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The Dublin Castle: starting ground for so many indie favourites it’s ridiculous, famed in a ‘when Britpop ruled and everyone lived in Camden’ way; now home to more live bands than most people even knew existed. Though obviously this doesn’t mean that any of them are any good...
So out come Assembly Now, another unsigned band hoping to make it big, bursting straight into double A side release 'It's Magnetic' with the volume in this small back room just that little bit too loud, though if that was due to the band being in full throttle mode, that can only be a good thing. They provide an explosive celebration of all that is British, think The Jam on speed. Or with an ASBO. With so many melodies bursting out of them they could give the ones spilling out of their pockets to a tramp and it wouldn’t affect their musical nuance (though the tramp may be pissed off; he wants money for fucks sake).
The drummer was the anti Karen Carpenter, physically, but also in the way he grasped the limelight whenever possible, and gave Animal a run for his money in the way he pounded those skins (and we all know he was the best Muppet).
One of Assembly Now’s pluses is the way that whenever the music becomes too impassioned or intense and has a danger of veering into twatty introspective territory, you can count on a jingly jangly guitar to take them back to Libertines tinged upbeat pop. There’s something Libs-esque about them, though that could just be the booming drums and guitar heavy hooks, they definitely aren’t another Libs throwback band (to the grand old times gone of 2002) - a pinch of angular guitar is thrown in for good measure, to show they have a sound all of their own.
With the standard dedication to Syd Barrett out of the way, in ‘Calculate’ (did any band manage to do a set Tuesday and leave the dedication out?!); 'Caucasian Nights', which was catchier than the Happy Days theme, won everybody over. There was definitely a sense of, dare we say it, enjoyment in the air. And not just from the friends of the band.
'Out on 24', the double AA of single release, has a Bloc Party feel in its empty voluminous echoes, though their passion and joie de vie prevents the overall effect feeling empty. By the breakdown in 'Leigh On Sea' it was clear they weren’t a flash in the pan and don’t deserve to be.
There’s a variety in what Assembly Now do, it’s not just indie by numbers. So here are Assembly Now, a guitar based indie band ticking all the boxes but then providing something extra with it too. And no Kasabian, it isn’t arrogance. Not yet anyway...
