The Cooper Temple Clause

This is the second successive tour that has seen *The Cooper Temple Clause *play with these bands. Is this a bad thing? Two schools. One might say they’re playing with their friends and highly esteemed contemporaries. Another may say it’s getting boring as hell. I’m tentatively stepping foot into the first pond. I must declare my near-love for all three bands here tonight.

*Oceansize *have hit a strong note within me during recent months. Indeed, my first encounter with them was here in this very venue. While in search for less clichéd phrasing: they blew me away. Tonight I can hear all that again. The swirls of majestic euphoria flow over you in swathes of lubricated angst while seconds later they refuse to shy from the staccato riffs that are so commonplace now. Oceansize can be your favourite band. When will it happen?

A lot quicker than it could with Biffy Clyro. Tonight they seem far from their best. Their wilting, lilting, safe houses of calm used to be brutalised by washings of mercilessly supercharged vigour. Instead, tonight they just did not appear. To me, it seemed like a distinct variation in their sound: less contrast and more rock – straight up. Are they homogenising, standardising, averagising. I sincerely hope not. They are separate from the pack. They can be part of the future. But not tonight.

Tonight’s over-filled, over-sold and over-rammed venue is indicative of TCTC’s rise since the release of their debut long player. This is their first tour since – in support of their next single release. It has not been long since their last tour and similarly their sound has not changed. It is not time for them to find something new to appear from their cloudy midsts. Now it is time to promote their records and sell out venues. Their market is cornered. One gets the feeling they are only here because they have to be and that they want to have as much fun as they can without having to think about it. Kooky samples with clever riffs stuck together with vocals varying from the whispered to the screamed to the Gallagher-esque. Let’s leave it until the next album before we can expect this to be anything apart from generic Coopers.