Yves Klein Blue @ The Social, London 22-11-09

YKB

I haven’t been in the UK a whole lot since first coming out to Australia in 2004 but have managed to go see a few Australian bands during my brief visits up to London – the somewhat unlikely pairing of The Casanovas supported by The Grates (some awful photos of them) and also The Spazzys, with both gigs being at the Camden Barfly/Monarch back in 2005.

It’s always interesting/amusing to read the industry pages in the street press and find out that every Australian band that goes overseas has a successful tour; I can’t even remember anyone ever having a bad/unsuccessful time, even though playing the Camden Barfly is one of the lower rungs of the toilet circuit and has a capacity of maybe 250, not that any of the Australian bands I’ve seen there have come anywhere near selling it out, playing to a handful of Australian expats.  There are some notable exceptions of course, with the bigger Australian bands playing much larger places even though they’re completely unknown in the UK; my first experience of the name ‘Powderfinger’ was noting in the music press listings that they were playing two nights at Shepherds Bush Empire and wondering who on earth they could be to sell out two nights at the 2,000 capacity venue when I’d never heard of them before.  The big gigs by Australian acts have the reputation of being all things green & gold and Southern Cross, with never ending “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” chants, something that’s going to dissuade the native population from usually going anywhere near.

Looking through the listings to see what’s on during my 10-day stay in London, there’s not a whole lot on; the week before and the week after my stay have much more going on.  But there’s a few solo support shows by Bluebottle Kiss‘ Jamie Hutchings and a couple by Yves Klein Blue.  Both are playing tonight, Hutchings at The Windmill in Brixton and YVB at The Social in the centre of town, just around the corner from Oxford Circus, but being a Brisbane band, Yves Klein Blue win out.

They’re the first band on and have just started when I get there.  The Social is a tiny venue, probably the narrowest I’ve ever been in (imagine if The Troubadour was half as wide as it is and you’ve got an idea), with a tiny stage at the back which you more or less have to walk over to get to the toilets.  It’s also very dark; small clubs the world over are all the same.

And they’re ok and go down pretty well with the crowd (being a Sunday it seems to be full largely of students).  Often with young bands, especially those on their first album it’s good to see them playing shorter 30 minute, support sets as opposed to trying to fill a headline slot without the amount of good material to do so.  So YKB stick to their strengths and their best songs and thankfully avoid murdering Born To Run tonight.

What is interesting is that they’re giving out free CD-Rs with a few songs on them, complete with B&W photocopied covers (although I don’t actually manage to get one, even though Michael comments on my Drones T-shirt as he walks past); doing the whole DIY thing when you’re signed to a label with strong affiliations to the world’s biggest major label wasn’t something I was expecting and in a way it seems strange to be touring in the UK but not selling any merch, including your debut album that was recorded in LA, to help fund the tour (although I’m not sure if they have been at the other gigs they’ve played).

YKB

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