Gallivanting through festival season omits crucial visits to my local watering hole; I’ve missed it sooo much, and now feel thoroughly refreshed… with a hint of hangover!
With Ian dispatched on the 49 to My Dad’s Festival in Swindon, and a double-whammy of FullTone and Scooter Rally pending next weekend, leaves me a free Saturday to enjoy a cider or five down my favourestmost tavern The Southgate.
They’ve ciders leftover from Beer Festival for three quid a pint, my favourite poison, and being my favourestmost indie popsters Talk In Code are doing their thang there, it’s a no-brainer; favourites all round.
Hardly been an age since giving Chris, Snedds, Titch, and Jambo some deserved attention on Devizine, being Minety was only a fortnight ago, but they’re a band I never tire of seeing. Plus I was interested to see how this would play out, being while the Gate is renowned for hosting original acts such as Talk in Code will insist on doing, there’s a common epoch to appease the blues aficionados of Devizes, else provide quirky alternatives like folk or jazz. Talk in Code is decidedly matured pop with indie roots, using subtle backing tracks to create ambience, so I worried the unusual fit might fail to create a sensation. I stand corrected and should never have doubted.
Such is their ability and universal appeal, to slot as neatly into something like FullTone and another such different shape like The Southgate. With two forty-five minute sets, a longer shift than usual, Talk in Code decided to warm the crowd by dipping into their more indie-rock back catalogue, and deliver the newer songs of a more eighties pop rock vibe towards the finale. Arguably, this could’ve been reversed as an audience younger than the Southgate regulars attended to begin with, to even out later. On the other hand the later songs infuses the party and rouses the crowd better, so by the beginning of the second half any concerns I might have had were quashed, and Talk in Code brought the house down with a jumping frenzy from a more diverse demographic than usual in the pub.
Such humbling merriment is, after all, what the Southgate vibe has always been about, and achieves as a standard; one damn fine reason among others why it’s my favourite pub.
It’s a world apart from standing on a stage with the audience at some distance away, to cram yourself into the Gate’s legendary alcove and literally have an audience so close to kiss you! It can be daunting, it might expose tricks you can hide on stage, but when played right, it’s the communal relationship creating an atmosphere you cannot attain with an audience standing twenty feet away from the stage. Talk in Code are utterly flexible on this. They need not adapt to suit the surrounding, but rather, what they deliver guarantees to work on any level of location and set.
And the sum of it all did produce another memorable gig at the trusty Southgate. Kicked off with an impressive support set by Bristol indie-rock trio Laissez Faire, a new one to me who could’ve easily taken a headline slot, and regularly does elsewhere. With a harder rock edge than Talk in Code, they had an acute sense of balance in bringing frenzied bridges and even-paced melodies. Their original compositions taking a hint of grunge, were confidently delivered and adroit, with attention to wider appeal than simply thrashing something out, I detected equally proportioned nods to the punker side of eighties mod rock as well, which is always a win for me.
Yet another top night’s entertainment for free, that you’d gladly buy a ticket for, at the dependable Southgate; they never fail to please. Laissez Faire, an introduction to a name to keep a keen eye on, followed by a band we’ve tracked the progress of for many years, and with a building mass of followers dubbed Talkers, on a local level at the very least, provide such a universal sound it’s impossible to ignore their success. Talk in Code by name, but there’s no cryptic mystery as to why they’re one of the very best bands on the circuit.
devizine.com 