PUNKCAST#348
Fingathing
The Bandits
Knitting Factory NYC
Oct 21 2003
sponsored by
WWWhatsup Online Pinstand
with thanks to Knitting Factory


'this is not that time'

In the day, early/mid 80's, when Madonna might open for A Certain Ratio, the Manchester crew, aided by their insider - booker Ruth Polsky - ruled Rockpool's New Music Seminar. Perhaps unable to make a similar dent in it's successor, CMJ, in 2003 they hooked up with the Liverpool contingent to run their own conflab in the 6 days preceding CMJ itself. Aided by municipal munificence they brought over not only musicians and and dj's, but also artists, filmmakers, fashion designers, and their works, not to mention Tony Wilson himself. All of which were installed at various locations about the city. To anchor the whole thing the quaint Maritime Hotel, a former old seaman's home complete with porthole windows on the Hudson River, was commandeered as HQ, with daily forums and nightly sessions. The major showcase for new bands was this Knitting Factory show, on the (Tuesday) night, eve of CMJ.

First up was Manchester's contribution, an improvisational outfit called Fingathing. Pairing a champion hop-hop scratch dj with a classically trained double-bass player, augmented by a live video mix of dvd and onstage cams, they were very well received by the crowd. Inspired by comic-book imagery, they defined themselves as 'supahero music' and included a wacked out version of Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' in their set. I've put up two clips so you can get a good look at them, Tony Wilson got up on stage and, after paying tribute to Ruth, introduced the next band - Inouk - who turned out to be, in fact, from NYC. Apparently under the same management as The Bandits, or so I was told, Inouk feature extremely good-looking american boys, rockin rhythms, and ambitious harmonies. One can see these guys could conquer the UK faster than one could say, well, Walker Brothers. Unfortunately I screwed up on recording the vocals so no vid on them I'm afraid. Headlining, and representing Liverpool, were the aforementioned Bandits. Formed in the aquarian boggie idyll of Glasto 2000, these guys have gone on to becone the godfathers of the 'acid-scouse' scene that has spawned acts like The Coral that are currently tearing up the UK. Upbeat country rock with a psychedelic undercurrent, they had really good songs sung in an engaging lilt, and very obviously, great chemistry. I was particularly impressed 1) by the keyboard player's genuine Terry Razor era Clash shirt, and 2) by the echo guitar solo in 'Once Upon A time' (clip below) which well evoked classic 60's Liverpudlian beat instrumentalism.











And yes i have knocked up VCD's of Fingathing - VCD3481 (7+,31:32), and The Bandits - VCD3483 (12,40:42). As usual, you can get copies from the pinstand for $4 inc. mail ($5 foreign) = if interested email orders@pinstand.com with the subject=VCD Order, and I'll let you know the process, or just paypal straight in at that address.




capture captain: joly
date posted: 12/4/03

www.transatlanticexpress.co.uk
www.fingathing.com
www.thebandits.info

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