We Start Partys/Veetacore/Reclaim The Skies/Dirty Jerkers

Bournemouth iBar

I am notorious for arriving at a gig much too early and having to stand around trying to look cool whilst waiting for things to get going. Tonight I decided that I had enough of that and I got to iBar just as the first band, Dirty Jerkers, were about to start.

Bad move. The place was packed and I couldn’t see a thing, but I figured as long as I could hear then it would be ok. And thank god for ears – I didn’t need to be able to see to appreciate the incredible sound that resonated around the room. Only after the first song had finished, did I realise I was standing with my mouth open in amazement. I then did a little giggle and a slight jig in excitement, they were that good.

It was grimy and aggressive; the songs were short and hard hitting. Quite an odd description popped into my head whilst I was listening to them, all I could think was that if you poured The Strokes, Nirvana and Hayseed Dixie into a cocktail and served it to a slightly angry lion and then let it go and make music, that would be how you would create Dirty Jerkers. I hope that anyone reading this agrees with me when I say that is a truly awesome thing. Who knows, that could have been exactly what was happening on stage, I couldn’t see after all.

The room pretty much emptied when they finished and unfortunately not many people came back to watch Reclaim The Skies, which was a real shame. I am a complete sucker for most pop punk/punk rock type music, and Reclaim The Skies do fulfil my need for this nicely. They put on a thoroughly respectable performance, belting out some very catchy songs, with choruses that made me want to sing along. I’m sure with a bit more refinement these could be definite crowd pleasers. Their performance wasn’t as strong as I have seen from them before, but they did confess that they were holding back a bit tonight, so hopefully next time they will be firing on all cylinders and a few more people will be present to get behind them.

Veetacore were next up, a four piece female fronted outfit, who according to their biography, ‘fuse the pop sensibilities of You Me at Six with the raw passion of Paramore and the growl of Foo Fighters’. This sounded good to me, so I was looking forward to hearing what they had to offer. I heard strains of Paramore, not much growling, and a lot of techno noise coming from a little box in a corner, which seemed to be causing them more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps it was the sound problems they were having, perhaps it was because I was expecting something a bit different, but they just weren’t my cup of tea. It didn’t help that the second song they played was a cover of The Black Eyed Peas ‘Let’s Get It Started’, which didn’t really get anything started; it just seemed a little awkward. Maybe next time.

There were not many people left to watch headliners We Start Partys, who despite having a grammatically incorrect name, were pretty damn perfect! It seems they really can start parties, regardless of how few people are there to party with them. They played a flawless set of danceable pop rock with a rave edge, going from one song to the next with excellent continuity. They really got people moving, managing to get everyone to do the whole sit down then jump up thing, and even got a mini wall of death to happen! True, it was the smallest, most girly wall of death I have ever seen, but it was still an impressive feat. Special mention here to the bassist, who pulled a ridiculous face every time I pointed my camera at the stage. He might just be the biggest poser ever, in the nicest possible way. It was a brilliant end to the evening, everyone that left really missed out, but they do have a spot on the upcoming Musicosity festival, so hopefully they will get the support they deserve then.