| Melys (Live Review) |
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Three Bands take the stage tonight as part of the Welsh Music Foundation's `Once Around The Bloc` tour upstairs at Clwb Ifor Bach. First it's ex-Gorky John Lawrence, a.k.a. Infinity Chimps. Looks like a guy playing on his amiga, sounds like a spooky electronic bass-drenched psyche-out. It could be number one - on Mars - and you feel stoned just listening to it. Not exactly `Poodle Rockin`, it's inspired originality. Derrero provide tonight's conventional guitar pop. They've got a good grasp of tunage but a refusal to diviate from medium pacing makes it difficult to stay interested for too long. To their credit they manage to hold attension with the distraction of a drunken wanderer bumping into various Super Furries and attempting to tongue my +1, who is too much of a gentleman to take advantage. Their slow/heavy metal closer Dusk is fantastic, which means that we're left with a good impression. Melys have firmly established themselves among the finest of Welsh bands locally, yet wider recognition has peaked at being a John Peel favourite - they recently stood top of the pile of the Festive Fifty records with their `Chinese Whipsers` single, one of tonight's highlights. The fact is that Melys are a fantistic pop band. They rock the guitars into fuzzy hooks all at a brink tempo made to nod your head to. Caressing the microphone, frontwoman Andrea Parker commands the stage with her petite sexiness, stomping in time in her knee-high boots which add to to a charasmatic rock-idol image rivalling PJ Harvey. Her sweet-as-Skittles voice adds an original dimension to the band's sound, one feels that if they had a stubbled n' scruffy whiner dude up front they wouldn't be half as seductively distinctive as they undeniably are. Melys' original approach to percussion (Parker slamming a flood sign with a drumstick and juggernaught bassist Rich hammering a metal keg to smithereens) show us Melys won't decend into bland guitar hell, assisting Gary Husband's drumming with ear-piercing periodic rhythms. A band to truly be proud of. Jamie Fullerton |