HERE!<\/a><\/p>\nLast night saw Cherry Red Records launch the \u2018Scared To Get Happy\u2019 compilation in fine style at London\u2019s \u2018The Venue\u2019 on Great Portland Street. With 10 bands<\/em> split evenly between 2 rooms, it left the audience a little spoilt for choice. However, \u2018Mighty Mighty<\/strong>\u2019 was an easy choice for this particular audience member, and somehow this Birmingham 5 piece were bizarrely under my radar until last week. Their set consisted of \u2018Maisonette\u2019, \u2018Settle Down\u2019 (where Hugh Harkin sank to his knees and implored the audience of 30 and 40 something\u2019s to do just that), \u2018Is There Anyone Out There?\u2019 \u2018Built like A Car\u2019 and their hilarious debut single \u2018Everybody Knows A Monkey\u2019. At one point in the set Hugh Harkin calls out for Bridget Duffy<\/em> to join them on stage. The ex \u2018Sea Urchins\u2019 band member was nowhere to be seen, or did she hide when her name was announced? Many of us also know Bridget from her shop \u2018What The Butler Wore\u2019<\/em> which has been catering for my own and other like minded \u2018Dedicated Followers Of Fashion\u2019 sartorial needs since 1995. This impressive set was backed by singing fans at the front of the stage while holding their beers aloft. If you want to know what all the fuss is about, then you can view the YouTube clips attached here or catch a glimpse of their classic amusing videos to \u2018Maisonette\u2019 and \u2018Built Like A Car\u2019.<\/p>\n\u2018The Brilliant Corners<\/strong>\u2019 were afforded the luxury of an extra 15 minutes, and an ensemble containing at least 6 members (starting to get beery eyed at this point) saunter onto the stage with Dan Pacini brandishing a trumpet and Davey Woodward a taped up acoustic guitar. \u2018The Brilliant Corners\u2019 story dates back to 1983 and they decided to reform to celebrate their 30th<\/sup> anniversary by playing at the \u2018Scared To Get Happy<\/i>\u2019 launch party. They appear slightly fey especially with the introduction of Amelia Fletcher to sing \u2018Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him\u2019. Other songs included the slightly silly and amusing \u2018Brian Rix\u2019 and \u2018Teenage\u2019, which Davey Woodward awkwardly introduced and pondered the merits of singing such a song considering the age of him and most of the audience. However, this did not matter at all as the song was received rapturously. Seeing \u2018The Brilliant Corners\u2019 on stage made me think that the so-called under appreciated Indie Pop scene of the 1980s does indeed have a lasting legacy, which can be seen in Bands like \u2018Belle and Sebastian\u2019 and more recent Indie upstarts like \u2018The Pains of Being Pure At Heart.\u2019<\/p>\n\u2018The Brilliant Corners\u2019 really did grab my attention to the extent that I missed the start of the \u201cBlue Orchids<\/strong>\u2019 in room one.\u00a0 This post punk band featured ex \u2018Fall\u2019 members Martin Bramah and Una Baines, and my introduction to the Blue Orchids came in the form of a live appearance at the nearby \u2018Social\u2019 a few months ago.\u00a0 What made that particular gig so compelling was the chaotic performance from an inebriated and out of tune frontman Martin Bramah. Last night I was expecting something similar and to my surprise this was a much more sedate, and sullen performance from Bramah and the rest of the \u201cBlue Orchids\u2019. The \u2018Blue Orchids\u2019 did step up a gear towards the end with tracks like \u2018Work\u2019 and the brilliant \u2018Disney Boys\u2019. \u2018The Fall\u2019 may release about 40 albums a year, but can they really<\/em> claim to have done a 45rpm as brilliant as \u2018Disney Boys\u2019 coupled with \u2018The Flood\u2019?<\/p>\nNow it was back into room 2 to see the already started \u2018BMX Bandits<\/strong>\u2019 who hail from \u2018Bellshill\u2019 North Lanarkshire, Scotland. This was another band I was eager to see, and it was such a shame that their set partially clashed with the tail end of the \u2018Blue Orchids\u2019. The song I was most looking forward to the \u2018BMX Bandits\u2019 performing was \u2018Serious Drugs\u2019. Sadly I missed it and in fairness it did not really matter as they performed such a sweet and plaintive set that I quite forgot that Duglas T Stewart the long haired, and bearded front man could have been a member of ZZ Top, as opposed to being a member of a band that plays such fragile and wistful Indie Pop as the absolutely charming \u2018So Many Colours\u2019 \u2018I Wanna Fall In Love\u2019 \u2018Girl At The Bus Stop\u2019 and \u2018Disco Girl\u2019.<\/p>\nNow the moment I had been looking forward to was the appearance of \u2018The Primitives<\/strong>\u2019 and the \u2018Lovely\u2019 Tracy Tracy. They came on to a rousing reception and ripped through a set of songs that had enough hooks to hang all your coats and hats on! \u2018The Primitives\u2019 brilliantly played so many catchy tunes including \u2018Stop Killing Me\u2019 \u2018Thru The Flowers\u2019 \u2018Really Stupid\u2019 and the massive 1988 hit \u2018Crash\u2019, that it was rather difficult for anyone to remain dead still. The most impressive thing about \u2018The Primitives\u2019 unlike other bands that reform, was that it never at all felt purely nostalgic. They still retain their youthful vigour and sounded so fresh and relevant after all these years, that it makes the mind boggle why they ever split up in the first place. One side splittingly funny moment came at the end of the gig, when a fan brandishing a bunch of flowers produced them with a flourish and handed them to Tracy Tracy<\/em> who accepted them without even a hint of surprise, which suggests that this has become something of a routine for both fan and singer alike.<\/p>\n* Editor says: \u2018Apologies to any bands that were missed this time around, one set of Eyeplug reviewers got stranded on their way to the show, so LongJohn did an even more super solid job splitting his timings wherever he could! Big Thanks to all at Cherry Red!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last night saw Cherry Red Records launch the \u2018Scared To Get Happy\u2019 compilation in fine style at London\u2019s \u2018The Venue\u2019 on Great Portland Street. With 10 bands split evenly between 2 rooms it left the audience a little spoilt for choice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":4608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,128,88,76,71,87,74],"tags":[756,757,750,761,760,759,758],"series":[],"class_list":["post-4590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gigs","category-hot-plugs","category-indie","category-live","category-music","category-pop","category-reviews","tag-229-the-venue","tag-bmx-bandits","tag-cherry-red-records","tag-mighty-mighty","tag-the-blue-orchids","tag-the-briliant-corners","tag-the-primitives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4590"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4618,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4590\/revisions\/4618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=4590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}