Cottage Industries First Annual All-Dayer @ The Cluny, 5th November 2011

Monday, 07 November 2011 21:54

By Nic Wright

The combined curses of day jobs and public transport strike on this fine Saturday afternoon, meaning that I managed to miss the first four acts at Newcastle label Cottage Industries’ first all-day gig. Being at the time unfamiliar with Cinematic Submarine, they were a brilliant surprise. A thrashing, snotty blend of punk rock and post-hardcore, their upbeat, yet downright dirty chunks of noise are layered with heavy-handed riffs and the odd fervid scream.

Following them, and drawing in what appeared to be the biggest crowd of the afternoon, was Baskin's Wish. Having heard some fairly defamatory things about their live show, anticipation for their set was beset by concern. Thankfully all that naysaying turned out to be absolute nonsense; Baskin's Wish were a breeze of unbridled, surf-sprayed delight. Turning out such gawkily buoyant tracks such as 'In & Out' and 'Bill Murray Is Funny But I'm Still Sad', their set ran through great song after great song. With tunes so joyous, so brilliantly crafted, it'd take a failure of spectacular proportions to dampen them live, but on stage, the band are a lovably ungainly joy to behold. Paying homage to perhaps one of their biggest musical influences, they close their set with Weezer's 'Tired of Sex', a fine finale.

With Baskin's Wish proving such a hard act to follow to begin with, Oxford’s Spring Offenseive don't quite cut the mustard with their performance. Dressed in a manor not too dissimilar to World War II evacuees, the band spring into a collection of mediocre indie sounds, occasionally touching on Arcade Fire, but mostly sounding like nothing much in particular. They only really show their colours when they take to The Cluny's small staircase for an impromptu acappella performance, showing off their vocal talents.

Johnny Phonic brought a change of both pace and genre to the afternoon, performing his brand of one-man-and-his-laptop atmospheric electro. Decent enough by all accounts, although, even when he brings up a singer and a guitarist to join him, the live set-up just isn't enough to hold the crowd's attention.

Sunderland's own The Lake Poets are up next. Backed by a full band, they easily win back the audience's attention, storming the room with a rocked-out performance of heartfelt Northern anthem 'City By The Sea'.

The Union Choir, fresh from selling out their début single 'Eleanor', pull out all the stops for what is possibly their last appearance of the year. Gloomy, but innately amiable, The Union Choir play with quiet confidence, low-key but always in full control of their performance.

All the way from Scotland, The Zephyrs follow with a performance you keep expecting to go somewhere, but never quite gets there. A set of largely quiet, indescript tracks fails to captivate the crowd, with some struck by such disinterest they take to lying out on the floor for a quiet kip.

A slightly damp end to an otherwise excellent line-up, and a wonderful event.