Still Flyin' at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Still Flyin' at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

21 January, 2009
by: Lianne

Hands down, Still Flyin' are the happiest band around. All summer and honey and we-live-on-the-beach-year-round clangy goodness, you get the sense they'd totally invite you to join the party if they weren't already bursting at the seams (fifteen members, people). 

So I'm feeling pretty excited about seeing this band, but it is still a Monday, and a rainy, January Monday at that. In fact, rumour has it that this is THE most depressing day of the year, so I'm almost anxious that this finger clickin' hammjamm' band might just buckle under the pressure. But pressure schmessure; they probably love the challenge.

I arrive at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen in plenty good time – too good, in fact, as it turns out that both the arrival of my friend and We Have Band's opening set won't be happening for another hour. Still, a bit of slow drinking and pointless text messaging and he's arrived, the door is open and disco rock trio We Have Band are up and on, their synth-laden beats rumbling through the walls.

The room is near full when we slip in four seconds later but already it feels like there are more people here than there were in the bar itself. Bearing in mind I've had my eyes glued to the door for some time, this strikes me as either unlikely or impossible, but whatever. Either way, it is testament to their popularity; We have Band turn out to have by far the biggest crowd of the night, and while you couldn't say that people are exactly going for it on the dancefloor, there are a lot of whispered smiles and the kind of curt, foot-tapping head-snapping moves that self-conscious hipsters do to indicate approval.

Next up is Stricken City, a twinkly indie pop band fronted by the faintly enigmatic Rebekah Raa who have been lauded in the music press almost without exception recently. I find myself kind of indifferent to their charms, which racket around the Tilly and the Wall mark (although with more clatter and fuzz, the 'DIY' appeal of which is undeniable). Their songs are likeable enough, with strong melodies that writhe around outside the box, but I don't feel all that excited and by the time they are done, I'm ready for something fresh; something jangly and lifting and new.

Still Flyin', then, who come on stage at 10.45 to face a room that is, sadly, only half-full. 'Come on stage' is actually misleading, since they begin their set by forming one of those human chains that people form to dance to certain songs at weddings. They begin singing in the crowd and sort of jig on up to the stage. Only eleven of the band's members are here tonight, but it's enough: their a capella harmonies fill the room before the drums kick in, followed by the ascending flood of sparkling melody from the rest of the band. The lead vocals are almost drowned out then, but this is noticed and fixed with a few quick-whip smiles and some fiddling about from the sound people at the back of the room.

So it is that at the closing bars of the first track, I am already ridiculously happy. I turn to my friend, who if truth be told, I have sort of dragged here tonight, and he gives me a thumbs up. A thumbs up! Its fast work, but less furious than relentless, humming along at an even, glowing pace which takes in a blissed-out kind of happy all the way to rollicking skatastic escstatic feeling. It's a dash to leave the venue in time for the tube, but we exit glowing.

Photo Credit: Dave Napier

Check out what's on at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

View all Live Music in the coming weeks

Lianne