Motormark

It's not often that I travel over 200 miles for a single band, but then considering that the band in question has done nearly 400 to be here, I can hardly complain. Scotlands own Motormark are playing my part of Essex while I am in Yorkshire. Bloody typical! To cut a short story even shorter, I get to the venue at about 10, missing virtually all of local openers Neat People, but with a brief respite to grab a pint and get in a good stage viewing position. Result!

The combination of Jane Motoro and Marko Poloroid on stage is a sight to behold. Marko dresses like a devil-possessed schoolboy and Jane like an S&M version of Manda Rin, but when they start to play it is their performance and not their onstage fashion that catches the eye. Kicking off with the brutal 'We Are The Public' - the sound of a sonic nuclear explosion going off - Motormark come on like the bastard offspring of BiS and Atari Teenage Riot playing in a graveyard after dark with The Chalets. The songs keep coming, each time drawing you deeper in to their world from their own 'Eat Drink Sleep Think' through to their storming cover of 'My Sharona'. The scary yet sultry Jane keeps all captivated while Marko gyrates and spasms like an electrocuted zombie!

When their 30-minute set ends there is almost a sense of awe amongst the crowd. Nobody is quite sure what they have just witnessed but I can tell you: it was a taste of the sound of the future, and it tasted pretty damn good!

Photo courtesy of Alain Marie