The Days @ Beat, Blackpool
01 August 2008
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I must admit, spending a Thursday evening in Blackpool in a tiny club full of teenagers dressed as fairies is not exactly my idea of a good night out, neither is being subjected to an earful of yet another wannabe Indie band. However last night might just have changed my mind, and banished all the hateful words I use to describe people in skinny jeans, backcombed hair and women’s t-shirts, because The Days blew my closed-minded socks right off.I had ventured to Blackpool’s Beat nightclub to watch The Days open up the show for the wonderful Elliot Minor; crammed into what could be the smallest gig venue I have ever seen, surrounded by kids with an average age of about 14 and ‘EM’ scrawled across their face, I must admit I was a little dubious, not to mention I was in a bad mood because of my soaking wet feet thanks to the reliably wet British weather.Anyway, the backing music went off and the stage door opened and within a second the atmosphere in the room turned electric - not just as a result of the multi-coloured stage lights and amp’s kicking in - and for the first time I felt a rush of excitement as I clocked the gorgeous drummer walk on stage and take his position!The rest of the band filed in looking like they had just walked off the set of the latest episode of Skins and got to work, despite my presumptions of them they managed to get my feet tapping and I actually started to enjoy myself, the music was tight and they looked really natural on stage, despite the man-hungry teens filling the air with their rabid hormones.They slipped effortlessly into their second song Confession and singer Luke Simpkins proves that boy’s can do two things at once by dishing out some pretty awesome vocals whilst playing his electric keyboard, however, I must admit, that if I closed my eyes, I could be at a Kooks or any other Indie rock gig as it must be said that they do sound pretty much like every other up-and-coming band around at the moment.However, that isn’t really a bad thing, because the fact that they are as good as other band’s at the top of their game is a turn up for the books, here we have a band who really deserve to be headlining gigs and I have no doubt they will be in a few years time, if not for their individuality, definitely for their Cheshire cat grins and dashing good looks, which always score points with me.As we go into their Evil Girls I’m beginning to worry that the tracks are a bit ‘samey’ and the melody is pretty simple despite the fact that these are guys who know their instruments, they seem to be holding something back, it’s like there’s a build up to a crashing finale which sadly never comes on this one, however, Luke performs the vocals with the droneful “I don’t care” Indie sound which is more like tuneful taking than actual singing, but nevertheless, it works, and I find myself standing on my tip toes just to see what everyone else is up to.Luke’s brother Dan Simpkins is clearly the girls’ favourite and really give them something to watch with his memorising facial expressions little dance moves, whilst hottie Harry Meads thrashes around behind his drum kit with a presence that wouldn’t look out of place in a heavy metal band and finally Tim Ayers, who get’s up there, does his thing and get’s off again, he just seems all together ‘too cool’ for this!
The next song The Days set alarm bells ringing from the start, as naming a song after your band seemed a little bit strange and egotistical but if I’m honest, it’s a really catchy song and as it was the first one they actually wrote, there is no surprise that this band were onto a winner from the start, the crowd love it and everyone is dancing along despite the sweltering heat and lack of fresh air, I even find myself dancing along and despite being so dead set on not enjoying it, I fond myself wondering where I can buy their album. Now that’s got to be a good sign.
The next song brings me back to Earth with an intro which is reminiscent of something I’ve heard before, yet can’t quite put my finger on. Their range of musical influences start to come into play as the vocals sound like they’re sung by Tom from McFly and the guitars have walked straight out of a Fratellis recording session, whilst the bass and drums aren’t so far from Queens of the Stone Age, but this miss-match of sounds works for these guys, and they pull it off with amazing precision, despite their obvious differing musical tastes.
As their set comes to a close I’m sad to see them exit the stage, but the four guys from Devon have done good, they have opened my eyes to ‘that kind of music’ and driven away any misconceptions I might have had like a Lamborghini on the open road. I can see myself sat on my apartment balcony one a sunny Sunday afternoon blasting out their songs whilst watching the shapes the clouds make in the sky.
I don’t know whether it’s their dreamy good looks, tight instrumental sound, or just the tight jeans, but this band really got me good, and I am really happy to say that I’m a fan of this happy-go-lucky music.
The band managed to eradicate everything that’s wrong in the world with their upbeat, toe-tapping music, and for 30 minutes the world was put to rights, then it was back out into the gloomy Blackpool rain and back, sadly, to reality.
So in the end, yes they may sound pretty similar to some of the other bands out there at the moment, and they might not be at the top of their game just yet, but all other bands should watch out, because these guys aren’t wannabes; they’re rivals.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
Watch this space to find out what the band had to say for themselves in our exclusive Q&A!
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