SINGLE REVIEW: The Pastimes – ‘Tide’
[by steve rastin]
OK, I’d better start this review by acknowledging that I am close to The Pastimes, sinking a few pints, shooting pool and chatting shit on a regular basis with singer/ guitarist Kameron Joliffe and guitarist Matty Waring in particular.
I’d kind of known them both, along with drummer Ryan Roberts, either through their involvement in previous bands or from their attendance at gigs I was staging, but it’s only since the end of lockdown and the band’s emergence as a fully committed gigging entity that we’ve become proper mates.
The band initially was a three piece consisting of Kameron, Ryan and Martha Peters on bass and vocals, but Martha jumped ship fairly early on to move to Brighton, at which point new bassist Callum Jones and Matty arrived in quick succession so that very little momentum was lost during the transition.
They quickly established themselves at the forefront of the local scene via gigs at the likes of the Late Lounge, O’Gradys and Lolas, but have been equally quick to break out of North Wales playing gigs regularly in Chester, Liverpool and Manchester in particular.
My lazy description of The Pastimes has always been that they are the musical intersection between Britpop and Sub Pop, but that underplays the subtleties, nuances and complexities of the band’s sound and interactions.
Pastimes songs are generally built around a groove that shoots along as if propelled by rocket fuel and their live set more often than not surrenders itself to this propulsion before hitting final critical mass with a cover of Nirvana’s “Love Buzz”.
One song in their set sticks out like a sore thumb however, and I remember remarking to Kameron when it was debuted live that it would come to be seen as the most important song in their live set because it rolls along at a slower, more measured pace, giving band and audience a bit of a breather from their more adrenalized material.
It’s called “Tide” and even though I earmarked it as an important song within their canon, I never for one minute envisaged it as being an obvious choice for a debut single, but then what do I know?
“Tide” follows the classic grunge “quiet/ loud/ quiet/ really bloody loud” format that Nirvana perfected, but Kameron’s vocal delivery during the verses has more in common with the narcoleptic drawl of someone like Ian McCulloch, seeping over restrained guitar lines like poisoned honey, before cracking into an elemental howl as it battles the sonic maelstrom that has blown up as the chorus kicks in. Kameron and Matty are perfect foils for each other, their guitar interplay seeming almost telepathic, but the glory should not be theirs alone as the rhythm section are the pairing that are keeping the beast on the leash, Ryan’s playing dictating the structure of the song, while Callum’s stoic, full sounding bass gifts the song a sombre sense of gravitas of astonishing power.
All the best bands of old had heroic rhythm sections – the Stones had Wyman and Watts, Zep had Jones and Bonham, the Clash has Simonon and Headon, Joy Division had Hook and Morris and Nirvana had Novoselic and Grohl – and the importance of the Jones/ Roberts axis to Pastimes is absolute.
Don’t take my word for it though – check out the single from October 14 and treat yourself to their next live set in North Wales which takes place at O’Gradys in Rhyl on Saturday, October 29.
