It felt like a special night at The Parish, there was buzz in the crowded room, for two local bands are co-headlining. Courtyards I had caught before at Oxfam Huddersfield – playing what I now know to be a very subdued set – an age ago but I’ve only heard about Mahatma Raindrop from various people who basically said ‘see them Frank, they’re fantastic’. Be forewarned this review contains gushing.
I failed – for various reasons way too complicated to go into here – to follow ‘Frank’s first rule’ of gig reviewing and missed the first band on the bill. This is bad, sorry guys.
So first up for me was St Buryan. My notes – scribbled as always during their set – say ‘It’s kind of a big joyous indie thing, something I have have recently come to appreciate (OK so this is late in the day, but that’s how it is). It’s on the poppier side with tunes to die for’. Writing this review a couple of days after the gig, I haven’t changed my mind on that.
The crucial thing, I guess, is whether St Buryan bring something I haven’t heard before from bands you could lump together in that indie pop genre. So there are the tunes I’ve mentioned before but there are ‘soaring harmonies’, the striking use of guitar in ‘sounds more like a keyboard’ mode and a rather fab lead vocal.
I’m trying to be objective here, you understand that? I can get that it’s good, it’s better than good but by the third song, I wasn’t that grabbed. The fourth song changed that – it’s, as my notes say, ‘a tuneful thing, a dancey poppy indie thing that just drives along, that has my feet tapping’. Maybe my earlier opinion was just waiting to be changed. This track ends with some glorious interweaving vocals. From this point on my mind was changing, I was getting grabbed.
Their next track is a rockier thing with great guitar and kinda funkier sections. It was with the next song that I was grabbed completely. This is a slow starting number with some subtle clever guitar that builds into this poppy toe-tapping, foot stamping thing, and explodes into something way funky.
As is so often the case, I wish that I could have rewound their set and listen to it again having got an appreciation of what they do. If you’re into indie-pop then catch St Buryan if they play near you.
As Courtyards got ready to play, the venue got fuller, it got way fuller, it felt like something special was about to happen. The Parish is filled with people who know the songs, it’s a party people.
As I said in my review of their latest single – Colours’ – ‘indie does really come in a huge range of flavours. Courtyards’ take is mostly bloody loud, it’s bloody raucous and dirty. It kinda edges into garage, it’s that raw’. The live experience is louder and more raucous.
Courtyards’ music is huge, bloody huge, it feels like they’re playing some gigantic venue, not the intimate surrounds of The Parish. It felt like they were playing to the whole of the centre of Huddersfield that night.
The playing – let’s get that out of the way – is fantastic, this is a band who know what they’re doing. And it’s a show, visually this band are compelling, you just can’t take your eyes off them. And every song is a big big soaring thing that just takes your full attention, fills you with a joy, a joy that you’re here to see and hear them.
At some point in their set, look I was basically transfixed, the crowd was way too dense to take detailed notes, they cover ‘Firestarter’. Covers are risky, even when you bill it as a tribute, but it’s banging people. The latest single – ‘Colours’ – is louder, more raw than the recorded version and it’s a joy.
Towards the end Matt – their singer – plunges into the crowd. This is something I sometimes find ‘a bit contrived’ but that night it felt right, an acknowledgement that without the crowd their set wouldn’t have been that good.
I see a lot of live music, very seldom do I see a band or artist play that makes me want to stop reviewing and be part of the gig. Reviewing takes some detachment. I lost that detachment with Courtyards that night. The songs, the playing, the visuals are bloody incredible. See Courtyards, see Courtyards even if you say you don’t like indie rock, it’s an experience people.
The crowd kinda changes, different people filter to the front, it is to be honest somewhat less crowded than for Courtyards. This is a pity, come on people stick around for all the bands.
So the problem is how do you follow a set like that from Courtyards? Mahatma Raindrop do that by playing louder, way louder at least for their opener. Their second song is a lighter more indie rock thing with some hints of the Arctic Monkeys.
Coming down from Courtyards’ set this left me somewhat slightly confused. The band’s thing is alternative rock with an indie edge or indie with an alternative rock edge. It does that alt-rock quiet loud thing but with the quieter sections sounding indie. It sounds rather strange to go from this groove-y thing into something loud and raucous. It took me some time to get this, it may sound like it doesn’t work, but you’d be wrong, you’d be way wrong.
But not everything they do is like this, sometimes it’s really straight indie rock. OK so it’s on the loud side and has what I described as ‘screechy guitar solos’, but there’s nothing wrong with that at all.
Mahatma Raindrop play covers – they cover ‘Does Your Mother Know’, yes really! And ‘Gotta Get Through This’. And make them their own. It’s kinda inspired, and way fun.
It took me some time but I gradually got into what they do, by the end I was fully engaged. Mahatma Raindrop are a band I’d like to see again.
All photos © Frank Roper Photography
