Having been amongst the last people to attend the Hacienda, I now find myself as one of the last MM reviewers to actuallyget into Fac251 (or The Factory). It’s a venue that’s causeda lot of debate, largely by its name, but the one thing that immediately appealed to me is that the live area is invitinglycompact and intimate. A later exploration of the venue revealsa couple of other floors aimed at the clubbers; The Factory represents the new generation of live venues that mix separatefunctions within one roof. It’s working too, as on a rather restrained Mancunian Friday, Charles Street ends up with a queue of almost 100 people begging to get in.
Inside it’s a sell out and suitably rammed.
I still think there are too many folks in Manchester who are yet to discover TWISTED WHEEL. This date and all of the upcoming regional slots on their current tour are sold out, but an exciting perspective on all of this is that they could be easily bigger still. As a three piece there’s still a great degree of amazement that their compact sound can also sound so massive. Jonny Brown’s guitar sears through the set, crashing about the venue walls and lets loose via the frenetic, ricochet riffs that are part and parcel of tracks like “Oh What Have You Done”. Drummer Adam Clarke and bassist Rick Lees are critical elements of this plot, adding their own flair to this explosive but beautifully contained rock and roll adventure.
In tonight’s set there are some new songs, providing a taster for some new releases and an upcoming 2010 album. Sitting alongside the material on “We Are Us” it’s clear that Twisted Wheel have lost none of the spirit or melodic ambition. This is a band without radio play and without mainstream media coverage – they’re the anti-NME band that write some of Britain’s best songs – all of which are relayed back (word for word) by a crowd that dress like mods and dance like punks. If you’re looking for the latest, but most relevant youth movement, then it’s all happening within these four walls right now. Some of their influences on the website are cited as Slaughter & The Dogs and Stiff Little Fingers, but the list also includes Nick Drake and The Small Faces. That’s an unusual, if not well researched list of benchmarks. As the chords ring out, swallowing us all up on a choppy ocean wave of amplified distortion, Jonny barks out a series of one liners that encapsulate both (an In The City) Weller and Lydon’s irreverent urgency.
I bump into Jonny Brown outside after the gig. He’s on a grassy knoll next to the multi-story car park having his photo taken. He takes out a cigarette and spends fifteen minutes just having a friendly chat about the tour and the album. He’s grateful, inspired, excited and for the rest of us, on the cusp of something truly great.
http://www.music-dash.co.uk/live/live.asp?item=1865
I still think there are too many folks in Manchester who are yet to discover TWISTED WHEEL. This date and all of the upcoming regional slots on their current tour are sold out, but an exciting perspective on all of this is that they could be easily bigger still. As a three piece there’s still a great degree of amazement that their compact sound can also sound so massive. Jonny Brown’s guitar sears through the set, crashing about the venue walls and lets loose via the frenetic, ricochet riffs that are part and parcel of tracks like “Oh What Have You Done”. Drummer Adam Clarke and bassist Rick Lees are critical elements of this plot, adding their own flair to this explosive but beautifully contained rock and roll adventure.
In tonight’s set there are some new songs, providing a taster for some new releases and an upcoming 2010 album. Sitting alongside the material on “We Are Us” it’s clear that Twisted Wheel have lost none of the spirit or melodic ambition. This is a band without radio play and without mainstream media coverage – they’re the anti-NME band that write some of Britain’s best songs – all of which are relayed back (word for word) by a crowd that dress like mods and dance like punks. If you’re looking for the latest, but most relevant youth movement, then it’s all happening within these four walls right now. Some of their influences on the website are cited as Slaughter & The Dogs and Stiff Little Fingers, but the list also includes Nick Drake and The Small Faces. That’s an unusual, if not well researched list of benchmarks. As the chords ring out, swallowing us all up on a choppy ocean wave of amplified distortion, Jonny barks out a series of one liners that encapsulate both (an In The City) Weller and Lydon’s irreverent urgency.
I bump into Jonny Brown outside after the gig. He’s on a grassy knoll next to the multi-story car park having his photo taken. He takes out a cigarette and spends fifteen minutes just having a friendly chat about the tour and the album. He’s grateful, inspired, excited and for the rest of us, on the cusp of something truly great.
http://www.music-dash.co.uk/live/live.asp?item=1865
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