Pelican @ The Garage

This should have been Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster, Bo Ningen and Pelican @ The Garage, but we decided to get some Ghanaian food on Holloway road at 7, which was when the doors opened at The Garage, and by the time we arrived at about 8.15 we'd completely missed Tacoma Narrows and we only caught the last one and a half songs of Bo Ningen's set. I had thought I wouldn't be massively disappointed if I didn't get to see Bo Ningen, what with having seen them about a month ago, but when we arrived I remembered that what I'd seen a month ago was not BN's normal lineup, and judging from what little we did catch last night I think we missed something pretty special. My grilled talapia was good, but I think Bo Ningen would've been great. Bugger. Ah well, a man's gotta eat.

I guess it's up to the punter to check what time bands are on and make sure they get there in time for what they want to see, but the variation between venues does annoy me. You buy tickets for something in a place like the Scala, and the headliners don't start til about 10 o'clock. Last night, the last vibration was dying away at 10.30, and the lights coming up told us it was time to get out. 10.30 on a Saturday night. Damn. Also, The Garage is one of those soulless Carlsberg-or-Tuborg-in-a-plastic-cup venues, where the space itself and the band selectors are good but there's nothing else to even talk about, let alone recommend the place. I say again: ah well.

So, Pelican. If you've read any of my previous posts, you won't be surprised to find out that I'd never heard any of Pelican's stuff before. I'd heard they were good but that maybe their drummer wasn't really up to much, so I was intrigued to see what I was in for. Well, for the first few songs, I wasn't all that impressed. Yes there was some nice mid-level heaviness going on, but it was all a bit lacking. The drumming was indeed a bit weak, but so was the stringing, and the simultaneous lack of vocals made for a bit of a damp squib overall. Now, I like instrumental music as much as the next guy, but if you're not kicking it with vocals you've gotta kick it some other how, and Pelican started out like they were missing a foot. They needed a bit of Russian Circles-esque percussion to give them a kick up the arse, or some Down-esque vocals for a bit of grit and character, or something anyway. I hadn't been there very long, I was only on my second or third pint of the evening, I'd missed most of the warm-up, none of the T-shirts appealed, and it was all a bit of a let down.

But, from the fourth song onwards everything was right with the world again. The heaviness amped up a good notch or two, the riffage came on strong, and my neck began to get a solid workout. There was attitude here after all. Perhaps the drumming was more functional than inspired, more there because it had to be than there because it wanted to be, but the point of the band seems to be to simply deliver some very satisfying yet still melodic stringwork, and on that front they deliver in spades. It even occurred to me after a while that Pelican could perhaps form the third corner of a triumverate of not-very-relevant comparators for future ill-thought-out posts: if someone needs a kick up the arse, mention Russian Circles; if they need a bit of grit and balls, mention Down; and if they need some heavy rippage, give Pelican a nod. Maybe. And good news for Pelican fans: perhaps the highlight of the set was one of the tracks from the new EP, which I think was on sale last night for the first time or something. Or perhaps a good place to start for newcomers like myself?

To summarise, the evening had its disappointments, and the music was over far too soon, but the fish was good and the bird was excellent, and a couple of Leffe's across the road in the Library after the gig finished the night off nicely. This morning my head is appropriately swampy, so you can blame the Belgians for this post, OK? OK. Right then, time for the Sunday roast. It's only a chicken, so you can rest easy, Pelican fans.

On the way home I listened to: Electric Wizard; Black Masses