Zebedy / Dora Nadine / The Fades / Bad Excuses – Bar Uno, Bangor

(review n pix by neil crud)

Got to this gig on a whim and a prayer just as either Bad Excuses or The Fades were packing up, so I guess half a night of rawk is better than catching no night at all.

Today I realised that The Fades were on after I had left, thinking Zebedy were the last band on! By all accounts I missed a set with attitude, as someone pointed out,
‘I’m pretty sure they emptied the place, but this didn’t stop them thinking they were Oasis though.. They weren’t just bad but they were complete nobs too. Even wrote a status blaming their shit performance on Dora Nadine and saying that some bands need to realise their status. They have deleted it and apologised now though. I wouldn’t normally say much about a band if they just weren’t very good but the fact they thought they were amazing and the way they were towards the other bands and the radio people is so just wrong.’

The Fades made a Facebook statement, apologising, ‘Sorry to the bands and Storm FM Bangor for last nights comments. We were pissed in both senses of the word. All comments [against us] were completely justified and there was no need for us to rant like that. How we played and acted was childish and again, we’re sorry, we hope you forgive us.’
Shit, sounds like I missed a good show!
Sometimes I yearn for a cocky young band like The Fades to go the whole hog and trash a venue, say ‘cunt’ live on the radio, chin a doorman and get hospitalised for doing so or get arrested for spraying their name on the bonnet of a police car.
Everyone’s too polite these days! Where are the Der Bombers and the 4Qs of the modern world? Is this self congratulationary planet now full of bands who are like two girls when they buy a new dress or get a new haircut, ‘Oh, you look lovely.’ – when she really looks a fucking mess. Bands will say ‘That was brilliant maan!’ When they really mean you’re a pile of unoriginal boring shit…
I often think I should just come out and say, this band is shit, that band are fucking awful and the rest are wankers. It’d probably spur them on far better than the local hero/family worship shite they get. Yeah, their egos get massaged for a bit by mum n dad, but it’s not real praise is it? And besides I took the policy of simply not reviewing stuff I didn’t like rather than publicly slating it. Some bands / people / parents are not mature enough to take criticism and I’d probably end up lying on the pavement after feeling a dull thud to the back of the head. I didn’t take too kindly to being slated myself; when Steven Wells said my single ‘sucked’ in the NME, I sent him a rank pork chop and maggots in the post!

I asked around while the next band were setting up, ‘What have I missed?’… Bad Excuses were described by one person as ‘Good at what they do.’ And by another as, ‘A band who had a solid rhythm section with a singer with a good voice but in the wrong band and a really enthusiastic guitarist who was also in the wrong band but shouldn’t be in the same band as the singer!!’ Work that one out!

It seemed a few people had ‘fucked off and gone home’ before the next band Dora Nadine (pic above) cranked up their amps and let rip into their set. Vocalist Dewi Thomas has a stiff posture as he shuffles around the stage in an imaginary strait-jacket, but, like the rest of the band, he can deliver the goods.
These Anglesey boys are very tight, well rehearsed and tread the well trodden path of the pop-punk / hardcore ilk (Emo to you and me). Having seen a million bands of a genre that’s been around for far too long, I can safely say I am not a fan of this kind of music (probably cos I’m fast becoming a boring old cunt). But, sat there as I was as Dora Nadine machine gunned their debut EP ‘Welcome To Hollywood’ (Holyhead would’ve been  better!) I was suitably impressed (after all, I am writing about them!). The energy, the enthusiasm (particularly the drummer [Mitch?] who had a smile on his face throughout) and the punchy tunes will ensure there’s plenty of wet knickers at their shows.
Managed to blag a copy of the said EP after their set, and they get extra points for having the sleeve designed by Mr Kobo.

Zebedy (pic above + main pic) began as a side-project, I described them in January 2008 as a release valve for Johnny Lantern who has chords busting out of every orifice known to humankind. I did see them again later that year at The Grapevine in Rhyl but I was so horribly drunk I couldn’t pick up a pen let alone write anything, but from what I recall it was a great night at a shortlived venue. Anyhow, Zebedy are a completely different band to the one I saw 5 years ago.
So, like Bastions who I always seem to miss cos I’m at the wrong end of the country or in the wrong prison cell, the stars finally aligned and Zebedy and myself found ourselves in the same STD clinic at the same time.
What I really like about these Storm FM nights at Bar Uno in Bangor Uni is the fact that the bands only get 35 minutes each. They don’t have time to bore you. By the time you’re getting into the groove they’re fucking off home before the next band is on! By the time the nervous crowd has plucked up the courage to make tits of themselves and dance, the band are playing their final song. And that’s what makes it good.
Bands have to pull out the punches; all killer, no filler. They have to hit the ground running. No time for some poncey ballad, they’ve got to go in, flip the burger, rattle the fries, put the lid on the coke and serve the next customer. And long may it continue, and also word needs to get out about how good these nights can be, and that local bands for local people means local people can venture onto campus and enjoy their mates play and hopefully discover a new band to follow.
Zebedy of course hit the ground running, they were running when they shoved their amps in the back of the van to come here today, they are professional (despite not getting paid), they’ve been around the block (despite being young), they’re slick (despite looking rough as arseholes!). They opened with a new song Fake It, and although being dubbed Zebedy Clyro, I can’t comment as I have no knowledge of the Biffy Boys. What I can say is you get an orchestra of guitars, riffs, chords, twists, shouts and turns, with material off the next album, guitars being tuned to D-flat for a meaner sound, a filthy bass, dodgy vocals and guitars that can rip you a new arsehole.
Why should you take my word for it? Zebedy are one of a handful of bands who ‘have guitar – will play’ attitude and travel near and far to spread their disease. Fall victim to their virus at a venue near you…

Bad Excuses // Dora Nadine // Zebedy // The Fades