These gigs were the first two shows (I’m assuming!) of the new band from Alison Mosshart (Discount) and Jamie Hince (Scarfo / Fiji), something I’d been looking forward to immensely ever since I heard that Alison and Jamie were writing new songs and Alison was learning to play guitar. If you’ve ever read this site before, you’ll know how much of a Discount fan I am and I also liked Scarfo and Fiji quite a bit when I saw them live, so I knew that this should be a bit special. The first show at the 12 Bar Club was a Ladyfest event with Moonkat and Spy 51 playing too. I thought it was a strange venue for this gig as the place has a really low ceiling (due to a small balcony upstairs) which means you can’t watch bands properly. It’s a pretty small and intimate place and more suited to acoustic performances. In fact, I’ve seen Mark Eitzel play there a couple of times. When it was VV and Hotel’s turn to play you could hardly even get in the main room downstairs and standing at the back the only thing you could see were the bottom halves of Jamie and Alison. It hardly made for great viewing of a first performance and, a bit flummoxed, I made my way upstairs and sat right at the front of the balcony - there was a great view of both Alison and Jamie from there. Unbeknownst to me though I was right in front of a camera so Sean et al could see me from downstairs, something for which I had the piss taken out of me afterwards :-)

Anyway, it was a somewhat strange but interesting performance. Sean had mentioned ages ago that they sounded a bit like PJ Harvey from what he’d heard of the early tracks. I’m not overly familiar with her work to be honest but what I got out of this was kind of a lo-fi grungy sound… kinda bluesy too. What lyrics you could make out (and I couldn’t make out many!) lent it that feel too. Repetitive bassy rhythmic playing backed up with electronic beats and unsettling voices and samples between songs…. At times Alison was her usual manic self on stage, stuttering spinning movements on stage in that style I’d become familiar with watching Discount play. At other times though there was more stillness but yet a forceful presence at the mic, hair covering her face, cigarette perched between two fingers, the all-seeing eyes that *you* couldn’t see. And at other times, playing the guitar and singing together with Jamie, him providing some overlying melody to the driving rhythm. Jamie was style personified, not smiling at all, hardly moving from the mic, but totally in control. It’s hard to describe what you’re seeing really, especially when it’s a first show and you don’t know what to expect, and even more so when it’s somewhere like the 12 Bar.

At home afterwards I didn’t really know whether I liked the band or not, but I certainly knew that they’d caused some kind of reaction in me… good or bad I don’t know. Maybe that’s the kind of thing they wanted - more confusion in music is always a good thing. It certainly didn’t sound like Discount, and as much as I loved that band, that’s even better. Just copying what you did in the past is never wise…

VV and Hotel were also supposed to play with Bratmobile at the Underworld in Camden on the 25th of February but due to some confusion with promoters (apparently) were replaced on the bill at the last minute. Bit of a shame really as it would’ve been nice to see them play in that more traditional venue rather than the “I can’t even see!” art setting of the 12 Bar Club.

Still, Thursday the 28th came around and I’d mailed a few people to see if they wanted to come down to the Cherry Jam, hang out, have some drinks, and check out the band. Few takers due to various excuses. Whether they were genuine or not I don’t know but I was disappointed all the same. One person who didn’t let me down was Dan Heap (Complicity Records) who I met up with about 6:30. Apparently the Cherry Jam is a new DJ bar opened by Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl. Tonight was the first of a series of “Rough Nites”, Rough Trade organized evenings, putting on the best new bands around. The other band playing tonight was “The Clientele” - an eclectic, quiet, poppy band in the vein of Love / Galaxie 500 and others of that ilk.

The bar is very innocuous looking from the outside and we only found it because there were a few people milling around outside and a large “58” (the address of the place) on the front door. I’m not really a “trendy bar” person and so didn’t know what to expect… I had a fair idea it would be pretty flash though and I wasn’t disappointed. Uncomfortable metal chairs, tiny tables, bottled lager, wine by the bottle etc etc. Drinks were cheaper than expected though (certainly cheaper than the 12 bar) even though the food was fucking expensive. One girl who works there caught me looking at the menu and I had to make frantic excuses about “er… I haven’t really looked yet!” when she asked me whether I was ready to order. I like sushi but I’m not paying about 20 quid for 12 (probably very small) pieces. If I want to get ripped off I’ll go to Yo Sushi! and use the conveyor belt thing thanks very much.

The dancefloor and stage area was pretty big but it still felt like quite an intimate room. It was also quite loud, although I was standing right next to the speakers admittedly!!!! It wasn’t loud enough on stage though as VV and Hotel had to keep asking for everything to be turned way up. Anyway, they came on around 8.. pretty damn early really, and played the same set as at the 12 Bar as far as I could tell. There was one thing I didn’t remember from last time though and that was Alison’s piercing and quite frightening screams in the first song. If they were going for unsettling, they achieved it perfectly. Someone shouted out something about “punk rock” halfway through the set. I don’t know whether it was a wisecrack or not but who gives a fuck whether they sound punk rock or not. VV and Hotel are certainly being pretty individual about what they do, or that’s what it seems like to me…defying people’s expectations of what they should sound like. I don’t know any song titles but the song they played towards the end about “kissing.. kissing..” is fast becoming a favourite. It was a similar show to last time and I enjoyed it just as much if not more.. For a start you could see more of the stage and people generally seemed to be into more, despite the lack of dancing. Jamie was as unsmiling as last time, snarling his ‘shhh shhh’s into the mic like he almost didn’t want to be there..angrily forcing them out of his lungs into the room, stomping hard on his effects pedals, again the epitome of cool, jacket and unworn shades ever present. Alison seemed to be having a lot of fun, laughing when her ‘guitar roadie’ changed a string and helped her strap her guitar back on. The only thing I would have added would have been a live drummer. The electronics were fine but I always prefer a fully realized band. Using a drum machine kind of feels like cheating somehow. Maybe they never intend to have a drummer and the current setup is purely by design, I don’t know. Anyway, this only slightly distracted from an otherwise great show. The only complaint I have really is that I wasn’t ready for things to begin quite so early… a few more drinks and a 10pm start time would have been better… especially in that smoky basement bar setting… a little ambience is necessary!

Overall, an interesting opening salvo from VV and Hotel. I’m still undecided on their music although a couple of the songs are already burrowing their way into my brain. They do have a presence on stage that is undeniable though and they’re compelling to watch. Hopefully they’ll play lots more gigs in lots of different, interesting venues soon as they’re definitely a band worth checking out….

-- Chris