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Seafood

Easyworld, Billy Mahonie, and KaitO

vbird by Vic Bird [Edit this content] ▾ 11 comments 16:07 July 21st, 2001
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Date: 18/07/2001

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This year it wasn’t just foot and mouth killing the herds of this country… Britain saw another epidemic, and one of apathy, boredom, lacklustre motives and despair. It is this my friend that has been killing the youthful sheep of today. In the words of Belgium Pop misters Soulwax “Something’s gotta give”

What we need is a cry, or a calling, a sign to rally the indie troops of today, make them stand up and be counted… enter Seafood: - giving indie kids a voice… “Get up Get up Get up Soldier, You’ve got your head screwed on.” And “I can make this count, gotta make this count” shouts David on Seafood’s latest release, an apt phrase for a night where a cross section of the best of British was proudly on display.

As we stumbled in from the rain we managed to catch the last few fragments of what appeared to be a well-balanced and well-articulated Kaito** set. Powerful loud girlie pop-rock at it’s finest backed by a whole cavalcade of attitude and songs to boot. My only regret for the night was not seeing more of this band.

Next on, a band that have the musical fraternity up in arms…Billy Mahonie, who can only be described as UK Math rock at its finest. Imagine the loud bits in Mogwai only louder and spliced with a throbbing, pulsating, well round and complete sounding bass pattern throughout, upheld by not one but two technically superb bassists. By the end I couldn’t tell whether the vibrations capturing and captivating my soaking wee toes were being caused by sheer volume or if it were my newfound love for this band. I stood amazed by the diversity, balance and articulation of the enriched sounds drifting and cavorting from the speakers set only to tango with my eardrums and shake the deepest pores of my soul. On a night that seemed to celebrate the best of British it seemed incredibly apt that the Billy Mahonie drummer should be sporting a t-shirt proudly stating ‘Goodbye Minnesota Hello England’!

It is said that “every cloud has a sliver lining”, though in this case “every silver lining has a cloud” seems a much more fitting statement, unfortunately this cloud came in the form of main support act Easyworld. You always know that something is a miss when your attention wanders from the band bashing, thrusting and meandering away on stage and focuses on some seemingly pointless object or goings on. In this case I took to watching the roadies attempt to stop this giant seafood inflatable from falling over and guessing what this aforementioned inflatable was (it was actually a giant iceberg… oh of course! Thanks Kev) believe me it was a lot more entertaining than watching Easyworld. I mean what’s the only thing worse than the recent influx of American wannbe punk rock bands?… English bands trying to BE American wannbe punk rock bands. For some reason I just couldn’t shift the image of Dawson and co. heading out to some cheesy school-hall rock show with Wheatus playing supported by none other than our very own Easyworld!

Seafood** crashed straight into the loud, powerful sounds of ‘Cloaking’ sending the already rapturous crowd into a mad frenzy of ideologies and motives cleverly combined in about 4 minutes of hard hitting, voluptuous guitar sounds. Slight rawer and more robust in sound than the single version, this chaotic magnum opus was the perfect opener, drawing the crowd in before shaking their bodies from their heads to their toes.

Playing with a greater clarity than ever before it was obvious from the outset that this spectrum was going to be something special. With attention played to tracks off the imminent album ‘When Do We Start Fighting’ we were all given a taster of things to come. Fresher, tighter and more emotive in sound the future’s bright, the future’s Seafood! Crowd favourites and classic Seafood tracks were not to be ignored, with ‘This Is Not An Exit’** being a definite high point to the proceedings.

Each track, new or old was carefully blended into the electric, chaotic yet controlled ambience to the night. Often looking slightly overwhelmed, David’s vocal seemed to reach a new level, platonically existing with the striking, rolling and alternating guitar sounds. Caroline was also in fine voice, angelically upholding the vocals in both ‘Pleasurehead’* and ‘In This Light Will You Fight Me’*. The latter being a real swooner that plucks at your heart strings while tittering with your inner soul before erupting into a noisy cohesion of venomous sounding guitar riffs and layers of bass sounds, drums patterns and vocals stripped down to their roughest rawest edge.

The good work started by ‘Cloaking’* is set to be followed when the band release their next single ‘Splinter’*. This consists of a loud rampage of sound condensed into one tight ball of apprehension before exploding into a muddle of rampant bass lines, explosive vocals, tapered drum sounds and a whole profusion of guitar noises.

This beautifully articulated set was brought to its climatic finale with an extra special version of 'Folksong Crisis/ FSCII', with the inclusion of Hywell and Kev from Billy Mahonie, words cannot come close to describing the loud, vibrant and bustling experience we were exposed to.

Stand back America your music time is up…. We have Seafood, and they’re toe-curling, tongue-biting, heart-pumpingly good!

  • Seafood 9 / 10
  • Easyworld 9 / 10
  • Billy Mahonie 9 / 10
  • KaitO 9 / 10
Billy Mahonie Seafood Easyworld KaitO
From the archive

Seafood + Easyworld + Billy Mahonie + Kaito - London ULU

if you think that Easyworld are punk then you are a stupid fuck ! it really is THAT simple ...
Old_Anonymous_Comments | 21 Jul '01, 17:06 | X | Reply

Re: Seafood + Easyworld + Billy Mahonie + Kaito - London ULU

I don't think they're punk I said they're a wannabe american punk rock band

Re: Seafood + Easyworld + Billy Mahonie + Kaito - London ULU

Now don't be rude. Vic is lovely. Almost as lovely as me. Maybe pop-punk tripe, yes tripe, is a better description cos that's what she was going for I reckon. But I'm just guessing...

ROCK ON
Raz

Re: Seafood + Easyworld + Billy Mahonie + Kaito - London ULU

i've always seen wheatus and blink182 described as "pop punk". i know either band aren't at all punk but i'd prolly still describe em as "pop punk". easyworld sounded like both bands (w/ a little bit of weezer in) so be quiet or start writing for DiS

deary me .....

don't give me any of this "well, could you do any better" bollocks. that highlights a blatant lack of confidence in the site and your own ability.

I could even turn it round and say "could you do any better than Easyworld ?" chances are you couldn't, most people can't write songs at all.
But that's not the fucking point. Easyworld and DiS are both trying to get an audience and the audience can give you a standing ovation or they can pull you to bits.
and anyway, i know fine well i can't write to save my life ... that's why i don't write for DiS (hint, hint)

Oh, and if Easyworld sound like Blink 182 then Billy Mahonie sound like Lolita Storm !

Easyworld

Easyworld r my new favourite band. they sound a little like Weezer in places, which is probably why James doesn't like them! :D

re "Billy Mahonie - UK's math-rock finest?!!

"Billy Mahonie, who can only be decribed as UK Math rock at its finest.."

???!?!?!!????!!!!????????????
Er.......?!?!??

Oh yeah, that's right - "Dusseldorf" has a funny beat to it - course, they must be math rock then so.

Hmm.

Re: re "Billy Mahonie - UK's math-rock finest?!!

BM aren't really math rock at all. they're a lot more interesting.

Re: re "Billy Mahonie - UK's math-rock finest?!!

Please! why spend a whole post arguing about what kind of genre a band would fit into?? is that what really mattters? Its like reading the fucking NME./ easyworld are a good band and thats whats matters not how punk they are.

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