It was another fun packed evening at the ICA last week with Captain, The Be Be See and Eugene Francis Junior and the Juniors feeding their music to the crowds. This was eclectic, unaffected stuff and Captain's philosophy of disregard for morphing into any one cool 'scene' was something clearly shared by the three bands. I wasn't in a ego filled room of play it down trendies, but an open minded space with three vastly different musical sounds entering my ears.
Eugene Francis Junior, as eccentric as is suggested on his myspace, wore a terrific outfit and his whole band were kitted out in the finest from the dressing up box. The backing singers wore what looked like brownie outfits,
the guitar player had a civil war uniform on (looking rather formidable too I might add) 
and well, Eugene looked like an American Indian with a giant frisbee target on his person..hhmmm.
Perhaps Eugene was representing his interesting parentage and upbringing (Apache Indian and Inuit Eskimo, born in Wales, lived in America, returned to Wales) in the aesthetics of the evening...But for whatever reason, it was certainly visually different, and made for a good picture or two..
The American period of his life certainly shines through in the music, not only in his musical intonation and acccent but in the actual melodies and guitar phrasing - I would hear moments of beach boys doing things slighter deeper in the minor key (!) and his composition in general is reminiscent of California in the 70's and American folk music in general. You can also hear the influence of the British and Welsh indie scene at the moment. (Check out http://www.myspace.com/vitotheband and www.myspace.com/brokenleafmusic for two of the welsh bands Eugene is into at the moment). I would like to see Eugene doing an acoustic set; there is no doubt that he has plenty of musical talent. However, as is sometimes the case when bands come to support a frontman's music - it all has to go like clockwork or it can too easily sound just off, there is less room for group improvisation and ultimately, error. But good times, good feathers and good luck to the Welsh contingent in the future. Check out all info regarding Eugene and his juniors at http://www.myspace.com/eugenefrancisjnr.
Next up The Be Be See's.
Yes, the title is playing on The British Broadcasting Corperation and yes, it is meant to make you think; well a little. Their manifesto is to make you 'dance, think, fight, fuck, laugh and cry', so it's not all politics. Having spoken to to the guys backstage (where i sneaked in a few extra pictures) I found out the title emanated from a general interest in the state and 'growth of the mass media in the last few years'.
Kkevin ‘BSB’ Retoryka
Kkevin ‘BSB’ Retoryka and Ross ‘History Channel’ Gidney (Drums)
Anastasia ‘QVC’ Barker (Keyboards) and Philip ‘ATV’ Collins (Bass) 
They find it fascinating just how strong the public's relationship to the major media channels is, and rightly or wrongly how much they trust it. Ultimately, naming their band the BBC 'was a kind of experiment' to see how other people would react to the name; a name so ingrained with broadcasting. They also wondered if the BBC would actually play their music..
Well, I can tell you The Be Be See definitely have a strong fan base and that yes, the BBC have played their music. Maybe this is a sign that both the public and the media are less afraid to question and have fun than you'd think.. But, above all I believe their popularity and any air time has come down, not to their title, but because their music is rather good! While the BBC and the other major media heads may be able to govern to a certain extent how they would like us to view world news, when it comes to music, perhaps they genuinely look for what's good and interesting, whether it be political or apathetic. Which is good news. ('News'. Get it?) The music, written namely by front man Kevin and then fleshed out and arranged with the help of the rest of the players is upbeat, well put together and has it's own clear personality and style. I enjoyed their energy and found I was drawn into their psychotronic glam pop' with it's 'subliminal golf-rave element'. Their melodies are good and catchy and they have just enough gumption to take them out of the pop past and into the future...
I must also mention they sound much better live than on their myspace, so I would recommend getting down to one of their gigs, check out where and when on, you guessed it, their myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/thebebesee. Full marks for the overalls (it must have been HOT up there on stage), 
the television sets on stage playing static 
and the psychedelic lights on the screen putting the drummer in a spectacular halation of light.
Visuals and media, media and visuals, visuals and media, media and visuals....daaagling..
And then there was Captain, http://www.myspace.com/captaintheband. The Duran Duran of today or rather just Captain, doing there thing. They were a lovely band, none wearing any flags of attitude but instead waving out assured individuality which is always a treat. They had the theatre packed and the fans were eager to hear what was a good full set; no cheating the crowds here. One thing I noticed was that frontman Rik Flynn was NOT shy of a little audience participation and there was as much fun going on in between the songs as during them. This band were clearly keen to get connected to their audience, an aspiration answered with a large live projection of the band members and their instruments in rotation on a back screen. This allowed people that couldn't stand right at the front to still feel really close to the artists on stage.
Captain belted out their often 80's/90's throwback sound with seriouus panache.
We saw Rik with both feet off the floor a couple of times, 
and really letting go.. The drummer was putting the martial into the art of drumming 
and there were plenty of absolutely focused expressions from all of them to capture on camera.
However you would describe this band musically, (I'd go with pop/soft rock with epic overtones as well illustrated in their famous track Glorious), they were very slick and enthusiastic with it, and the crowd were wrapped. If you were in that crowd, check out the music picture gallery at www.ica.org.uk/musicplus as you may well be on there...
So another little smiley beauty it was.
Let's be seeing all of you at Pat and Trevor this Saturday. Another sterling line up promised by the tremendous trio with FULBORN TEVERSHAM AND YEBOROBO playing, hooray! And of course the usual array of artistic artifacts to stun and bewitch you with.
Good day! x
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