What, again?! Another article about Talk in Code?! Haven’t they had enough Devizine-styled publicity?! Are their heads swelling?!
Didn’t that crazy toothless editor catch them at The Vic in Swindon just last week? And now The Southgate in Devizes? Isn’t that his second home anyway?!
Hold back your keyboard warrior typing fingers from those vicious comment sections, critic, I will attempt to answer these burning questions I falsely imagine straining from your lips, in a short piece about a Sunday gig well worth mentioning…..
Yes, again, it is another article about Talk in Code. It’s either that or I risk playing a brain training game on my phone; it’s Monday, and my brain refuses instruction.
Yes, they’ve been showered with love from us, but being this an opinion based blog, I reserve my right to express my honest opinion; they deserve it! I have succumbed to being a T-shirt embossed “talker,” a more family fashioned classification than fanbase.
If the idiom of enlarged heads implies they have a conceited, exaggerated sense of self-importance due to our consistent splatters of flattery, that’s the biggest untruth you could suggest about them. I only said it in ironic jest; woe is me for my fractured sense of humour; pinch of salt, please!
Whilst their performances are showy, that’s pop; they’re the most down to earth bunch you’ll ever have the pleasure to meet … .especially musicians!! Observe them engaging with their audience, young to old. Observe the attention they attract wherever they happen to play as being a product of their universal brilliance. If they appear excitable about this, it derives from their dedication, motivation, and the deserved positive feedback from their audience, not a two-bit blogger!
So what, yeah I was at the Vic last week for their awesome single launch gig, when I said it was the best I’ve ever seen them play, suggesting perhaps because it was on their home turf. I’m considering taking this back after catching them yesterday, for two reasons, firstly but less important, Swindon is only home to two of them, Snedds is home here in Devizes, or as near as dammit. Secondly, pop grows on you, the more you listen the more the hook catches you, and they have this down to a T, so maybe the level of skill they’ve attained has now become standard as more fans amass; it certainly seemed that way Sunday at the Southgate. They rocked it with professional ease, just as they did the Vic, as they always do, and it was only a Sunday afternoon at Devizes’ answer to the O2 arena. Given the actual O2, I predict they’d rock that one, too!
Matter of fact, I’ve not been down the Gate for what feels like ages, honest, mum! This occasion was purely circumstantial; I was in town to attend the dress rehearsal of an emotionally sobering play at the Wharf. It is fantastically evocative and reflects a sad time for me personally. See the review to understand, and go see the play. I needed cheering up, and being that it ended when the gig was kicking off, I thought I could sit in the back row and scribe some thoughts on my phone with a pint. It didn’t quite work out this way, not for the want of trying, because Talk in Code’s sound is irresistible, and yeah, it cheered me up a treat.
I’ve not been down The Gate recently, what with a summer season of festivals, a family holiday and inflation mugging us all off. But being the Southgate is so insatiably irresistible, friendly, and affordable too by comparison, I slip back into its gorgeous rustic appeal like a glove, anyone would.
I’ve stated numerous times how my honest opinion casts it as the best pub locally, these facts stick more than mud, and perhaps it hasn’t been that long, it only feels like it has! George seemed to remember me as a gullible accessory to doggie biscuit snatching crimes. Autumn drawing in, save me the cosy chair.
All hail Talk in Code and The Southgate too. The first play top class indie-pop within a more humble local scene than following a national pop star and praying you can mortgage your home for a ticket to see. The latter is a cathedral to our humble scene, and lively pub culture too, with a rich history of showcasing local musical talent, one all our writers have been disciples of since day dot.
There’s so many artists still to mention, pinky promises I will, all in good time, but a Talk in Code gig at The Gate, despite catching them only last week, was still too good not to drop into!
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