@alpaca.presents by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
Crofters Main stage is always a good show, that stage calls something out of the artists and demands a good performance, that audience staring up at you dauntingly expecting of your magnum opus, daring to be entertained, unimpressed faces idly waiting for something to applaud. Luckily, all the acts on the 9th of June brought it, gave it and gifted it with a polished grin and that firm handshake of “Here I am, take it or leave it.” I thoroughly enjoyed every set, each one with a unique flavour that made it different from the last. Read about it below. Sean Edwards. It’s like The Enemy shared a nostalgic embrace with The Smiths and got interrupted by early days Brit-Pop with the comedic delivery of James Acaster and the clothing from Ned Schneebly’s wardrobe from Jack Black’s ‘School of Rock’. As a solo act, its minimal and laid back. Feeding through those weezer like plucking riffs and big power chords is a content self that isn’t afraid to be loud despite it’s size. In fact, it’s that very littleness that leaves you with that early morning coffee feeling, that stripped back but driven angst lets you breathe but those provocative hooks and wholesome delivery keep you with it and Sean does a lot to keep you entertained. When he nods his head side to side and smiles in that elderly sibling way, his blazer and relative stillness give the comedy of a teacher in a favoured memory of school assemblies; the drone of the open strings dampens those highs with it’s ringing and signature ambient sound. For Fans Of The Smiths, Radiohead and The Enemy. 5am Fire Alarm Abruptly someone opens the door “WHAT’S THE PLAN THEN?” Band on stage. Playing Music. “Oh, we’re playing a gig if you don’t know” Each character was quite developed. The rhythm guitarist was like his own hype man. The more he dashes, the more he jolts, the more he throws himself about the stage, the more he enjoys the performance and round we go. The bassist- Has the same facial hair as me so I can tell he’s a cool dude. is something out of the band The Darkness and film series Pirates of the Caribbean brought together into one of those commercials where the girl is fixing the car and her hair is blowing in slow motion, except it’s a bassist chugging away like an OG punk-rockah and flicking his head between his fretting and plucking hands. The pianist was quite chilled out and fun, a beach party going man. But upon taking his shirt off he began to gaze longingly at the crowd, like his shirt was a prison of shame and he has erupted from this cocoon a being of mammalian FeEeLiNg tHe LoOoOvE. The singer gets caught looking up at ceilings, as if he’s just lost in this deep self-realising thought but that nonchalance wears off when you see him belt, you see that quiver of emotion in a separated, genuine way. Like something’s being let out, it makes it quite moving. The drummer is dedicated and honed and it’s quite funny how he goes crazy before switching to the audience and does a fantastically wide “OHHHH YEAHHHHH” smile. The collection of genres and styles covered yet a similar performance throughout alongside the musical coherence of a thoughtful set show a story of a band that hasn’t decided on one sound, and are doing it really well. Find them on Instagram and Spotify For Fans Of Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party. Tokyo Toy Company Swans are respectable, unashamed, powerful and irrefutably flamboyant. Frontman Rhys of Tokyo Toy Company is a Swan. A right quack-pot. Who else to stand afront this band of merry dancers but he, great sweaty behemoth stomper in trainers and a band t-shirt. Those cinematic structures are simply quite breath-taking at times, you’re in a stolen awe watching a bassist who pulls off dance-jumping side to side like a yass’ified cricket and flinging himself around like when you interlock two elastic bands between your fingers and stretch them around obscure shapes with that fast randomness. It’s exciting. The way Ryan tenses his body before his backing vocals, like a ploom of air has puffed him up to ready him for those war-like chants, is crushingly dynamic. Paired likewise with his performances, leaping and falling into himself catching his torso in that pose as if the only thing holding him up is his Guitar. It holds so much weight behind it then, when Connor, sandwiching the band into a stringed wall, then lets go of that pure and satisfied groove, embodying that entranced crouching thunder he dawns each time appropriately new and extravagant. "GET MY MOM, GET MY MOM” “Leslie this is a call for you” “Leslie big up” Leslie, Alfie’s mother was present at this show and got a great introduction.Big up Leslie. I am sure any mother would be incredibly proud to see the show Alfie put on. Those intricately designed rhythms interwoven between those playful new age guitars is absolutely irreplaceable and unfathomably gripping. Seeing a drummer come into his own like that on stage akin to a baboon showing off his behind “this is my music”. Bands like these bring genres to another level and Tokyo Toy Company are just waiting to be discovered. Just wait and show some love because after all (Rhys) “I love the homies and the homies love me. I stole that from Horrible Histories.” At the end, they stopped. Held plastic liquid shotted glasses up high, and held a cheers to a night that was absolutely full of everything you need to inspire young people into making their own kind of music. Find them on Instagram or Spotify For Fans Of Brothers Moving, Delta Sleep and Chinese Football.
Comments