SlyDigs,The Maker Band Live Review @ Jabez Clegg (Manchester) - 05 Sep 2008

SlyDigs - Image: www.myspace.com/slydigs
SlyDigs
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Live Review

If there was a league table of music venues then this particular attic room in Jabez Clegg would sit somewhere in the lower reaches of the bottom division, just above the local community centre. All bands have to go through the 'sweaty club' phase and often this is where they hone their craft. No band should have to endure the sound system that tonight's bands have to put up with though.

The first thing of note is that The Maker Band are not a band at all but merely one man. A live loop set-up allows Jonny Amos to create layers of sound, almost bringing the recording process to the live stage. He can beat-box and the great range in his voice suits the over-wrought emotion of his songs, although the lyrical naivety does begin to grate. "It's just like playing in a church" he announces part way through the set which is hardly surprising given that Jabez Clegg is in fact a converted parish church. We also get a full explanation of how the pedals work, which helps stretch the set to a full forty minutes. David Ford does the live loop sampler much better and somehow, as I watch The Maker Band, I cannot help but be reminded of Jon Bon Jovi

Slydigs are a four-piece band from Warrington and possibly the biggest surprise is that they are here at all, given that they have already been playing venues far better than this one. Indeed, they must regret having shown up at all when, after the opening song all the noise is coming from those berating the sound engineer. The vocal is completely inaudible during the lively opener 'Live & Die By Love' and the equally magnetic 'The Young Ones'. As the sound improves, it is not hard to pick out the bands that have influenced Slydigs. I find myself making a list of the bands that I can hear in the songs and quickly come up with The Libertines, Kings Of Leon and The La's. I'm just adding The Strokes to that mental list when they announce that the next song is a cover and launch into a version of 'New York City Cops' which stays very faithful to the original. Slydigs have a charismatic front man in lead singer Dean Fairhurst and importantly, they look like a band, something that many new bands neglect. The bass player has that slightly disinterested cool about him and the rhythm guitarist keeps the leather jacket on despite the beads of sweat which have formed on his forehead. "Oh What a Life" and the bizarrely named "Fiddle I'th Bag" (named after a Warrington pub) draw the set to a frenetic close and although it appears that we're getting one more song, it never happens and the ending is something of an anti-climax.

Slydigs offer nothing particularly new or original but they get the young uns dancing like it's 1999. And as they inevitably move up the league table of venues, maybe that is all that really matters.

Mike Nuttall

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