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Ideamotion at The Catapult Club, 4th November
Ideamotion, formerly known as The Beautiful
Losers, an Indie-rock band that received considerable radio play in
Ireland, joined fellow unsigned talents Moon Junior, Siren, Doctors of
Love, and Angelo Paladino at the dual-stage Catapult Club in New Cross
on November 4th, only to steal the show with a blazing eight song set
that tore through the audience and left mic-stands scattered about the
stage.
The night began with a mellow three-song set from Moon Junior on
the acoustic stage, a singer-songwriter accompanied only by a recording
of his own clapping. After a brief intermission, Siren, a four-piece
combining pop guitar and lyrics with female back-up vocals and a
cellist took the main stage. Though the sound quality was poor and band
struggled to keep the audiences attention, they certainly let loose a
few catchy songs, not the least of which was “Lovely,” an honest and
melodic heart warmer showcasing the bands succinct style. Moving back
to the acoustic stage, the crowd was greeted by Doctors of Love,
another four-piece, this one an all-male set up out of Leeds. By now
the crowd was beginning to fill the venue, which has about a 300-person
capacity. For the next half-hour, the Doctors of Love did their best to
dominate the climbing din of the crowd with vocals that captured the
enthusiasm of Meatloaf and the garbled sarcasm of Tom Waits. Meanwhile,
Ideamotion were busy arranging themselves for what would be the show of
the night on the main stage.
The classic quartet launched into the set with a combination of
lead guitarist “The Major” Thom Boland’s soaring guitar and Jonathan
Bangs’ punctual but crashing drums. Even before vocalist Brian Kelly
stepped up to the mic, there was a noticeable difference in the crowd.
Whereas during the previous three sets people had ambled drunkenly
about the place chatting, there was now a mass migration toward the
front stage. With the audience well primed, Kelly let loose with his
powerful voice- a nice balance between Billy Corgan’s whine and Michael
Stipes force of clarity. Throughout the next eight songs, the members
of Ideamotion displayed an amazing sense of professionalism and
showmanship.
There was never a moment of uncomfortable confusion or over-striving.
Just pure rock-energy, with the “The Major” living up to his name with
commanding and clean guitar playing, not to be outdone by Robert
Hennebry’s excellent bass playing and vocals. All the while, Kelly kept
up with the bands energetic sound, thrashing about the stage and
delivering vocals to match. It wasn’t all just noise either. “Last
Dance of the Pagans,” a song about Kelly’s native Ireland allowing the
US to use Irish airports as a stop over for warplanes on their way to
Iraq, featured cutting and intelligent lyrics, with Kelly howling “You
used to be so clean…” over and over again with a potent emotional
effect. The show was especially impressive considering that it was only
the second time the band played a live show together with its new
members and their second London show. Barring some unforeseen
catastrophe or crippling drug addiction, we can only expect the shows
to get better. With an onstage sense of communication that is already
at the point of being magical, it will be interesting to see how
Ideamotion develops.
After the set, a jubilant Kelly grabbed a beer from the bar and
introduced himself. “Now I’m on vacation,” he roared, trying to be
heard over Angelo Paladino, who were following up with some smooth
rock-a-billy. When asked what he was on vacation from, he replied “I
work with computers. I’m a slave” Such is the life of being the lead
man of an unsigned band. Kelly spoke much about the frustrations of
being an unknown and putting all your energy and money into something
that is far from being a sure bet.
“I hate it” he said. “I hear bands on the radio and I know I’m better than them.”
While certainly a bit cocky, Ideamotion have much of the
professionalism, energy, and quality that it takes to get noticed and
make that next step. As the band prepares to release their debut EP
Bulimic Appetite by June, they will be touring around London. According
to Boland, the work is going well. “We’ve got a lot going on right now.
We’re thinking of skipping the EP and going right for a full length
album.” One of the hang-ups about being an unsigned band is of course
that everything is self-funded. For this reason the band has decided to
go back to their native Ireland and collaborate with a producer who
they worked with as The Beautiful Losers and complete the album in a
two week session. Kelly says that all of the songs they will be playing
live are potential candidates for the album, but fans can expect more,
“We are writing so much at the moment that we are keeping an open mind
about what is going on it.”
You can hear a sampling of their current songs and find their gig dates
at www.myspace.com/ideamotion If you can, check them out. They put on a
good show and won’t disappoint.
Nov. 25th at Hope and Anchor, Islington
207 Upper Street, Islington, , London, N1 1RL
Dec. 13th at Bull and Gate
You can find out more about shows at The Catapult Club at
www.catapultclub.co.uk
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Related link: http://www.catapultclub.co.uk/
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