Middle Class Rut at 100 Club

Middle Class Rut at 100 Club

08 June, 2009
by: Simon827

100 Club is my favourite sort of venue. Mainly because it's underground which makes me feel all cool and... underground. Also because it's big enough to put on decent acts, but small enough that if you wanted to you could run on stage and hug someone playing you could. Not that that sort of behaviour is encouraged.

Wednesday saw the 100 Club welcome Middle Class Rut, or MC Rut as they are often known, which made me expect one of those hip-it-ee hop types to be on stage. But I'm jumping the gun a little here. In true live music style there are two support bands to sit through before the main attraction.

Opening the night are hardcore act Hexes: four young men who play what's best described as Taking Back Sunday when they were good with lots of screaming. Very nice indeed. Except for the fact that 100 Club's sound isn't very good tonight and turns Hexes into a wall of noise. I'll look forward to seeing them at Download festival this year.

Second on the bill are some favourites of mine. A young band named Tellison who hail from Hammersmith and play intelligent indie-pop. A little out of character for the evening considering they're sandwiched between two much heavier bands, but that only seems to give them a boost and they turn the volume up, kick in the distortion and give a hell of a show. Again, the sound lets them down and being a band of many parts, a lot of it's lost in the ether, but they go down well and a few stealthily placed fans singing along in the audience don't hurt matters.

The one band not affected by the sound this evening is Middle Class Rut. Not surprising considering I doubt there's much you can do to screw up making two people sound good. Definitely not the baseball cap wearing rapper I was expecting. But that'll teach me for not checking a band out before I go and see them.

I'm particularly wary of two-piece bands since the White Stripes escaped hell so I prepare myself for the worst. Ten seconds in and the guitarist has gone off on a Biffy Clyro-esque guitar... thing... and 20 seconds later they kick in and I'm hating it. It sounds clichéd and a little bit too much like Kasabian for me. Everyone else seems to be enjoying it though. A minute and a half in however, and everything changes. The band explode and I'm impressed by the amount of noise just two people can make, the room sounds full and lead singer Zack's vocals rip through the venue. It's just a shame the crowd's so static, you can see the urge people have to throw themselves about, but the atmosphere's just that little bit too serious for anyone to succumb to it.

Despite a few technical hitches; something going wrong with the guitar and drummer Sean's mike dying and making him sound like Lady GaGa (his words, not mine), the rest of the set stays on a high. My final impression is of a band that remind me of a decent Jane's Addiction and thoroughly deserve the exposure they're getting right now. Yet another act for me to add to my list of bands to watch again at this summer's festivals.

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Simon827