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CHRISTMAS WRAPPING
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:: Dartz!
:: This Town Needs Guns
:: The Honeymoon Suite
::
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19 December 2007 / The Roadhouse / Manchester
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By JA
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Singer Melon is suffering tonight – his voice is wracked by the prevalent festive virus, but it’s not going to stop him just giving it some hometown welly. Manchester’s The Honeymoon Suite are a furious, passionate boiling pot of punk and modern nu rock with melodic EMO undertones. Their pretty complex range of ideas are driven out with willing guitars and at times they have the enthusiastic crunch of The Clash, even though they’ve flavoured their sounds with a very modern strain of glossy heavy rock. It’s impressive, abrasive yet welcoming stuff from a band I’d definitely like to hear more from.
If math rock were ever the domain of hippies then This Town Needs Guns could well be the missing link. The Oxford outfit's ethereal sounds are driven by some amazing guitar work. Despite the intricate picks and mind bendingly fluid rhythms (“And I’ll Tell You For Why”) the vocals seem stretched at times, but it seems such a minor point when the band are mixing in some quite beautiful moments with the odd bone crushing crescendo. Watch out for more from the outfit that had a recent release on Big Scary Monsters / Xtra Mile.
Dartz! Are a band with a couple of years under their belts ( we first saw them a few years ago at In The City as fresh faced school kids). They also have a catalogue of some substance in the form of a series of singles and their debut album “This Is My Ship”. But instead of blistering through a replay of their long player, Dartz! Take time to chat to the audience. It’s almost like an interview, but one that they’re hosting themselves. A quick run round the audience reveals that there are people from Bolton, Birmingham and London here tonight – Dartz! are of course from the North East and delight in telling us that our grub is great and that the highlight of Middlesbrough’s seasonal food range is the McDonald’s Festive Wrap. It’s bloody good fun and every tasty morsel of music is soaked up by the audience between main courses of tracks like “Latin And Greek” and previous single “St Petersberg”. The band have certainly changed, with a broader, heavier weight range and plenty of opposing styles, from their plucky math rock to crawling mature mini-epics. This could have been a flash / bang disappointment in anyone else’s hands but Dartz! dazzled with their real audience connection and this masterful, sparkling, greatest hits set list. A band on resurgent form.
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Resources:
This Towns Needs Guns on MS
The Honeymoon Suite on MS
Dartz!
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SET THE CONTROLS......
PIGEONS FLY OFF ROUND THE COUNTRY...
YET MORE NEW DATES ANNOUNCED...
FRIDAY "FRIENDS OF MANCHESTER" ACADEMY 3 GIG POSTPONED...
TWISTED WHEEL GET THEIR FAC RIGHT...
MANCHESTER ICONS BACK ON...
IN CONVERSATION...
MODERN ENGLISH IS HERE...
SET YOUR ALARM CLOCK NOW......
DINGO RETRO...
FRIENDS OF MANCHESTER - WHAT, WHERE, WHEN...
BACK TO THE TOP...
HOT VOLTAGE...
A DIFFERENT STYLE OF PAINTER...
MANCHESTER'S NEWEST POP STARS ON THE ROAD AGAIN...
FRIENDS OF MANCHESTER UPDATE - LAST CHANCE FOR TENNER TICKETS...
MANCHESTER'S QUEER NOISE ...
STANDING IN THE WAY OF CONTROL ...
WINTER / SPRING JAZZ AT BAND ON THE WALL...
ARFICEDEN TAKE ON JANUARY...
WOTGODFORGOT SPRING OFFENSIVE...
WOTGODFORGOT SPRING OFFENSIVE - SECOND WAVE...
POP ART...
2010 STARTS HERE...
THIS SHOULD SCARE THE ORANGE PEOPLE...
J C CLARKE HASN'T BEEN KNIGHTED - HE SHOULD BE, BUT FOR NOW HERE'S SOME TOUR INFO...
TWISTED WHEEL TAKE ON 2010 WITH TOUR AND ALBUM...
LOADS MORE FRIENDS!...
EDITORIAL: WHY I DID WHAT THEY TOLD ME...
FAUST COME FAUST SERVED (sorry...)...
CHRISTMAS CRACKERS...
A DAY OUT WITH FRIENDS...
AIR CAV CHRISTMAS GIG: WIN TICKETS!...
DELPHIC WELCOME THE NEW DECADE...
MM RECOMMENDS: A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR ANY MANCUNIAN MUSIC FAN...
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING SIGN ON THE DOTTED.....
OCEANSIZE - * MANCHESTER GIG CANCELLED* - ...
RUBY LOUNGE DECEMBER: JOSH, FRAZER AND A NYE HOUSE PARTY!...
BLOWOUT'S AUTUMN OF CONTENT...
MUSEUM SEEKS JOY DIVISION ARTEFACTS...
MANCHESTER URBAN ARTISTS BUILD A MUSICAL FUTURE ...
RADAR RELEASE...
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