Every now and then, when you see a band live for the first time – perhaps in a fairly small venue – you just instinctively know that this is one to watch for the future and that if there is any justice in this world, they are going to be big. We have been privileged to see a number of such bands over the last 12 months, notably ‘Bloxx’, ‘ILL’ and ‘Eva Plays Dead’. To see two on the same bill, however, is something of a first, but that is exactly what happened at the Deaf Institute on July 21st. The event was a celebration of ‘Stop-Start’, the newly released debut album from Manchester-based, all female post-punk trio, ‘Liines’, who headlined a bill of three, and a truly great time was had by all.
First up was fellow Manchester band, ‘Threads‘. This is an all-male four piece, and thus officially outside Hera’s notice. Nevertheless, they were obviously accomplished musicians, with a driving post-punk sound. There is no singer, as such. Instead, three of the four take turns to act as vocalists but, oddly, they seem to write songs pitched too high for any of them to sing without sounding audibly strained. This may well be the effect they are after, but without wishing to sound like their mother, it could also risk permanent damage.
Second on the bill were all female three piece, ‘Berries’, from London, who are a different beast altogether. We were familiar with much of their material from their Soundcloud presence and had been eagerly awaiting a chance to see them live. First, though, a short digression. There has long been a tendency in music writing to refer to male musicians by their surnames, but to women by their first names. This is far from universal, but it is repeated often enough that to refer to a female artist exclusively by her first name can be seen as patronising. As a result, ‘Hera Says’ has always made a point of using surnames when talking about both male and female artists. To us it is just a mark of respect. The only exception has been our article on Icelandic duo ‘Between Mountains‘ and our references to fellow Icelander, Rakel Mjöll Leifsdottir, the singer of ‘Dream Wife‘, because Icelanders do not have surnames as such. They have patronymics: in other words, a child will be given a parent’s name (usually their father’s) after their own given name as a designator. We can see the legacy of a similar, but long defunct system in some British surnames, such as Johnson, but in Iceland it is still current practice. This means that, for example, Bjork is not Björk Guðmundsdóttir because her surname is Guðmundsdóttir, but because she is the daughter of Guðmundur (Gunnarsson). So much for the educational aside, but the reason we raise it is because ‘Berries’ have been distinctly coy about their own surnames, to the point where despite scouring the Internet, including their own social media, we have been totally unable to find out what they are. The best we can do, therefore, is to say that the band consists of Holly (guitar and vocals), Lauren (bass) and Lucie (drums) and we will use those names here with no disrespect intended.
Names notwithstanding, the three are a genuine phenomenon. Holly told ‘Get in her Ears’ in February 2018 that she and Lucie grew up together and had been jamming for quite some time, but that the band as it exists today only formed when Lauren moved to London. She was a guitarist at the time, but was persuaded to take up the bass, and the rest is (or soon will be) history. They call themselves an alt-rock, or just straightforward rock band on their Facebook page, and yes, it is true, they are. But at the same time it is not quite that simple. On first listening to their records you hear the rock straight off, driven by repeating, hard edged guitar riffs. They have cited ‘Biffy Clyro’ as a major influence, and you can certainly hear that in Holly’s guitar work, which has the jangly, Fender single pick-up tone that is particularly exemplified by the ‘Jaguar’, although Holly herself, like ‘Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, plays a Stratocaster. They also quote Sleater-Kinney as an influence and again you can hear some of the roots of Holly’s guitar sound in songs like ‘Jumpers‘, although impressively Carrie Brownstein got that brittle Fender tone out of a Gibson SG. Nirvana might also be mentioned as a more distant ancestor. Kurt Cobain was, after all, one of the people who triggered the current resurgence in popularity of the once all but unsaleable Fender ‘Jag’. Variants on this tone have now become something of the sound of the moment, and in the right hands it can be magnificent, with artists from Courtney Barnett to ‘Berries’ themselves forming something of an informal movement. One of the greatest exemplars is Alice Go of ‘Dream Wife’, whose guitar sound on ‘Fire‘ is not a million miles from Holly’s on ‘Lights‘, although Go plays the even harsher sounding Burns ‘Marquee’. Another Fender user, ‘LED’, the even more impenetrably named guitarist of ‘Goat Girl’, is another member of this non-existent club, as can be heard in her guitar work on ‘Scum‘, or their gloriously strange ‘Viper Fish‘, which has echoes of the ‘Berries’ own ‘Siren‘.
A family resemblance of sound and feel running through music from the 1980s to the present day is one thing, but the meat of the matter is the actual material and, whatever their influences, Holly’s riffs, and the band’s music as a whole are very much all their own. Indeed, ‘Berries’ are about as original as they come.
The riffs are often complex, strident, fast paced and cyclic, and they give the music a sometimes breathtaking drive and excitement. Holly also occasionally adds full blown soloing, as on ‘Waiting‘, which takes the music to an even more visceral level. So far so rock and roll, but she can also be surprisingly delicate. Again the best example is ‘Waiting’, a truly glorious song whose introduction has a little of the feel of folk rock band ‘Pentangle’s ‘Light Flight‘ from their 1969 album ‘Basket of Light’. Whilst in the introduction to ‘Written in Paint‘ she gives the guitar something of the gentle sound of a hammer dulcimer.
These small folk-rock references start to show why the rock or alt-rock labels are not quite the whole story, but Holly’s voice takes us much further. Let us say right away that she has a superb, versatile and frankly fascinating voice, but the most surprising thing about it is that it is basically a classic folk-rock voice transplanted into a rock band. It is almost as if someone had replaced Elkie Brooks with June Tabor in ‘Vinegar Joe’. It just shouldn’t work, but in the case of Holly and ‘Berries’ it not only does – it is inspirational. She can sing gut grabbing rock with the best; she just does it with that slight Folk lilt – and it adds, rather than subtracts. One could point to the possibility of influence from the likes of Sandy Denny, Dolores O’Riordan (‘Cranberries’) and, perhaps especially, Kirsty MacColl, but talking to her after the show Holly herself seemed to be somewhat mystified by the idea, albeit whilst admitting that we were not the first to suggest it, so any influence that we are not just imagining may well be subliminal.
So far, we have only really talked about Holly, and it has to be said that on disc she does tend to dominate the mix. The band’s recorded output to date consists of a wonderful six song EP: ‘Those Funny Things’, followed by two singles; ‘Wild Vow‘ and, most recently, ‘Faults‘, with the first two available as physical CDs, as well as downloads. The records were produced by different people, but they have a consistency of mix which, to our ears at least, leaves the drums, and still more the bass, a little too far in the background for much of the time, if with notable exceptions, such as Lauren’s bass work on ‘Siren‘. Live, however, things were rather different.
For some time, ‘Hera Says’ has been running a quiet nagging campaign pointing out that a good few venue sound engineers have been trying to get the maximum volume out of their P.A.s at the expense of the singers. They simply mix everything up until it nearly (or actually) reaches the point of feeding back, which inevitably leaves the vocals swamped and singers forced to strain their voices in an effort to be heard at all. The ‘Deaf Institute’ is actually not one of the offenders, but even so the live mix on the 21st did push the ‘Berries’ bass and drums higher than they appear on record. For once, though, this change of balance was a plus, not a minus and, to our taste, it made things a good deal more satisfying. Holly’s voice and guitar were still there in all their considerable glory, but suddenly Lauren and Lucie’s sheer power as a rhythm section shone through in a way we had not appreciated before. The result was a revelation, which added another quantum jump to the music’s excitement – and it turned what on record can be in danger of sounding like a solo artist with two acolytes, into a genuine band. It became much clearer just how vital the rhythm section is as the foundation on which Holly’s pyrotechnics are built and likewise the degree to which the bass forms a counterbalance and not just an accompaniment to the guitar. The difference in levels was actually not that great and without wishing to presume, the band might do well to consider mixing future recordings to give a little more of this ‘Deaf Institute’ feel.
All in all, ‘Berries’ are a great live act with huge on-stage energy. Holly is a unique talent. Her voice makes it through a P.A. system with most of its subtleties intact, and just to watch her playing those riffs whilst at the same time singing a totally different melody line, or dancing wildly between verses, is awe inspiring. She can josh with the audience between songs – seeming fully at her ease – and if there was any sign at all of stage nerves, it was a tendency to speak too quickly when announcing the titles of songs, so that she could not always be understood. As for their eight song set; they played both of the recent singles: ‘Faults’ and ‘Wild Vow’. Two more tracks: ‘Waiting’ and ‘Siren’ came off the EP., but the remaining four were unfamiliar. One song, ‘Silent’ was announced from the mike as completely new, although another, ‘Stormy‘, has been seen on-line in a (rather poor quality) YouTube live clip. A recent gig review in ‘Lock’ magazine mentions another new song called ‘Discreetly’ which they did not play in Manchester, and Lucie told us after the show that they are working on a new EP, so the chances are that they have been previewing its contents. If so, things sound pretty good and we can’t wait to hear the whole thing. Lucie hinted that ‘Faults’ will also be on the record, which is why there has been no physical CD of the single version. That would make a second six song EP, like ‘Those Funny Things’ and, although a full length album would have been even better, we will be very glad to take whatever we are given. The band are in Manchester again on 22nd September for the ‘British Sound Project’ festival, so maybe they will have something more to sell us by then. In the meantime, they put on a wonderful performance – so much so, in fact, that however much we were longing to see ‘Liines’, we were sad when it ended, and how much more than that can any support act be expected to do?
‘Liines’ themselves were cheered to the rafters as they came on stage. This was their party, after all, and an all fan crowd were delighted to celebrate with them. Interestingly, the line-up that played the gig was not quite the same as that on the album. Unusually, ‘Liines’ do not include their own names anywhere on the album packaging, at least on the CD version, but the band on the disc were Zoe McVeigh (Guitar and Vocals), Leila O’Sullivan (Drums) and Steph Angel (Bass). Since the end of the sessions, however, Angel has left and been replaced on bass by Tamsin Middleton, who ‘Hera Says’ readers will also know as the guitarist with another of our favourites: ‘ILL’.
Bands are sometimes criticised for trying to reproduce their recorded sound on stage too exactly, as if this somehow shows lack of imagination. You cannot win, of course, because artists who do play noticeably different live versions get panned for that as well. In the case of ‘Liines’, however, things are refreshingly different, because ‘Stop-Start’ as an album has a very live feel. There are few production tricks and little use of the stereo sound-stage. Instead, the energy and excitement of the band’s stage show is preserved – and they are, to say the very least, an electrifying live act. Not surprisingly for a gig to celebrate the album, they played it in its entirety (in a different order). But they also played four additional non-album songs: ‘On and on’, ‘Look for you’, ‘Sorry‘ and ‘Not Afraid‘.
Their presentation, both live and on record, might best be described as “sublime, but breathless”. This is a short album of just under half an hour, well suited to the capacity of the resurgent vinyl L.P., yet it contains a full ten songs. Each one, though, is short, sharp and to the point, averaging less than three minutes. There is no fat, no filler and certainly not a single duff track. Instead, the band present a relentless, constantly changing musical whirlwind. The live version was little different, but longer: with 14 of these short but intense songs in rapid sucession, with little if any gap between them. It was not a restful experience, but if you want restful, go and see easy listening. What we got instead was three thrillingly exciting rockers at the very top of their game, putting every fibre of their being into their performance. These are not just musicians; they are athletes, to keep up that high energy pace – and it was almost a surprise that O’Sullivan, in particular, could still stand when she came off. They were magnificent.
The band’s instrumental parts tend to be simple but highly effective, and are bass and drum led for much of the time. O’Sullivan’s drumming has a stark, staccato quality, with patterns that are almost riffs. She has a near metronomic grip on the rhythm, to the point when some of the lines sound almost like drum machine programs, except that a moment’s listening to the, subtleties, rapid fire variations and sudden pattern switches, as on ‘Shallow‘ or ‘Blackout‘ show clearly that there is a very real flesh and blood human at work here. She also sometimes seems to play with two drum sticks in each hand. The bass lines growl along, often towards the lower end of the instrument’s range, as in songs like ‘Disappear‘ or ‘Never There‘ and, if anything, Middleton’s sound live was even more ‘Liines’ than Angel’s had been on the album. Either way, both women compliment O’Sullivan’s drumming perfectly to form a driving rhythm section, over which McVeigh’s coldly distorted guitar comes and goes, with something of the quality of (very loud) snow flurries, often with quick-fire repetitions of the same note or sequence, with frequent – sometimes long – silences in between. Overall, the instrumentation has a bleak, even ominous quality, which perfectly matches the lyrical content of the songs, which are almost all about dysfunctional relationships, break-ups or fear of impending heart ache. The atmosphere is further heightened by the fact that the lyrics are highly personal. They are generally addressed directly to an unspecified “you” and, rightly or wrongly, you get the impression that McVeigh has lived the emotional traumas she sings about. The strange thing is, though, that for all its darkness, this is music that reaches straight into the hind-brain and sets you dancing, almost without realising it. It really is quite remarkable.
McVeigh has a superb, even mesmerising mezzo voice: somehow plaintive and immensely powerful at the same time, but with the power always controlled. She can throttle up during a note, bend it or add vibrato. She can come into a note from a pause, and still hit it singing flat out, with no split second of hunting before finding the exact pitch. She manages long, full-volume sustains, which speak of lung capacity and excellent breath control. In songs like ‘Cold‘ or ‘Hold your Breath‘ she can produce piercing sustains right at the top of her range, without ever starting to sound shrill, and it is tempting to wonder whether, despite the dramatic genre difference, she might have had classical training. Indeed her voice does show something of an operatic quality on occasions. At the same time, it is quite hard to think of another singer to compare her with. Just occasionally, as on ‘Be Here‘, there are traces of a Marissa Paternoster (Screaming Females) style purr, or a hint of Corin Tucker (Sleater- Kinney). For the most part, however, she is just herself: Zoe McVeigh, unique and apart, and all the better for it.
The human brain is good at pattern recognition, something for which computers have so far shown less aptitude, and music fans and writers alike love to play spot the influence when discussing a particular act. There is a huge spectrum. Some bands are highly derivative or at least wear their influences on full display, whilst others stand far more alone. ‘Liines’ fall firmly into the latter camp. They have been compared to bands such as ‘Sleater-Kinney’ and ‘Savages’, and you can sort of see what people mean. Their all black clothing and moody stage presence certainly suggest a ‘Savages‘ visual influence, and Ayse Hassan (one of Hera’s favorite bass players) of both ‘Savages’ and ‘Kite Base‘ has a comparable deep, growling style. There may even be traces of Jehnny Beth in McVeigh’s vocal sound, but Gemma Thompson’s echoey and deeply dystopian guitar playing and Fay Milton’s sometimes languid, but often out and out violent drumming give the ‘Savages’ a very different feel. Of course, everything in music is to some extent built on what has gone before but, even so, ‘Liines’ are, for the most part, ‘Liines’, pure and simple: a genuine original. They no doubt have influences but they also seem likely to become one of those bands that future artists will be citing as an influence. And on one thing those artists will certainly all agree: this band can play and my god they know how to put on a show.
By the time ‘Liines’ came on stage at 9 p.m. the venue was heaving. We don’t know if it was technically a sell-out, but if not, it must have been close, and that room full of people were privileged to see something very special, and possibly unique. ‘Liines’ and ‘Berries’ are both headliner quality acts. They are very different, but they complimented each other well on the night, each somehow making the performance of the other seem yet more impressive – with ‘Berries’ bringing the crowd to the boil before ‘Liines’ came on and blew out the doors. Whether we will ever see them on the same bill again is debatable: but ……. well, maybe one day at Glastonbury. Now that would be something to see.
Hera Says.
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Hera says I should be the star now 