MUSIC

Motorcycle Showrooms, Bristol (Fri 7 Oct) Is this one of those flashy tweetmobs or something? Whatever, it’s impressively thronged for a band that’s barely appeared since their 2010 debut at fabulously louche venue The Grapes (now sadly persecuted into silence by Clifton’s great and good). The Motorcycle Showrooms is a pop-up for the night, a festival-style stage hastily assembled and DJs warming things up. It feels ferociously trendy, but I’m there anyway. Support act Hollowbelly is a surprising treat: a Seasick Steve kind of one-man blues band, bashing out his ‘Three Chords & The Truth’ manifesto on a homemade cigar-box guitar. His stuff is fresh and honest, chirpy tales of a northerner come south, harsh loves and hard times (including the abdominal ‘everythingectomy’ that led to his nickname).  A short and tasty garage-grounded DJ set from Sean Cook heralds the Beef, shambling with rock confidence, singer Tom Tetley slumped into a chair at the limits of laconic. Their music has a fierceness whose heritage stretches back to LA psychedelia, the MC5, Doors and (latterly) Stooges: the oldest three-chord trick in the book, deliberately scuffed and spat out with faux nonchalance. It’s pitch-perfect, especially when Tetley gets up and does the Iggy/Jim prowl to a decadent four-beat drum and a downhill guitar chord crash. They know you know they know their stuff, and they’re unfazed by occasional crowd invasions (including two wannabe wrestlers and the inevitable Bez-alike), possibly because they don’t even register what’s happening. Pure nuggetry, excellently done, and proper rock and roll. (Tony Benjamin)

Copyright Tony Benjamin 2011