Last Updated on August 13, 2005
This is the second Gurl Rock night that the ER…. promoters have put on, and this one actually has bands that are predomninantly female, rather than bloke bands in dogy dresses! First up are The Wankers who entertain in a very 77 stylee with lyrics that the Mac Lads would be proud of. ‘Singer’ BoonDog stomps around forgetting how songs go, getting berated for being too drunk by the two girl guitarists (Klaire and Kris, it was 9pm by then!) and is generally the most genial and chipper frontman you’ll ever see! SOMA are just bloody fantastic, they remind us of an old Ipswich band called Nemo, but they have more of a virtuoso edge, to say this lot are genius musicians would be the understatement of the century. They have some Stereolab/ Pixies moments but have a far more agressive edge, but with the most divine female vocals, enough to smash anyone’s stone cold heart. Toms Big Elevation have travelled from France for tonight’s gig, they were supposed to be doing a 6 date UK tour but four dates got cancelled, leaving just Norwich Ferryboat the night before this gig and the performance we’re now stood grinning ear to ear in front of at the Ipswich Steamboat. Suppose they could have called it the boat tour or something… Right, just to get this bit of the review out of the way, the band is fronted by two georgous laydees, and I saw more than a few blokes in the audience look onward with that certain soppy teenage boy stare, they certainly made an impact on everyone. Everyone including the locals in the pub who spent a few minutes trying to chat them up (only getting blank looks from the girls in reply) till we decided to let them know they were French! The sounds they belted out sounded a bit Pixies/ Sonic Youth and dare I say it, Raincoats! They even did a cover of ‘where is my head’ by the aforementioned Pixies. They were fun, sexy, cheery and looked like they were having a great time. Felt a bit sorry for them having thier tour cut short but chatting to them afterwards they said they really had fun down at our little local venue boozer, and I guess that’s what counts. Hope to see them come back soon!
