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THE ICARUS LINE Now, I like my discordant, scratchy, shouty punk rawk as much as the next 14 year old and considering that, on the surface, The Icarus Line seem tailor made for me, it's suprising that they're such a massive disappointment. Having missed them on numerous previous visits I thought that the 100 Club, with it's punk heritage and in-your-face layout, would be the ideal place to finally catch up with the LA five piece. Having heard latest release "Penance Soiree" several times before the gig I still couldn't decide wether or not I was looking forward to it. They certainly look the part, taking the stage head-to-toe in black and wearing their customary red eye make-up and there's plenty of attitude. But the next thing you notice is that they're not the most photogenic bunch - I don't mind an ugly band, i like Jet for chrissakes! - but they're not even ugly, just non-descript. The lead singer has a look of Iggy about him, but the others just look bored. Then there's the music. Two "songs" is all it takes to drive my friends away. Admittedly, the guitarist was having problems for those tracks, but despite getting his equipment sorted for subsequent tracks all he seems to do with it is swing it around above his head and make a god-awful racket in the process. Maybe for someone who hadn't seen this kind of shtick done a hundred times before, by bands that look and sound a whole lot better, this might have been an impressive show - but for me? I left with a real desire to hear some proper music. Richy [ April 30th, 2004 ] |