuff. I saw Biffy Clyro 2 weeks ago at their first headlining gig of America, in Washington. They couldn’t even sell out DC9, and that’s a 200-capacity venue. MC: Really? That’s madness. They’re really big in the UK now. [Biffy Clyro regularly sells out stadiums there.] PW: I’m not a huge fan of theirs but I wanted to see history in the making. I consider Biffy kind of thrash metal, and my issue with thrash metal is that there isn’t a melody running through the whole thing, a melody that really grabs me. I’m not going to remember that song next week. Before or while you were in a band, were there any other bands that you looked to as idols? MC: Hmmm…Radiohead really, for me personally. They’re the bosses, aren’t they? The big kids in the class. I just think…they don’t put a foot wrong. They’re the band that I think always…I remember when we were working on parts of the first album, “what would Thom Yorke do?” kind of, that we said to each other kind of jokingly, but with a serious tone. They don’t seem to make missteps. And I think as a band they’ve always been so inspirational, because they’ve always done their own thing. Believed in what they do. Writing OK Computer and then bringing out Kid A, the most incredible movement in modern music, right? I think they’re certainly a band we have immense, immense respect for. And a band whose career path we look to and we’re like, if we have a career anywhere near that, we’d be happy. As a band who’s just released a first record, you’re very much at the whim at the reviews and the whim of word of mouth. And people are very open to speculation on things. And open to New Order comparisons! [laughs] But I think as we release more records and release more, people see what we’re actually about. I think looking at a band like Radiohead, at Pablo Honey or even The Bends, and seeing how they were labeled as, like, Pixies‘s wannabes, and all that kind of thing. Then they kind of emerged and blossomed into their own thing. I think we’re really eager to kind of move on and keep developing, and show people…we’ve still got a lot to prove, I think, and we’ve still got a long way to go, and a long way to improve. We’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves and everyone else as well. And who we are. And we’re just excited to be given the chance to do that. Some people [in bands] do that to them [finger gesture], and some people, “thanks for believing in us, we want to pay you back.” You know? I think that’s the Manchester spirit a little bit, that bit is anyway. Sorry, I hope I didn’t offend you doing that! PW: Haha, no worries. Was that a bit of anti-Southerner kind of thing? MC: [laughs] Oh, no no! It’s just that kind of gang mentality in Manchester. PW: “All for one, and one for all” kind of a thing? MC: Yeah, it’s a band thing as well, but we don’t feel like part of London. We’re a Manchester band and proudly so, but we don’t feel like we’re a part of any scene in Manchester. There are three or four of us versus the world as it were. You’ve only got your mates to rely on, they’re the ones you want to see it through with. And so to kind of prove ourselves is a massive, massive thing. And it’s something we are working on and will hopefully achieve.
Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon…
Tour Dates
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto*
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus*
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit*
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago*
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee*
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis*
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA*
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles*
^ Delphic only
* supporting the Temper Trap
& with the Hundred in the Hands
The Temper Trap have been touring so much and in so many places in 2010, I’ve lost count. So I consider the Trocadero gig in Philadelphia the start of their “latest and greatest” North American tour, if you will. The Melbourne-based band played to an enthused crowd there Sunday night. It’s pretty uncommon for me to know about all three bands on a tour – usually I’ll know the headliner and probably one of the headliners peripherally, but on this tour, I was stoked beyond belief that two of the best electronic bands of the moment would be support for the Temper Trap.
Brooklyn’s the Hundred in the Hands have just released their self-titled debut album on Warp Records last week, and it’s an amazing effort. Definitely in my top 5 of albums of 2010, I think it would handily beat out LCD Soundsystem’s This is Happening in a head-to-head contest on the dance floor. You always wonder how electronic bands translate (or don’t) in the live environment, and I can say without a doubt the Hundred in the Hands passes with flying colors. The only issue I had was with some of the instrumentation getting muddled, which I think was more of a fault of the venue’s sound system and not a reflection on the duo. Weirdly, the front row of the standing crowd stock still for the entire night, and it was us and my new friends in the second row that were kicking up our heels to the Brooklyn duo (and the rest of the night for that matter).
Eleanore Everdell (lead vocals / synths) sings, at times, with a yelping howl not unlike Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes but I think Everdell does this better, because her disaffected voice is perfect for dance music. Check out the amazing “Last City,” the opening track on their album, with its “oh oh oh OH ohs” that will make this an earworm for sure, and even better live. “Pigeons,” a single getting a lot of airplay on British radio, is another gem. A fascinating sidenote: Hundred’s guitarist (and also beat master) Jason Friedman has the same model of Rickenbacker as Delphic’s Matt Cocksedge, so I was doubly blown away by equipment prettiness.
So the next two bands of the night I had been lucky enough to have seen last at Roskilde Festival in very sunny Denmark in July. Delphic released two singles, “Counterpoint” and “This Momentary,” in their home country in 2009. While these didn’t race up the UK singles chart, they generated enough interest such that when the Manchester, England band let loose their debut album, Acolyte, early this year on their own Polydor imprint Chimeric, the buzz was enormous. I was already a big fan of theirs after hearing Acolyte in January, and it quickly became the soundtrack to my cardiovascular workouts for the rest of the DC winter (read: shoveling during the second biggest snowfall ever recorded in Washington). The band have no idea of this particular reason for my great affection for their music. Interestingly, it became clear Sunday night that I, along with the aforementioned second row of fans at the Trocadero, were going to use Delphic to soundtrack quite a workout.
I should probably mention that despite it being autumn on the East Coast already, the inside of the Trocadero was hot. Steamy. Boiling. By the time Delphic started their second song, the synthtastic “Doubt”, the shirt of lead singer/bassist James Cook was already soaking wet with sweat. He seemed unperturbed by this, singing his heart out on tunes like “Red Lights,” complete with requisite red lighting and concluding with a monster synth outro – just what you’d expect from three English boys who are self-described “synthesizer geeks.” Keyboards/synths man Rick Boardman surprised me, singing his backing vocals with so much enthusiasm, I was floored. He sings in a higher register than Cook and frankly, you haven’t heard sexier high-pitched male vocals in a dance song since the Bee Gees days. “Halcyon,” the song that cemented my love for the band (used somewhat freakily for a UK mobile phone advert, I can’t be the only one who thinks James Cook singing “give me something I can believe in” has absolutely nothing to do with mobile phones), was fantastic, with guitarist Matt Cocksedge ripping his now famous guitar solo.
Even though it appeared that myself and one other guy next to me (clutching a Delphic press clipping from NME, no less) were the only people in the whole club to even know who they were and what they sounded like, by the time the set closer “Counterpoint”, with the swells of its guitar and synth and Cook’s upbeat yet sad lyrics of “but you don’t come back around / it seems to me that we will never be” and his emphatic declaration that “nothing’s wrong / nothing’s wrong with today,“ everyone was already on their side, pumping their fists in the air. See, Delphic may write songs about love and heartbreak like other bands, but they write and play them in a way you will force you to take notice, because you won’t be able to keep still. This is music that makes you want to dance.
Delphic Set List
Clarion Call
Doubt
Red Lights
This Momentary
Halcyon
Counterpoint
The way things are going for the Temper Trap, I think they could very well be playing stadiums in the near future. They have the swagger, they have the confidence, and they certainly have devoted fans. In Washington, maybe a quarter of the attendees show up before or around doors and the rest amble in at the appointed set time for the headliner. Not so with Sunday’s Temper Trap show. I have never in my life seen such a long line outside a venue before doors, going for what seemed like miles down Arch Street. Thanks to two wonderful openers, the Trocadero crowd was drenched in perspiration and ready for the headliner.
All too predictably, “Sweet Disposition,” the song on the “500 Days of Summer” soundtrack that made the Temper Trap a household name in America, got the loudest crowd reaction. But my buddies and I in second row standing had a good time pogo-ing to “Fader,” “Love Lost,” and even “Down River,” the latter with its unusually plodding verses but endearing, shoutable chorus of “Down river! Down river!” and odd spoken lyrics from bassist Jonathan Aherne. I think a lot of people went to this show knowing nothing but “Sweet Disposition” and maybe “Fader,” but they all came away with a feeling of euphoria, seeing a band close to or at its peak in performance terms. Dougy Mandagi grinned through the entire set, later reaching out to the crowd at the end to shake as many hands as he could.
The light show for their final song, “Science of Fear,” was a war between strobes and blue spotlights. This is the level of light show Museuses on tour. So it’s not a far stretch of the imagination to imagine envision the Temper Trap playing Madison Square Garden or the Meadowlands sometime soon. They won’t be playing clubs for much longer. Watch this space.
The Temper Trap Set List
introduction
Rest
Fader
Fools
Down River
Love Lost
Soldier On
Sweet Disposition
Resurrection
Drumming Song
//
Rabbit Hole
Science of Fear
Tour Dates (dates with all three bands except those noted)
Sept 29 – House of Blues/ Boston
Sept 30 – Wellmont / Montclair, NJ
Oct 01 – Terminal 5 / New York City
Oct 02 – Le National / Montreal
Oct 03 – Capital Music Hall / Ottawa
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto
Oct 07 – Newport Music Hall / Columbus
Oct 08 – DC9 / Washington, DC^
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits / Austin*
Oct 09 – MOTR Club / Cincinnati%
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit
Oct 12 – Metro / Chicago
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Oct 18 – Crocodile / Seattle%
Oct 19 – Woods / Portland%
Oct 21 – Popscene / San Francisco&
Oct 22 – Fox / Pomona, CA
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles
^ Delphic only
* the Temper Trap only (festival appearance)
% the Hundred in the Hands only
& Delphic and the Hundred in the Hands only
After conquering the world with their high-powered rock shows, Melbourne, Australia-based band the Temper Trap will return to North America for an extensive tour August through October. The openers on this tour will be Manchester’s electropop/dance trio Delphic (who will join the tour in September) and Brooklyn duo The Hundred in the Hands. Presale tickets are already available from the Temper Trap‘s official website but the general ticket sale begins on July 9. The Temper Trap will also make appearances at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Outside Lands in San Francisco, and Austin City Limits.
Tour Dates
Aug 04 – House of Blues / San Diego, CA
Aug 06 – House of Blues / Cleveland
Aug 08 – Lollapalooza / Chicago
Aug 10 – Ogden Theater / Denver
Aug 11 – Depot / Salt Lake City
Aug 13 – Showbox / Seattle
Aug 14 – Roseland Theater / Portland
Aug 15 – Outside Lands Festival / San Francisco
Sept 26 – Trocadero / Philadelphia
Sept 29 – House of Blues / Boston
Sept 30 – Wellmont / Montclair, NJ
Oct 01 – Terminal 5 / New York City
Oct 02 – Le National / Montreal
Oct 03 – Capital Music Hall / Ottawa
Oct 05 – Phoenix / Toronto
Oct 09 – Austin City Limits / Austin
Oct 11 – St. Andrews / Detroit
Oct 13 – Turner Hall / Milwaukee
Oct 14 – First Avenue / Minneapolis
Oct 22 - Fox / Pomona, CA
Oct 23 – Club Nokia / Los Angeles
Check out the original version here and then listen to the Foals’ take here. We’ve had both on repeat, but we really love the extension that Foals gives it with its trumpeting music interlude about two minutes in. The descending bass line also gives the song a darker edge than the bubbly original. Adding to the darkness, is the way Foals’ latches on to the lyric, “Fly away,” and uses that to help fade out their six minute take on the song just as they led into it.
“Pigeons” will be on the The Hundred in the Hands’ debut self-titled album due out September 21.
Pre-order the album here.
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Concert Calendar
Nov 23, 2011
HaHa Tonka @ Recordbar, Kansas City MO
Nov 25, 2011
Thee Oh Sees @ The Granada, Lawrence KS
The exciting debut album from 
PW: Going back to the album, having heard what people have said about the album, one thing that I found very interesting was that people were comparing my favorite song, “Submission,” to Duran Duran.
