Transmit: Fight Like Apes with support from A Northern Light & Concrete Circus
Wednesday 8th May – Limelight 2, Belfast
Wednesday night at the Limelight. Sorry, Limelight 2. Something I wouldn’t have entertained in my youth as I was more of a Tuesday and Saturday man (Shag and Helter Skelter RIP). But it’s a different thing these days. Recently it has produced Transmit. A live local showcase for up and coming bands and also some established ones. A great platform for the Northern Irish music scene. This week is Ireland’s finest ‘Fight Like Apes’. The limelight, sorry limelight 2, is filling up as the first band Concrete Circus take to the stage.
What I believe started as an acoustic idea has blossomed into a 5 piece band. For only starting in late 2011, they have the sound of a band playing for years. With a mix of reggae, ska, and even a little punk, they play recently penned song ‘The Great Divide’. A song the singer states “is a song about all that fleg business” that we all know too well about. ‘Reason To Believe’ gets the shared vocal treatment and the Pocket Billiards style of ‘Worlds On Fire’ has the crowd dancing and singing back the words. These guys have quite a few gigs under their belt and more on the horizon. Check them out.
Next up is A Northern Light. Filling in for Empty Lungs who had to pull out due to guitarist Sam Chadwick being on tour with Sepultura….yes you heard me, Sepultura. They take to the stage in a sea of smoke and distant synths. After a spoken word sample, the synths fade out and the guys launch into their set. It’s refreshing to see a band incorporate these tools that a lot of bands would use in a recording studio but never do live. Throughout their set the songs are peppered with samples and crescendos, reminiscent of 30 Seconds To Mars or Angels & Airwaves. But they have made their own sound, and it’s big. Thunderous drums, distorted, echo, catchy guitars and sweet bass lines. Darren, Omar and Colm clearly have a picture in their heads of how they want to portray their art and they do it with style. Playing tracks from their 2 EPs ‘The Right Thing To Do’ and ‘Chase The Ghosts Away’ they have a fan in the audience who wants to know where he can hear the music when he goes home. Lead singer Darren reassures him he’ll tell him all the details shortly thereafter. Ending with ‘A Tough Aggressive’, it’s a inclination of where these guys are heading. An exciting new band and one I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of.
The Limelight, sorry Limelight 2 (can’t get used to it yet) is now filling up. There are some die hard fans here tonight to see Fight Like Apes. And they’re all at the front. Having celebrity fans in Jonathan Ross and Father Ted/IT Crowds Graham Linehan, Fight Like Apes have made quite the noise on the irish music scene over the years. Playing Oxegen, Electric Picnic and numerous television shows, being personally picked by The Prodigy as a support act, they are now on a UK and Ireland tour in order to fund the recording of their new album. And to let people know they mean business.
As a music fan, Transmit is the perfect opportunity to see your favourite bands up close and personal. And it’s about to get real personal. May Kay, Pockets (Jamie Fox), Conor Garry and Lee Boylan start things off with a slow keyboard laden track before going into a full punk assault which sees singer May Kay play her synth with her head. It’s quite the image and one that gets the crowd moving. Their debut album ‘Fight Like Apes & The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion’ spawned the singles ‘Lend Me Your Face’, ‘Tie Me Up With Jackets’ and ‘Jake Summers’, all of which get played to a great reception. ‘Jake Summers’ gets May Kay in the crowd letting the fans sing parts of the song and at one point sees her come up to me. Male fans have expressed both feelings of terror and attraction at the same time for her and tonight I can attest to that. The crowd dance around her as she screams and wails. After returning to the stage she tells us a story about Oxegen where during the same song she did the same thing only to be met with confusion by the crowd that had come to see them. This was not the case tonight.
‘Jenny Kelly’ gives a young guy the chance to sing the lyrics back to the singer as she sings the song to him. It’s fun to see a band interact with the crowd as much as Fight Like Apes do. At one point someone buys May Kay a drink, which she downs in one. For only bass, synths and drums, the band are a force to be reckoned with. Even without guitars they make such a beautiful noise. ‘Digifucker’, ‘Poached Eggs’ and ‘Ice Cream Apple Fuck’ are bratty, punky and simply brilliant. Lyrics such as ‘You’re pretentious as fuck’ or ‘You’re like Kentucky fried chicken but without the taste’ make everyone smile as i’m sure most of us can all relate. And it’s in that honesty and reckless abandonment that Fight Like Apes find their sound. Describing themselves as karate rock and having long winded song titles to annoy journalists, we see their youthful punk attitude. They finish their set to a thunderous round of applause and the last notes of a sample track playing out as they exit the venue.
A brilliant live show with cartwheels, head banging keyboard playing, screaming on your knees and a fair bit of alcohol, Fight Like Apes are a band you have to see live. Their two albums have been playing non stop on my ipod since and when they release their self funded third, which they will do no problem, i’ll be listening to that day in day out. Young, dumb and full of fun. Well done Transmit and Limelight…..2.
