The last month or so - LAP and The Breeders

Whoops. I've slipped a bit and not blogged for a little while. I'm sure I've missed something but I think there are just 3 gigs missing. First up we saw the mighty LAP/Life Among People twice in March. Both times they were supported by Pin Pim (think that's how you spell it) who play an engaging blend of straight rock and post-hardcore and are generally a good band to get yourself out to see. There was something in their music that's made me dig out the old Helmet cds again.
First LAP-ing was at Grand Central, which is always a bit of an odd venue but sound was pretty decent and there were people singing along at the front, which is great, if a bit weird seeing people we don't know doing that. It shows that they are really starting to get somewhere and soon will be more than 'Big in Scotland'.
LAP are a 4-piece again, which I think always works better as they get a much fuller sound. Check them out on Facebook or at www.myspace.com/lap for some of their new tracks. They're playing at the Academy 3 on May 27th as part of the Academy Unsigned series of gigs too and are well worth checking out. LAP do now have their own sound which makes it hard to pigeonhole them, but tight and pretty uptempo is the way they're heading.
The Chapel in Huddersfield is a neat little venue and the sound was incredibly good for such a small place. Seeing LAP there brought home how much of a professional band they are now and I hope all their hard work pays off soon.
This week was a little jaunt down memory lane. After the excitement of booking tickets for Pearl Jam in New York in June and for As Friends Rust in August, it seems a good idea to continue with the nostalgia. The other half even donned ripped jeans for the event - The Breeders. I only got their new album, 'Mountain Battles' two days before the gig and I kept forgetting to take it out with me, so I wasn't at all familiar with it. The new songs sounded very much in the vein of the old Breeders albums but a bit more stripped down I think. I'd bought tickets for the husband as he's a 'bit of a fan' to put it mildly, so again I'm not very good at the song titles. To be honest, they were pretty much exactly the same as the last time we saw them (2003 on the Title TK tour, I think) with the twins' voices blending wonderfully together over the scuzzy riffs. I think I lost a bet when 'Cannonball' came mid-set and everyone was thrust back to the days when Stomp was a club night and polishing your boots was a big no-no. Those were the days.
I'm very tired indeed and will need my sleep for May and June which brings a lot of excitement in the form of Shawn Smith and Jonah Matranga shows and the aforementioned jaunt to NYC. I'll try to pay more attention so I can blog properly, I promise!
PS - the tiredness is as a direct result of turning 30. So is the trip to New York I think!