Rocking Out in El Capitale

The Scare @ Buffalo Bar, London, August 28, 2007

Reading Festival leaves me a dazed and confused mess wandering the streets of the capital for a while, consolidating experiences and thoughts and memories. Having had three days of almost non-stop live music, leaving the festival is like losing an anchor: a massive come-down, an aching hangover. The cure? Artrocker night at Buffalo Bar close to Highbury & Islington tube in London. Who's playing? Two bands I know nothing about, and The Scare. The venue is underground, underneath a pub called the Famous Cock (ah, good old UK). Descending a set of stairs leaves you in a small room filled with random columns and a red glow bouncing off the walls. I walk in to catch the last few songs of The Taste - a German girl/boy ensemble on guitar & vocals/drums. It's indie rock that tries hard but fails to grab attention for long despite short-haired singer Maria's cute jumps and dance moves (she even makes a short venture onto the bass drum). It's simply not quite interesting enough and her voice isn't quite strong enough to win over anyone but the drunken loons who would by this point dance madly to anything. After them, The Scare are on and ready to take over. What was stationary before is now moving as they electrify those watching into a convulsing, moving mess. Frontman Kiss swaggers and stumbles around, mane of messy black scarecrow hair covering his face as he howls into the mic, like an image straight out of the dictionary from under 'rock n' roll' . Drummer Sam bangs away as if there was no tomorrow and eventually Kiss drops down for his almost obligatory floor-rolling madness amidst the audience members. Sweat, blood, and tears; sex, drugs, and rock n' roll? All too soon it's over, and the Australians make way for New Zealand four-piece So So Modern and their countless synthesizers who step out in gray capes. Theirs is a surreal vision, full of seemingly random electronic beats pieced together into time-switching assemblages and soundscapes that seem a little too technical and a little too constructed to truly win me over. It's cool to watch, but it lacks the sort of passion I love. Either way, I'd recommend them if you're into that sort of thing. Rumour has it Mika made a short appearance, but I can in no way confirm that myself. All in all: music levels in blood: replenished; mind: contented.

Love,
-C
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Soundtrack -----> The Scare: If I'm Choking, Make A Scene