CHAOS BLEAK / RAIN CHILDREN / JAN DOYLE BAND
Chameleon Arts Cafe, Nottingham
January 17th 2020
Thinking back to January this year is like looking at a photo album from another world. The first rumblings of the Covid-19 crisis were being heard from afar, a nationwide lockdown wasn't on our minds and millions, including me, still had a day job. Flash forward to today and we spend our lives watching the government flail around like a fish trying to play the harp and the public at each others' throats about what is real and what isn't.
But anyway, one night in January I had a fantastic time t the Chameleon Arts Cafe here in Nottingham, watching three bands provide a brilliant evening of entertainment that the mainstream wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
Their loss, as it was glorious.
I became a part of the UK Goth scene (or Dark Alternative if you don't like the G word) in the early 2000s, even joining a related band and Djing at associated club nights. It's a scene that, once it is a part of you, its mark never leaves. Even if life takes you on a different path, it's there waiting to welcome you back into its PVC-clad arms.
Due to a hell of a lot of stress at the time and a need to be around my people, including several old friends who were either in the bands or at the venue anyway, I went along to this gig and enjoyed every second of it. I was home, and home was the upstairs gig room at the Chameleon, a venue I adore due to the feeling that you have found a wonderful secret when you go there.
I had seen the Jan Doyle band at the same venue previously, and hadn't been blown away to be honest. I had grown to know their enigmatic frontman Derek Anthony Williams as a friend since then, and hoped that the band had evolved as I didn't want to complain about a friend's band.
I need not have worried, as that night completely erased my previous opinion of them. While they were playing as a two-piece due to one member being elsewhere, Derek and guitarist Kelly D (also of The Way of All Flesh, who let my old band borrow their bassist) put on an intense, entertaining and utterly compelling show of their trademark Insurrectionary Neo Futurism. This was a perfect setting for their mix of electronica, synthpop, punk and new wave aesthetics along with Derek's explosive image and stage presence. It was light years ahead of the previous time seeing them live. They held the audience's attention completely, kicking the night off with a dark and dystopian explosion of cutting synths, infectious electronic beats and the chunky counterbalance of Kelly's guitar. Ending the set with a brilliantly insane goth-punk-synthpop version of “Yes Sir, I Can Boogie” was genius.
After catching up with Derek, Kelly, my friend Liz and vocalist Gina Stone of the next band that night, I felt stress falling away, lost in the heady atmosphere of that little gig room.
Rain Children, a duo fronted by the dedicated and hugely talented Gina Stone, were a perfect complement to the electronics of the Jan Doyle Band. With a sound moving through influences as disparate as Kate Bush, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Marionettes and more, their dark ethereal pop-rock was flawlessly executed. Melodies soared while riffs reinforced the melancholic beauty of their songs, each drenched in delay and dense with stories.
The set by Rain Children was one of those musical experiences that genuinely leave you wanting more when the last notes faded away. As personable and down to earth as the duo are, their music is a rich and sumptuous thing that should be allowed to wash over you. Sublime.
Headliners Chaos Bleak were supporting their new EP, Transcendental Chaos. Beyond the YouTube videos I'd watched prior to the show, I was more familiar with guitarist (and Nightbreed Records main man) Trev Bamford's extensive scene history with bands like Midnight Configuration and Every New Dead Ghost than what this band was up to. I hoped the band would be on par with those earlier acts.
Actually Chaos Bleak clicked more for me than the other bands he'd been involved with due to their more direct Gothic Rock style and the more traditional song structures. With big choruses, driving guitars and some phenomenal bass playing, the trio brought a fine evening of dark entertainment to a grand close. I picked up the EP and a pin badge and went back to my friends.
I remembered that night just what a powerful thing the underground can be. While the mainstream continues to become so glossy that everything starts to look like an Instagram filter, being there in a small venue with three bands and a crowd of like-minded people felt like home. The songs feel more real as they are written and played with passion. Rough edges are wielded like trophies. Imperfections are celebrated.
I paid £5 entry and felt like I'd been given a wealth of music, atmosphere and community in return.
Just wanted to capture my last proper night out of the Before Times.
I hope we'll meet again soon.
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