Tonight a took the chance to go and see Villanelle and to get the elephant in the room out the way, yes it’s Gene Gallagher, son of Liam Gallagher’s band. Oasis did play The Joiners 31 years ago on the 29th of March 1994, but that’s where any talk of Oasis stops. Tonight was about Villanelle.
They are grunge/rock trio fronted by Gene Gallagher with Ben Taylor on guitar and Jack Schiavo on bass. The first take from the night is they are a tight and musically talented group that put down some serious sound, the floor was literally vibrating under our feet.
It was relentless high energy sound clearly inspired and at times resembling staple grunge band like Nirvana with listed influences from Black Sabbath and Smashing Pumpkins although those were not so obvious. The face of Charlie Sheen on the drum kit was a also a great sight.
A number of conversations I heard and had after the gig were all saying the same thing, “that was great” or “seriously impressed” or “Iwasn’t sure what to expect but it was better than I expected, really good” and I can’t disagree. I think they smashed it. There was an essence of the Gallagher sound, it’s hard not to listen for it and try to make comparisons but why. He’s out there doing his own thing and doing it well.
These are serious musicians playing some great music on their own terms, they may be a new band in the scheme of things but it’s all there, expect more and expect it to just get better.
With a couple of singles out, I’d like to see more on Spotify and tours supporting major acts if they carry on they will hopefully carve out there own path and shake the shadow that’s obviously going to be there.
The shadow tonight showed itself in the audience, I’ve seen grunge acts at the Joiners before and many bands with less presence than tonight and the audience is animated, bouncing, moshing just at one with the audio assault coming from the stage. I arrived bang on opening time to find the front row a wall of young girls some with parents but that’s no surprise but this led to a true shoegaze crowd, young and old with an introverted appreciation for the wall of noise, static which was a shame in a way. They would feed off a grunge crowd.
No talking no nonsense with some great songs and serious playing. If you get the chance, go see them you won’t be disappointed and if you’re wondering what the name Villanelle means. I googled it for you.
A villanelle is a 19-line poem with a specific structure of five tercets (three-line stanzas) and a concluding quatrain (four-line stanza). It follows a strict rhyme scheme using only two rhymes and includes two repeating lines, called refrains. The first and third lines of the first stanza alternate as the last line of the following tercets and appear together as the final two lines of the quatrain.
Thank me later.
Support came from Black Gloss Wardobe, his own site states “Black Gloss Wardrobe is the artist project of multi instrumentalist Charlie Frogson, blending Alt, Funk, Disco, Ska and more to create his own genre” it was a stripped back affair due to his drummer being ‘pre-disposed’ but I became a fan tonight, great vocals and great songs from just Charlie Frogson himself playing some chilled guitar accompanied by an acoustic guitar. I listened to the full band on the way home and will be listening more. Definitely worth a listen. – Link to Spotify
