THE LIQUID ENGINEERS + SVEK UK – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 15.9.23
One of THE very best albums back in 2014 was the debut release from Wakefield trio Berlyn Trilogy. Titled ‘A Perfect Stranger’ it offered a dozen slices of brooding electronic pop with dark industrial undertones and was a continual play on CD in my car when commuting to work and also on my Sony Walkman. It was absolutely bang on musically of where I was at during that period. The lineup that created this criminally obscure album was Dorian Cramm (lead vocals, synthesisers, guitar, piano), James Beswick (synthesizers, drum programming, vocals) and one Faye Williams who was on bass guitar and synthesizers. It initially seemed that the trio had imploded a short while after the release, but then have since gotten it back together.
These days Faye however is also a member of another outfit, The Liquid Engineers, who culled the name from the first verse of Gary Numan’s 1979 epic ‘Metal’: “We’re in the building where they make us grow; And I’m frightened by the liquid engineers; Like you”. They not surprisingly chose to do this as the band – which also consists of charismatic frontman Pat Martin (lead vocals and occasional guitar and synth), David Hathaway (synths and programming), Jamie (lead guitar) and Dave T ‘Twiggs’ (drums) – is in fact a Gary Numan tribute act!
I can guess what some of you might be thinking, that tribute bands are a little sad and are simply copyists with no talent. OK agreed, however, I have witnessed thousands of bands live over the past 45 years and only less than a handful of ‘tribute acts’ get through my quality control net, with The Liquid Engineers being one of them!
OK so now you could be thinking along the lines of “How did they get through?”. Well there’s several factors applicable in this case! There’s certainly not a whiff of celebrity cruise liner or Butlins entertainment about this quintet. They don’t choose “The Best Of Numan” easy option by any means, in fact they often offer up some of Numan’s latest darker period material and that’s not just the singles. There’s the fact that Pat’s vocals are almost identical to Numan’s which is a massive bonus. They change their sets around from tour to tour, so you’re not really sure what you’re going to be getting. Visually they don’t actually look like Numan’s band, but there is a nod with the recent red face paint, but Pat does wear similar clobber to Numan. They also have a fairly decent light show that adds to the whole enjoyment of the performances and their sound has great depth just like the original material. But I guess the main plus for myself, is that I will get to hear some tunes that I’m certain that Numan won’t ever play live again. Tonight’s concert at Patterns proved this as the choice track from The Liquid Engineers set was one such song. More about that later….
We first must address the other band performing live tonight…SVEK UK! It’s entirely possible that a vast majority of you would exclaim “Who?” and that includes Gary Numan fans! However, a large proportion of those fans would certainly be aware of Numan’s band members during the various live tours. So if I said the name ‘Ade Orange’ and that he was a member of Numan’s band from 1988 to 2006 (a period of 18 years), then many folk will know who I’m referring to.
Thus this very evening Ade Orange is back! His brand new outfit, SVEK UK, have chosen this very evening to play their debut live concert and accompanying keyboardist and backing vocalist is Swedish vocalist Meya Haydon and drummer and guitarist Theo Watts. The importance of Ade Orange’s contribution to Numan’s live performances and studio work (even co-writing with Numan) can’t be underestimated! Thus it’s quite a feather in The Liquid Engineers hat (if they had one) that Ade is on the same bill. I can’t really state that SVEK UK are tonight’s support band or even special guests, it feels so much more than this, it’s a double bill at least! So well done for The Liquid Engineers and tonight’s promoters Black Rabbit Productions for securing their services!
The SVEK UK nine track set ran for 51 minutes, beginning at 7:33pm and concluding at 8:24pm. The band not only show off their Swedish connections via lead singer Meya Haydon, but the word “svek” is from her native tongue and when translated can mean “betrayal”, “deceit” and “treachery”. The latter is selected by Meya tonight when explaining the true meaning. Interestingly “Treachery” is also the title of one of their compositions, which we will come to shortly.
After our arrival, we met up with our mates and noted that the stage was awash with impressive equipment. Clearly this new trio means serious business! On offer was…..wait for it, technology alert…..here goes…..a keyboard rig consisting of two M Audio Axiom 61, a Seaboard Rise 25, and Mainstage. All mixed with Behringer X32 and in ear monitoring to all band members with Meya on LD Systems radio in ears. Theo’s set up was Stratocaster guitar through Neural DSP and Native instruments plug-ins. Also there was an Alesis Strike Multipad, Roland HD10 Handsonic, Roland BD trigger, Tama snare, Meinl Byzance cymbals, two rototoms with triggers into the Alesis and Ableton Live 11 / MacBook Pro on the backing tracks. It’s also worth mentioning that the backing tracks were prepared in the studio by Ade.
SVEK UK, as a live unit, were born at 7:33pm and commenced with ‘Kiss Or Kill’ which has an almost mystical Arabic intro that makes a big nod to the 1982 ‘Blade Runner’ soundtrack. My favourite ever film, so they’re already onto a winner!
It’s an impressive start and it’s worth mentioning that all nine compositions were written by Ade Orange, with the exception of their next number ‘The Way I Am’, which was originated by Meya and then co-written with Ade. The Alesis Strike Pads are called upon by Theo for this tune and to be honest blend in more with the sound levels of the other equipment and Meya’s vocals, whereas one really couldn’t fail to notice the drumkit throughout this set. Whilst enjoying ‘The Way I Am’, my mind drifted into wondering where this beauty had originated. Could it have been from a hidden cave by the banks of Gullmarsfjorden (the only ‘real’ fjord in Sweden)? Yes I will settle with that! I don’t want to know the real truth!
Song three was ‘Pale And Interesting’. Pale it is not, interesting it is. Its beat is jaunty, the Arabic vibe is back and there’s a feel of The Sisters Of Mercy about it. Hot on its heals came ‘The Beautiful Ones’, which was a little surprise as it was a truly melodic dreamy number, something which maybe The Sundays would have created, but this had added keys action and out of nowhere Meya’s vocals and emotions suddenly went up several notches, it was a “wow, so that’s what she’s got” moment. My mind was racing away again in thinking “Bloody hell, this would make a fabulous theme to a James Bond movie” and then after the tune had finished Meya informed the punters that it was their adaptation of a Prince song! Found on 1984’s ‘Purple Rain’ platter no less! Well blow me down with a feather, and there was me thinking it was their own composition and would make a fabulous debut single!
Song five was ‘Drama Queen’, which witnessed Theo abandon his drums in favour of his Squier Stratocaster. Ade seriously ramped up the keyboards (especially on the intro) and the best way to describe his contribution would be Numanesque. Meanwhile Meya maintained her new found levels of vocal impressiveness.
The enjoyable set continued with ‘It’s Always Been You’, which witnessed Theo’s return to the drums again which he played solidly and Ade assisting on backing vocals as well as offering up almost screeching style synths atop a retro vibe dance style beat. ‘While You Were Sleeping’ is the title of track seven and Meya’s vocals did seem sadly a little in the mix during this on account of the drumkit being a little too loud.
Their penultimate selection was ‘Waiting To Collide’, which I had heard a snippet of on the gig preview as posted on Facebook by The Liquid Engineers. This had a quiet start and Theo had switched to his guitar again. Meya’s Arabic style vocal vibe was back and Ade assisted with backing vocals. The plinking of the keys during this song was almost hypnotic and there I was again, thinking that this too would be a fabulous contender for a future James Bond theme! The connection may have been lodged at the back of my mind as pre-Numan band days, Ade had a band called Hurrah! Boys Hurrah! and they used to play a blinding cover of Nancy Sinatra’s ‘You Only Live Twice’.
The trio closed their set with ‘Treachery’, which you now know is “svek” in Swedish. This was another brooding tune which featured heavy use of the Alesis drum pads, as well as top notch vocals courtesy of Meya, assisted by Ade on bv’s. And there you have it! SVEK UK’s debut concert! In all honesty it had been an extremely solid debut live performance and I was very very impressed indeed.
Maybe you could check them out for yourself as SVEK UK have a trio of other concerts planned (with The Liquid Engineers), these being at The Irish Centre in Leeds on 20th October, the Zanzibar in Liverpool on 21st October, and at The Tropic in Ruislip on 15th December. If decent new synth music is your thing, then it’s well worth acquainting yourself with this brand new outfit!
The band informed me after their set that they are planning to shoot a promo video in the next few weeks, and are looking to drop a vinyl album in Spring 2024. You know where you heard it first!
SVEK UK:
Meya Haydon – vocals
Ade Orange – keys
Theo Watts – drums, guitar
SVEK UK setlist:
‘Kiss Or Kill’
‘The Way I Am’
‘Pale And Interesting’
‘The Beautiful Ones’ (Prince cover)
‘Drama Queen’
‘It’s Always Been You’
‘While You Were Sleeping’
‘Waiting To Collide’
‘Treachery’
After a 25 minute shift of unloading and loading equipment, we are back with live music courtesy of The Liquid Engineers, whose hands we are in for the next 72 minutes, from 8:49pm to 10:01pm. In that period we are given no less than 17 Gary Numan compositions, beginning with the intro of intro’s that being ‘This Wreckage’. The only other acceptable Numan intro track would have been ‘Airlane’, which doesn’t get an outing tonight.
I immediately note that since I last saw the band in May last year, they have had a change of personnel in the guitar department, with the departure of Pete and the inclusion of Jamie, who has brought along his Paul Reed Smith McCarty lead guitar, which I’m reliably informed that you wouldn’t get much change from £4,000 for!
Behind frontman Pat, there’s a Gould guitar which does finally get an outing almost halfway through the set, for ‘A Prayer For The Unborn’. But before this we are given heavy renditions of both ‘Love Hurt Bleed’ and ‘Intruder’. The Patterns neon lighting strips behind the outfit are added to this evening by the inclusion of the band’s own triangular neon lighting as a homage to Numan’s classic 1979 image. This very much adds to the enjoyment of the set and even the Patterns own lighting panels are often lit in many colours as opposed to the usual solid purple or solid red.
The drumset (which is in the trusted hands of Dave T ‘Twiggs’), is rather special indeed as it was Numan’s Tubeway Army drummers actual kit, him being Cedric Sharpley, who sadly passed away. I did have the honour of meeting him a few decades back when he signed my 1983 ‘Warriors’ LP and previous albums. The Liquid Engineers have given the kit a second outing and certainly put this to good use, by having a smaller upturned drum on their merch stand at every concert, which they invite fans to put in donations no matter how big or small. These donations have been used thus far to put two young drummers through the first year of drum school. Cedric’s widow would certainly approve of this! Well done to all concerned!
Almost hidden from view this evening is David Hathaway who is a vital cog in the wheel due to his synths, programming and laptop action. What’s the Numan sound without the synths!! Completing the quintet is the aforementioned Faye Williams who puts her impressive Rickenbacker bass guitar through its paces, when she’s not tinkering with the Yamaha keyboard and another (possibly an unseen Moog) to the rear of the stage.
The tunes start to fly by, we have ‘Intruder’, ‘I Die: You Die’ (although I can’t remember it), ‘Scar’ with its fine Yamaha keyboards from Faye, and a decent rendition of ‘Down In The Park’, this being the first Tubeway Army song I ever heard! ‘Pure’ is up next and that too is very powerful, and is followed by ‘Call Out The Dogs’ (a tune likely not to be played anymore by Numan). After this we get the modern classic of ‘My Names Is Ruin’, which actually sees new boy Jamie on backing vocals as opposed to Faye. You see the original version has one of Numan’s three daughters (Persia) on backing vocals.
Next according to the setlist it should have been both ‘Cars’ and ‘The Machman’, but due to the late start, these were forgone and so the into synth rumble of ‘Me! I Disconnect From You’ sounded out across the room, which is always a crowd pleaser. Now I mentioned above that The Liquid Engineers sometimes perform tunes that Gary Numan doesn’t play anymore, the next of these was up next, this being ‘Magic’ from 1994’s ‘Sacrifice’ album. It was really a treat to be able to hear this again played live with its gut wrench deep bass synth sound and it was surprisingly my choice cut of the set! I wonder if I’m the only person present to think this?
It was the turn of ‘Metal’ next with its screeching keys which were a joy to behold. Then ‘We Are Glass’ came along, which I personally feel that they should have ended with. Then it would have aped the original 1981 trio of Numan Wembley farewell concerts, as this is the tune he originally ended his live career on. Tonight’s version was very good, unlike the following ‘Music For Chameleons’ which didn’t quite hit the mark and was the weakest of the set. It was now “whaoow” and punch your fists in the air time as the classic ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ was played and at 9:58pm that was the end of the set, but no…..the intro keys of ‘Cars’ rang out and Pat even saw us out with the tinkling of a few Yamaha keys as they almost squeezed in the tune ahead of curfew, but on the dot of 10:01pm they were done.
This evening had been another enjoyable live entertainment experience, with the meeting up of old friends that I’ve had for 40 years, and for other folk, many from far and wide, including some even making it across from Sweden for the event. It was just a shame that some friends from very nearby didn’t make the effort…their loss! Maybe they will attend the next local concert, which will be at The Venue in Worthing on 30th March 2024.
The Liquid Engineers:
Pat Martin – lead vocals, Gould guitar, Yamaha keys
Faye Williams – Rickenbacker bass, Yamaha keys
David Hathaway – synths, programming, laptop
Dave T ‘Twiggs’ – Cedric Sharpley’s drumkit
Jamie – Paul Reed Smith McCarty lead guitar
The Liquid Engineers setlist:
‘This Wreckage’
‘Love Hurt Bleed’
‘Intruder’
‘I Die: You Die’
‘Scar’
‘Down In The Park’
‘A Prayer For The Unborn’
‘Pure’
‘Call Out The Dogs’
‘My Names Is Ruin’
‘Me! I Disconnect From You’
‘Magic’
‘Metal’
‘We Are Glass’
‘Music For Chameleons’
‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’
‘Cars’
