Jamal catches Best Coast at Rough Trade East.
Best Coast are a band strapped and harnessed safely to a rocket ship destined for planet success. I confounded my rather baffling sense of direction and went to see them play in a little corner of Brick Lane for an in store gig at Rough Trade East.
Debut album ‘Crazy For You’ sounds like the love sick diary entries of lead singer, Bethany Cosentino. The anguish, the passion and genuine depth of feeling come across even more so when hearing lyrics like “I miss you so much” and “I wish you were my boyfriend” in person.
The set begins with songs first heard some time ago now on numerous blogs: ‘Sun Was High (So Was I)’, ‘I Wish He Was You’ and ‘So Gone’, all coming across fuller now when they aren’t heard on a DIY lo-fi recording that could have been done on a Nokia. It leaves me with mixed feelings; the self assembled nature of Best Coast’s EPs is all part of their appeal, but in a matter of fact way; the songs sound much better live.
Throughout the gig Bethany is polite and engaging, filling out pauses with superfluous chit chat about what everyone had for lunch. Apparently we should all try something called Panda Express. I’ve checked the menu and there's not one single item of panda on there. I’m not even sure you get served by a panda either. Quite frankly it's an outrage. All can be forgiven however after the highlight of the set, a cover of Lesley Gore’s ‘That’s The Way Boys Are’. It's delivered with a confidence and charm that suggests Bethany has been singing that song for many years.
The equally as polite crowd offer gentle but warm applause after each song and while glugging on a healthy amount of water, the band comment on how it isn’t as hot as the gig at Cargo the previous night. From my point of view it’s just nice not to be covered in beer.
Bob Bruno is cool and relaxed on guitar, while former Vivian Girls drummer, Ali Koehler, is just as supple, looking as though she's being pulled on strings while providing the beat from which the band plays.
There is edgy anticipation when Bethany excuses her voice, citing “drinking and shouting too much and smoking a lot of weed” as “end of tour complications”. She needn’t have bothered however as she glides her way through the rather tricky, elongated vowels in, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Make You Mine’ without anything being particularly off key.
The opening chords of the singles, ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘When I’m With You’, predictably draw the most applause, with a cover of The Ramones’ ‘I Want To Be Your Boyfriend’ getting a cheer from any guys in the audience feeling slightly emasculated from 30 plus minutes of female focused songs.
After the gig I catch up with the band and ask what any Spoonfed writer worth their salt would. What’s your favourite cake/biscuit type thing? Bob goes for the butter squash variety with Ali opting for the more traditional cup cake. Poor Bethany is glucose intolerant so has to stick to gluten-free ice cream cakes, which are apparently quite nice.
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