Suddenly there seems to be an influx of dance-floor friendly bands loitering around the UK’s music halls. It’s a pretty competitive business now. Fortunately for tonight’s entertainment, they have quickly emerged as one of the forerunners of the scene.
We Are Scientists don’t offer anything new in the listening stakes, as their speciality is serving up instantly accessible slices of pop rock loveliness to get your head bobbing and those feet a tappin’. This in effect causes two reactions. Music critics have a field day letting rip on the ever abused formulaic pop structure of the songs, and number two, the punters fucking love them. Judging by the average age of tonight’s audience, there aren’t that many chin-stroking muso’s around. Bloody good job too, they’d be having a right old whinge, and that just won’t do tonight.
The vibe in the Academy is better than good tonight. Local boys Foreign Born and the wall of noise that is Forward Russia have done their utmost best to chivvy the crowd, and in most parts succeeded. I can’t help but feel that ‘Forward Russia’ are a strange choice of support for We Are Scientists. They have a very intense, rhythmic punk style that seems to float across the audience’s head. Their frontman, pours extreme energy into getting his vibe across, but this is somewhat wasted on the young audience. Another time, another place, maybe.
Imminently, three slender figures emerge from the darkness to an explosive reaction and promptly launch into their opening tirade of "This Scene Is Dead" which judging from the crowd tonight might just be a contradiction in terms. After the opening three songs it’s glaringly apparent that We Are Scientists have become an extremely tight musical unit, with each member bouncing their sound off the other with great effect. Just as we are settling into that notion, the intro of "It’s A Hit" stumbles to a false start. This is where you see how at ease they are as a group and as a unit as the banter between themselves and the audience is always heartily and healthily present.
The only chink in their armor tonight is the lack of depth in their catalogue. There are points in the night when you feel the energy is waning, and I think that the band also senses this. At these moments though, they always seem to sneak another fast paced indie bomb from up their sleeve to pacify the crowd.
As the end of the night approaches, the crowd is treated to a cover of The Ronette’s, "Be My Baby." Not as effective as their own material, but it gives the audience time to gather their thoughts before the encore onslaught of "The Great Escape." It’s at this point I witness the true vibe of the night as I see crowd surfers coming to land near the stage. As they make their way back into the crowd, they are high-fived by the spectators at the front and smiles are on everyone’s faces. Ok, so this might not be the place for a seasoned veteran looking for a deep musical experience, but a little forget-me-not musical pleasure like this brings things back into perspective. As "scientists" they’re not breaking any major musical boundaries but they have discovered the formula for funky alternative pop music.
Photos by Jamie Wright
