Worcester Music Forum

Psyflyer / Dudes of Neptune / Meteor Street 
@ TJs, Worcester, 28th October 2007

The news of a Halloween themed circus of local psychedelic music was a good enough reason for me to forgo my traditional Halloween activity of hardcore trick-or-treating until next year. Leaving behind my petrol fuelled pumpkins and poo filled charity envelopes I headed down to a splendidly spooky TJs in Angel Place for some alternative kicks.

The traditional TJs sound quality meant that I couldnt really hear any detail of the vocals. This left me momentarily agitated but then I remembered I wasnt at an acoustic concert (my usual destination now Ive reached thirty) so I allowed myself to just rock out to the eardrum pummelling groove and scribble down some abstract impressions of the evening.

The first band on were Psyflyer who had an intense bass led sound into which silky dressed vocalist/guitarist Jayse hurled a wide variety of guttural vocals and guitar madness; from ethereal solos to quaking granite walls of distortion. Their obvious fire was cooled by a few technical and tuning problems but otherwise it was a suitably dark and crushing start to the night.

Next up were the five piece Dudes of Neptune. They treated the highly costumed crowd to a spaced out set which contrasted nicely with Psyflyers rawer sound. I was most impressed by lead guitarist Andy Lee swapping from guitar to keyboard duties mid song in a manner reminiscent of The Edge from U2 during New Years Day (I get the feeling Im going to get punched for making that comparison). On the whole the Dudes songs came across as carefully crafted and packed with clever lyrical and musical flourishes. Unfortunately their set had a rather disjointed feel and for me they never really got cooking which was a shame as the potential was there.

Worcesters Meteor Street topped the evening like a juicy Psilocybin mushroom on an already generous portion of space cake. Starting off with their popular homage to the Spanish surrealist the gang launched into Dali with vigour; the bright and sveltely attired drummer Ed Steelefox providing a one man carnival of colour and energy that was a fine act in itself. My first song highlight was the infectious Malicious Metallics with its cartoonesque keyboard refrain and fantastically yelped chorus it was just a joy to hear. My second highlight was the reflective Schiphol Paranoia, a song inspired by an eventful busking trip to Amsterdam. The song really highlighted the bands melodic side and vocalist/guitarist Craigus Barrys song-writing skill and angular yet soulful voice. The themes of restlessness and doubt that often torture the creative mind were expressed beautifully in this song (or maybe Im reading too much into it). Finishing with the powerful Nebula Meteor Street left the stage and the Halloween circus was over, my only disappointment with Meteor Streets set being that the sound system failed to make the wonderful fiddle playing of John-Joe Murray (a critical part of the bands quirky sound) better known to the audience.

Cheers to all the bands for entertaining me.

Review and Pics by Paul J Rose www.myspace.com/pauljrose