JARV IS + THOUSAND YARD STARE + TTRRUUCES + CROWS + NUHA RUBY RA + MODERATE REBELS – BUTLINS, BOGNOR REGIS 8.1.22
Saturday at Rockaway Beach starts a bit later than planned for me with Moderate Rebels. They are a six piece with three guitarists, but there any similarities to Lynyrd Skynyrd end. The not-quite-a-band (I’ll explain shortly….) are purveyors of melodic, punchy post-punk with intelligent lyrics and rather glorious harmonies. However, this is something of a simplification as their material is somewhat more eclectic than that. Early on in their set they mention the triple album that they have released. I assume that they’re joking. Triple albums are only for prog bands right? Wrong. ‘If You See Something That Doesn’t Look Right’ was released last August and contains a wealth of riches within its three discs.
Moderate Rebels are a collective rather than a band. They have a core membership consisting of Kate Worthington (vocals), Susan Milanovich (drums), Emma Faulkner (vocals), Mo Bruce (keyboards & synths), and Anna Jones (bass). Despite having only relatively recently released a triple album, Moderate Rebels already have new material ready to perform: ‘Who Fact Checks The Fact Checkers’ has particularly pertinent lyrics, especially during this era of misinformation and disinformation. Another, ‘God Sent Us’, has the following lyric:
“We’ve come to wreck your house, and ruin your life.
God sent us.”
The song appears to lay bare the unspeakably evil crimes that people commit in the name of religion. Moderate Rebels present a dystopian vision of both the present and the future, coated in sugar-coated melodies and harmonies. If you’re feeling comfortable now, the future is only just around the corner, so watch out.
Find out more at www.instagram.com/moderaterebels
Also rather unsettling is Nuha Ruby Ra, a vocalist singing to a backing track. Normally this is something that I would disapprove of to a degree. However, Nuha Ruby Ra is a vocalist in the true sense of the word. Her voice is a highly impressive and versatile musical instrument, and quite frankly, if she sang whilst being backed by a pneumatic drill, or an elephant farting, it would still sound fantastic.
For the first song she ululates, in much the same way as the Bulgarian choir on ‘The Sensual World’ album by Kate Bush. For the rest of her set Nuha sings relatively normally, albeit using two microphones and with her vocals being fed through various effects. The result as a whole is music that is inventive and hypnotic. She even has a hit of sorts: ‘Sparky’. I’ve heard it on BBC6 Music. Nuha Ruby Ra is a highly individual artist whose work you would do well to investigate.
Visit www.nuharubyra.com for further information.
Next up are Crows, who are a modern punk band with a vocalist who sounds a little like a post-Pistols John Lydon. They virtually bleed angst, particularly in one song which may or may not be called ‘Weapon Of Hate’. However, as intense and engaging a live band as they are, I really couldn’t see anything that made them stand out from the crowd. I felt like I’d seen and heard it all a thousand times before.
More from Crows at crowsband.co.uk
Representing the other side of the coin with regard to intensity and angst are TTRRUUCES. They were formed by Natalie Findlay (formerly of the band Findlay) and Jules Apollinaire in 2019. They play 1960s-influenced psych pop and manage to sound both retro and modern at the same time, which is not a bad achievement. They have good tunes too. It’s almost as if they radiate sunshine from the stage. They played this show at two days’ notice, and their new drummer learnt the set in one day! This is only their sixth show ever, but you certainly wouldn’t know it. Natalie Findlay has a most amazingly pure sounding voice, and I look forward to hearing more of TTRRUUCES soon.
Find out more at www.ttrruuces.com
I had last seen Thousand Yard Stare at Slough Music Festival in 1991, and it seemed strange seeing them now as middle-aged men. I had been impressed with them back in the day, but they just seemed to disappear. They actually split up in 1993 after their ‘Mappa Mundi’ album failed to sell, and re-formed in 2015.
I did initially wonder what the point of such a reunion was, as they weren’t active for very long in the first place. However, I suspect that they felt that they had unfinished business, and hearing them live tonight I think that’s definitely the case! They certainly sound more vital than a band of their vintage might be expected to. Also, this is no exercise in nostalgia. They released an album, ‘Panglossian Momentum’ in 2020, and the second song they play tonight is ‘It Sparks’, the first single taken from that album. Indeed, ‘Panglossian Momentum’ seems to represent something of a re-birth for the band. Their musicianship is probably even more impressive than before, and the rhythm section remains fabulously loose-limbed.
They play ‘What’s Your Level ‘from the aforementioned ‘Mappa Mundi’ album, and it’s really good! I find it astounding that the album didn’t sell. Perhaps it fell foul of record company politics. They return to newer songs: ‘Comeuppance’ which “is dedicated to our idiot Prime Minister” (and this was before ‘partygate’) and ‘Tragedy No.6’, which is about having dodgy neighbours in a small town.
Vocalist Stephen Barnes announces “and still nobody has scored”, and they play ‘0-0 a.e.t’ (nil-nil after extra time) from the ‘Seasonstream’ EP from 1991, followed by ‘A Thousand Yards’ from the current album, and are about to go into their show closer, when the stage manager unceremoniously calls them offstage. It’s an unfortunate end to a really refreshing set, but seemingly Jarvis Cocker needs more time to set up than his allotted half an hour.
More at www.thousandyardstare.co.uk
Ah yes, JARV IS…. Mr Cocker’s latest musical adventure. This is probably his most accessible material since Pulp, without actually being Pulp. To be fair, he’s certainly not aping Pulp. Much of this material is rowdier and rockier than his former outfit. JARV IS… consist of Serafina Steer on harp and keyboards, Emma Smith on violin and guitar, Andrew McKinney on bass and Jason Buckle and Adam Betts on drums and percussion. The band are stationed down the sides and around the back of the stage, so there is plenty of room for Jarvis to throw shapes.
Pulp’s ghost is laid to rest with the first song, a heavily electronic version of Pulp’s ‘She’s A Lady’. I’d heard that JARV IS… played Pulp songs, but was very pleased to hear that they don’t slavishly follow the recorded versions. The second song brings us bang up to date with ‘House Music All Night Long’, the first single from the JARV IS… album ‘Beyond The Pale’. Indeed, the whole album is played with the exception of ‘Save The Whale’.
Other than that we are taken on a number of excursions into Jarvis’s solo back catalogue. ‘Fat Children’ from 2006’s Jarvis gets an airing, and is proceeded by a very witty introduction. Jarvis is still a great raconteur. ‘Swanky Modes’ from ‘Beyond The Pale’ is about a clothes shop in Sheffield. Indeed, Jarvis may have purchased the brown 1970s style suit that he is wearing from that very establishment. A highlight towards the end of the set is ‘C*nts Are Still Running The World’, a song that Jarvis hopes one day to be able to sing, and say that it refers to the past. As it stands, it makes a great anthem for these times.
‘Must I Evolve’ from the current album ends the main set, but the band are soon back for ‘Children Of The Echo’ (or as Jarvis announces it, “Children Of Prosecco”). This features Serafina Steer on harp. ‘Further Complications’ from the album of the same name follows, together with ‘Aline’, which is a French 1960s cover which the band recorded for ‘The French Dispatch’ movie soundtrack. One more encore follows, Pulp’s ‘My Legendary Girlfriend’.
JARV IS… have been onstage for the best part of two hours, but it seems nothing like that long. As always, Jarvis Cocker holds an arch mirror up to society, and the audience leaves all the better for viewing what it shows.
Find out more at jarviscocker.net
Read our report on Day One of ‘Rockaway Beach’ HERE.
Read our report on Day Three of ‘Rockaway Beach’ HERE.
