#jonbarr hinge

"A while ago I went and saw a band called Mayors of Miyazaki on their album launch in Camden literally a matter of hours after I stumbled upon them online upon, having seen them on the bill for this gig labelled as a “no holds barred math punk trio”. Whilst I didn’t hear much punk in their sound that night, I certainly loved them and bought the album which I listen to regularly, and seeing as this gig was free and at my local venue, I certainly wasn’t going to miss them.

Mayors of Miyazaki were meant to be 3rd on a bill of 4th bands, with The Jonbarr Hinge headlining, but unfortunately the openers Blue Stragglers had pulled out. This left Electric Trees, featuring a good friend of mine Dan on vocals and guitar, taking the first spot. Electric Trees are a fairly grungey rock band and I have seen them once or twice before. With plenty of seemingly improvised noisy guitar freak outs and the bassist successfully matching his energy on stage, this bands live performance certainly lives up to the chaotic nature of the material, which has various spots where I feel a math rock influence creeping in. Though the crowd stayed rooted to the ground where they stood, the band carried on undeterred and really picked up towards the end with the song ‘Capture The Caption’ featuring some intense double kick drum beats.

Next up were the band I had come to see, whom I shall call Mayors for short. Whilst I’m not sure how I would describe this band beyond math rock with perhaps an indie ish tinge coming through on to their more upbeat songs, I’m sure that I absolutely love this band. The drummer plays perfectly executed grooves and is very precise with his fills.  These elements are all tied together with a fairly busy but danceable style. The guitarist and bassist, who both take up vocal duties, are a match made in heaven and make their articulate riffs, which often play as often with melody as they do time signature, thoroughly memorable. Though often utilising musical complexities, they do so in a way which tastefully de-emphasises their oddity just as the best virtuoso’s do, remaining musical, accessible and wonderfully understated.

After having a chat with the guys after their set and buying a tee shit, I settled down to watch headliner Jonbarr Hinge, a band whom I had never seen or heard before. What I got was a relatively straight forward pop rock band playing simple catchy songs. Though when I am at the Scream Lounge I’m usually at one of Anivian Promotions’ metal nights, I can’t say it proved to be refreshing to hear a band like Jonbarr Hinge there. At points they did seem to incorporate some slight deviations from their refined pop rock sound, with some funky, reggae enthused moments and a song with political content to the lyrics that also featured a Blur like beginning section. What I can say is that to be honest I just found it a bit bland. They did what they do well and without mistakes, and they are competent musicians, but I just found it a bit stale and boring for my own tastes which lean towards the more complex, challenging and extreme of musical styles.