Photo: Cai Trefor and Press
Liverpool Sound City celebrated its 10th anniversary in style kicking off with a set from John Cale and ending with a 10th anniversary show celebrating The Cribs' Men's Need, Women's Needs, Whatever. This was followed by a phenomenal afterparty at North Shore Troubadour, a warehouse venue just across the road from the main site.
The festival offered an outstanding diversity of music, and we were fortunate enough to enjoy acts from China, South Korea, and Canada as much as some of our well-known favourites from the UK. For the festival to be pulling off such great moves only ten years in is such an incredible achievement. Imagine what this young team of music lovers can do in another ten. Hats off to them for a great festival and here are some stories we collected whilst we were there enjoying a a great festival and a city centre that's vastly improved over the last decade or so, making it feel like city with a palpable sense of optimism and possibility.
Lias Saoudi makes a good Lou Reed
"I'm watching John Cale play The Velvet Underground and Nico in full," is such a satisfying sentence and one that, sadly, we'll probably never be able to say again. This show in Liverpool’s docklands is the last time the record gets played on European shores, and the final time this concept for a show is being done is in November in New York. No wonder 10,000 tickets flew out in 15 minutes.
Despite our excitement in the build up to the gig, our first impressions are that it’s a bit jarring. In a chance encounter with The Zutons’ Dave McCabe at the back of the crowd, we look at each other and share the sense we’re hearing the start of – bizarrely, an LCD Soundsystem tune – not I'm 'Waiting for the Man'. Maybe it’s something to do with the wind or the phrasing by the musicians, but whatever it is, it’s not the same as the original. It's at this moment we realise that it's going to take some getting used to not hearing this record in the classic way embrace the VU ‘reimagined’ concept.
As the night progresses we do warm to the ‘reimagined’ thing, and realise quickly that each of the incredible musicians – handpicked by Cale – have an interesting perspective to give. It’s also incredible to witness them emotion on their faces as they embrace the utterly brilliant task of reinterpreting the one of – if not the greatest album of the 20th century. It's surely a massive highlight of anyone’s musical career to be sharing the stage with the viola playing Welshman integral to the creation of the first two VU album.
Those Cale's picked are brilliant. Alison Mosshart, Gruff Rhys, Fat White Family, Wild Beasts and Clinic all take to the stage at different intervals and it's particularly thrilling to see The Kills as Alison Mosshart looks like the rock goddess she's always been. Meanwhile, Nadine Shah's vocals are sublime and probably the most accurate to the original of Nico’s that could be achieved. Gruff Rhys is unmistakably Gruff Rhys and seeing this generations best, coolest Welsh singer next to the previous generations most exciting purveyor of the avant garde is just the most life affirming thing for Gigwise.
Elsewhere, Wild Beasts frontman Hayden Thorpe's vocals are strong and representative of someone’s who’s spent their life honing their craft to be able to project so brilliantly to tens of thousands of people. But it’s Fat White Family's Lias Saoudi that truly grabs ahold of us. Looking somewhat like the late, great Lou Reed himself, with messy short, dark hair, and a retro shirt, he’s in his element here playing in the shadow of an all-time hero. "John Cale everybody," roars Saoudi with a smile of disbelief and appreciation.
Hearing Saoudi sing 'Heroin' - arguably the most powerful song on the album - is particularly profound; it's a drug that's infiltrated Fat White Family’s inner circle. Tough gritty realities aren't whitewashed and the transparency with which Saoudi carries the Fat Whites' lives through music and interviews, is something echoed in the uncompromising adult themes Lou Reed put into The Velvet Underground.
The finale, which comes around just after a sublime sunset on the docklands, features every musician of the night. The song, 'Sister Ray', taken from the second Velvet Underground album, White Light /White Heat, feels like a victory dance in some ways. As the graphic sex and drug story is sung with style it offers a slice of the 60s, 50 years later and it still feels as fresh and more daring thematically than nearly any contemporary guitar group bar say Fat Whites.
Jah Wobble laments home that prog PiL were the next stage of prog
It's hot outside, like really hot. So being indoors at Liverpool's cavernous warehouse, Camp and Furnace in the city’s Baltic Triangle not only offers a cool break from the burning rays, it’s an opportunity to indulge in the 'In Conversation' series that Sound City have so meticulously curated.
We miss the bulk of the talks, but are fortunate enough to catch Jah Wobble. The former Public Image Limited bassist who played on their best alum Metal Box, is the final person to chat with music historian Dave Haslam for the day. The fantastic thing about Haslam is his ability to go back centuries as opposed to the more common ability of traversing decades when it comes to providing reference points for popular music. Curiously, in Jah Wobble he has very much met his match. The former PiL bassist entertained listeners by explaining his approach to the bass being very modal and 'pre-Bach' - elementary stuff but still a nice touch. Meanwhile, self-proclaimed PiL fanboy Haslam describes Wobble's style as very elemental and connecting with our heartbeat and providing an impact for being so loud and low. He's not wrong there.
One of the most interesting discussions that occurs was when he was asked for his opinion on the genesis of post-punk down to prog-rock. PiL are largely thought to be the godfathers of the post-punk era, and Wobble points out that Hawkwind records In Search of Space and Sonic Attack are similar to post-punk. The bassist also tells us that Keith Levene (PiL guitarist) was very inspired by the Yes guitarist as he roadied for him for a while. The other possibly cross-pollinating factor is that Wobble went to see Hawkind with John Lydon before punk started. Lydon never made any secret of his love for this and hear this legend in conversation affirm it is consolidating the evidence.
Andy Rourke from the Smiths was playing live and no one knew
At Gigwise, we're fans of indie supergroup The G-O-D. We had the fortune of interviewing them just as they were announced as support for The Stone Roses at Wembley. But the world at large doesn't actually know too much about them, they're one of those cult bands that you have to have been fortunate enough to stumble across. Subsequently it's busy, but not packed out for the late afternoon slot in the Tim Peaks Diner tent. Those that are here, whether they're acquainted with the music or not, are getting off on it, and it's a good sign ahead of the forthcoming Wembley show. The dancing is as loose, unhinged, and rapturous levels of applause leave no gaps of awkward silence in between songs.
The lineup of this band is something to behold. Anyone who's eyes glossed over the word The G-O-D will be kicking themselves when they realise who's in the band. There’s Dubsex frontman Chris Brigett, who's such a great songwriter it’s no wonder John Peel was so crazy about it all those years ago. Then there’s his mates who were in the Smiths: Funk Si (drums) and Andy Rourke (bass). Funky Si, real name Wolstencroft, was the first drummer in The Smiths but turned down the full time job by not being a fan of Morrissey's vocal style. He's absolutely world-class and locking in with Andy Rourke - the actual former Smiths bassist. To see Rourke playing behind three sassy female backing vocalists giving it everything, as he nails every run, is brilliant to watch. It’s and no wonder Ian Brown personally asked them to open for them at Wembley and he’ll be happy to know they’re match fit.
Beijing post-punk band Retros owned Sunday main stage
We heard from their publicist after the show that Re-Tros went to visit Ian Curtis' grave in Macclesfield before heading home to Beijing. This honour and love for the late, great Joy Division singer makes total sense when listening to their music live on the main stage in Liverpool docklands. The band are a perfect combination of the very best bands to come out of the UK in the latter half of the 20th century without seeming at all like a watered down tribute. It’s as if the essence of post-punk lives on in and is more alive than in nearly any other contemporary band around. They also have a strong handle on the analog electronic sounds popular with Factory records bands, giving their sound a deeper perspective than that they would manage with guitars alone. Re-Tros are fitting in supremely in the North west of England. It's amazing to think that a couple of days later they're back playing small venues like The Old Blue last. It's unlikely they'll ever be much more than a cult favourite in the UK but if you're in anyway a fan of Joy Division, do check them out and give them a chance of playing more major festivals in this country.
The Cribs outshone The Kooks
After a two minute silence to honour the victims of the Manchester Attack that humbled the festival, The Cribs arrive on stage for a slot that overlaps with The Kooks. They honour everyone in the tent by going, "this is the Labour stage, you can go and see some corporate rock over there on the conservative stage." Although The Cribs don’t actually name The Kooks, it does seem likely they’re stirring things up a bit as they are fundamentally very different bands, despite coming up into the mainstream around the same time.
Compared to the soft, joyous music The Kooks make, The Cribs are far more visceral, pent-up nutcases on stage and offer a thrilling show. To match their heavy, melodic, hook-laden sound is a fierce sense of independence. This is most evident when The Jarman's speak of the mainstream "commodifying our culture," and they take a jib at Soho House that shows indifference to the wealthy circles they're expected to transcend to when reaching the upper echelons of the rock 'n' roll circuit. Ultimately, it's refreshing to see a group with their feet firmly on the ground and perhaps this is keeping them young.
And it's important that they still look and sound like it's still 2007, because they're here marking the tenth anniversary of their best album Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. Hearing it with any less of the vigorus spirit that made it great in the first place would be underwhelming.
Especially great are the tracks 'Our Bovine Public', 'Mens Needs', and 'I'm A Realist.' In addition to the full album, the play ‘Pink Snow’ and early single - and still their best - 'Another Number'. A new chapter begins for The Cribs now with the new stuff that's just to come out, and we accept that this is probably the last time we’ll ever hear this great modern indie album in full, but what a way to honour it.
North Shore Troubador was the best afterparty place
It's bank holiday tomorrow so when we leave the main festival site after The Cribs, we're presented with a sign held by the stewards: one pointing us to the city, and another to an after party. We choose the latter, and take a short walk down a narrow street between two huge warehouses.
We reach the entrance to our venue. It doesn't look like much from the outside, it looks more like somewhere you'd go to get your car a new exhaust than a music venue. But the disguise, and fact we're a mile or so from the city centre, helps endear us more to the place.
We're welcomed by a phenomenally powerful sound system, a live music stage, a bar, a dancefloor, and a mezzanines area to chill out. Up on the third floor is an incomplete hand-built balcony for smoking that the passionate individuals who run this place, and work on the bar, have carved out. It's like their piece of paradise in the docklands and is a carpentry project still in the works that’s evolving as budgets allow. The low-key nature of it and fact it looks assembled from stuff they can find adds charm , character and a youthful exuberance to the place.
There's definitely a sturdy following developing in this relatively new venue, and one of the local gentleman who's a regular to this place seems to have an affinity with it, "it's mostly electronic music nights, and the atmosphere is amazing, it's so much better than being in the city, and Baltic Triangle," he says. The Baltic Triangle is the area of Liverpool that held the wonderful conference part of the festival where we heard Jah Wobble. It's home to one of Liverpool's most revered venues, Camp and Furnace. But its sustained success has brought affluence and rising rent costs mean that a lot of the cities outsider,s musicians and artists have moved further out to the docklands area and brought the party with them – we even hear of one called Sound Shitty; a cheeky fringe party held until the early hours, but opt to keep to seeing bands.
Up first is soul-pop future star Joel Sarakula, a London-based Aussie. He looks every bit the part, and strangely comes across -thanks to his thick framed oversized spectacles and cadence in the way he talks, like a 70s BBC presenter. He plays a pair of keyboards and is backed by a drummer and the sound they create together is impressive with nods to the greatest purveyors of pop in the 70s like Todd Rundgren and Elvis Costello.
Keeping in with retro spirit are The Barbarettes. They're South Korean's with a sideways view on how to create a K-pop band. With pitch-perfect voices, and a sublime look, they could quite easily have dented the mainstream had they gone down an overly trodden path of conventional K Pop. But the front three choose to sing covers of 1950s US chart hits and 1930's Korean songs backed by piano, drums and a bass. Their spell-binding charm gets the entire room glued to their performance and this is easily one of the best received shows of the entire weekend.
Having the difficult task of following on from the sublime Barabarettes were DGS Samurai Champs. They’re completely different in style but their fiercely energetic live show, led by individuals who are the godfathers of the new wave of Canadian hip-hop who put out music under the umbrella Trifecta, was equally enthralling. Rapper Jeah and R&B singer Merv xx Gotti are the focal point of the show. Gotti’s acrobatic stage presence is admirable he runs up the venue walks and all over the equipment in gravity defying way, meanwhile his vocal remain unwavered and pitch perfect the whole time. Jeah, who came to Canada as a Cambodian refugee, added the grittier, heavier vocals and was ill-afraid to jump out into the crowd and get the party going. Making the whole project even more intoxicating is the hotly-tipped future-soul producer vbnd providing the backing track.
Once the front two leave it’s up to vbnd to man the decks for a short while as he bring the sound that are igniting the underground in Toronoto to Liverpool. There’s been nothing of this silky, alternative, bass heavy r&b played all weekend and it makes a refreshing alternative and a great end to a sublime Liverpool Sound City 2017.
