Exit Calm
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Exit Calm,No Tokyo Live Review @ The Castle - Oldham (Manchester) - 27 Sep 2008
Live Review
At 3pm this afternoon there was a battle of the roses at Oldham's Boundary Park football ground as Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town went toe to toe in a bruising encounter. Jump forward almost eight hours and move about a mile into Oldham's rundown town centre and another roses encounter is getting underway. To take the analogy even further, in both the football and the music, one of the parties is starting to be taken very seriously by their respective media. The main difference is that whereas the football needed a result, albeit a score draw, there need be no winners, losers or indeed bruises at The Castle tonight.
Both bands are four-pieces and as with the most of the best bands in history, neither lead singer is required to do anything more than be a vocalist. Up first are No*Tokyo who have the luxury of playing in front of a home crowd and they appear at ease on the stage of The Castle. Engaging lead singer Darren Whittaker has copious energy to burn and has a wander into the crowd during the brooding and aptly titled 'Meander'. Songs like '739' and the edgy 'Always Thought' bring reminders of Leeds band The Music at their early best whilst the guitar noodling of Stephen Butler is reminiscent of John Squire circa 1990. They introduce one song as being brand new, so new in fact that the set list shows it as being titled simply 'New One'. If the quality of the song-writing remains this high then No*Tokyo will be making waves far from their home turf.
Exit Calm endear themselves before they even enter the stage by requesting that 'The Cedar Room' by Manchester band Doves is played as their introduction music. The first thing you notice is that they already look like a well-known band, quite a trick to pull off after just one very limited edition single. It is clear to see why they are being talked up by 'those in the know' and songs like the Doves-esque 'Reference' and forthcoming single 'We're On Our Own' hammer home the point. Gravel voiced front man Nicky Smith holds the crowd without really speaking between songs and leaves the tunes to do his talking for him. The bass is heavy, the tunes are epic and you can see why they are regularly compared with early Verve. However, they are far more than a one trick pony and their 2009 debut album will surely be in the 'much-anticipated'
Exit Calm look and sound ready to break into the big time, although you get the impression that this will be on there own terms and in their own time. No*Tokyo are a little further down the ladder but there is no reason why they will not be talked about as 'the next big thing' a few months from now. One thing that is abundantly clear is that indie kids on both sides of the pennies have reasons to be both cheerful and proud.
Gigs
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