Rainbow 444club - Destroy Cowboy, Grandscope and the Dogfight Revolution

Published by Al Young | Filed under Music

The West Midlands is probably best known in the rest of the UK for being the ultimate in urban personification of the colour grey. ‘Industry’, ‘dirt’ and ‘mundaneness’ are all nouns more likely to be associated with the region than with the far more desirable nouns of ‘creativity’, ‘originality’ and ‘vibrancy’. Even though in the past I may have myself prescribed to this theory, my discovery of the creative, vibrant and original local music scene of the area has made sure that I believe this preconception to be as much of a nonsense as saying that all Welshmen are inbred or that Southerners are immediately, by virtue of the area in which they live, affluent: pure fallacy.

How did this discovery come about? My first visit to the Kamikaze Promotions 444club at the Rainbow in Digbeth: the name being a result of the cost of entry being £4, there being 4 bands playing, and final end time being 4AM. Despite being a weekly event, this first visit was on the 7^th December 2007, where The Dogfight Revolution, This Machine is Off, Grandscope and Destroy Cowboy were set to play. Unfortunately, it would transpire that, due to slight traffic problems on theit journey from Stoke, This Machine is Off wouldn’t play their set; no matter though: the night still delivered on its promise of up-and-coming, promising local talent.

The night opened spectacularly with the wall of noise which preceded and served as an intro to The Dogfight Revolution’s first song and demonstrated very well their blend of ’60’s psychedelic and modern electronic influences. Throughout the set, their instrumental variation shone through and made sure that no two songs sounded the same: the combination of sharp Telecaster treble from the one guitarist and the warm mids and treble of the Jaguar (and the change to acoustic guitar in one of the songs) was always a winner, and perfectly demonstrative of their ’60’s influence was the (very apt) use of of Theremin. Their charisma also shone through in the emotive voice of their lead singer and their dynamic stage presence.

After around 15 minutes of setting up, the stage of the Rainbow was packed with keyboards and other music-oriented electronic gadgetry: this could only mean that Grandscope were about to play. They were again about to impress me with their introduction; upon walking onto the stage, no pleasantries were to be exchanged: they got straight into business with a song called Uno Juno, an instrumental track reminiscent of a cross between Red Sparowes and Explosions in the Sky. I was frankly wowed by this, and my attention was kept all of the way though the performance by their mixture of atmospherics and outright aggression; great variances in dynamics and enchanting vocals. In a couple of the songs, a certain post-hardcore prog-esque influence was evidenced, á la At the Drive-In; especially with the amazing esoteric drumming.

Once again, in an almost planned consistency, 15 minutes passed between Grandscope leaving the stage and the headliners Destroy Cowboy taking to it. The Rainbow’s stage was once again awash with synthesisers, keyboards and guitars, all with a sole unifying purpose: packing out the Courtyard area of the Rainbow. Hand to god, it was like a microcosm of the population density of China in there once Destroy Cowboy had started playing, and with good reason. Like the bastard child of Bloc Party and Head Automatica, they mix what could be construed by snobs as ’stereotypical’ indie guitar riffs with a surprising blend of pop and electronic music. Their set started at 100MPH and never let down once. Songs such as 1000 Candles and Hey show just why they have been receiving such great press from smaller (local and national) music press – blending old and new to create something totally previously unheard of. As for stage presence; they made the stage of the Rainbow their own, with a performance from their keyboardist bordering on the possessed, and the performances from the other members of the band easily matched his enthusiasm for the music which they were making.Before the bands started playing, and in the 15 minutes of setting up between the bands, boredom was alleviated by some very talented DJing. Beats were matched and tempos altered to perfection. One of the highlights of the nights must have been a most pleasant remix of Bloc Party’s Banquet; a song not kind to the untalented amongst DJs. All around, an amazing set from CrazyP ensued later in the night.

I am often one to moan about the prices of things in this day and age, but this night out was amazing: the weekly 444club night at the Rainbow offers 4 bands and offers 8 hours of entertainment for only £4: depending upon how you look at it, that’s either £1 per band or £0.50 per hour; either way, it’s cheaper than many nights out and probably a better quality. Combine that with food and drinks promotions (£1.50 for mixers and Grolsch), and you have a night out with amazing local talent and a low cost. If you need any proof that the West Midlands has a creative side, come to the 444club: the event oozes that which you seek. In addition to this, if you are worried about the availability of taxis after your evening at the Rainbow; from my experience Silver Line Cars are a reasonably safe bet for having cars pulling up by the Rainbow frequently: it’s just a shame that I was waiting for a Speedline.