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Give It A Name Introduces.. - Sheffield Academy - April 11th 2009
The Give It A Name Introduces tour is about as solid a feature on the gig-goers calendar as the Give It A Name festival itself, and for good reason: for a fiver, the curious can check out the lesser-known acts on the festival bill in advance. Not only does this touring leg of the Give It A Name franchise give people in more far-flung UK cities the chance to participate in the festivities, but it gets the bands exposure, and a chance to win some early converts prior to their fifteen minutes in the Give It A Name spotlight.
First up are VersaEmerge. They’re signed to Fuelled By Ramen, play catchy, chewy-centred pop-punk, are fronted by an adorable eighteen year old frontwoman, every last band member is ridiculously good-looking, and they all have great hair. They couldn’t be more like Paramore if they tried and, indeed, they do, as frontwoman Sierra Kusterbeck’s every stage move is suspiciously similar to Hayley Williams’ onstage bopping, and the synchronised scissor-kicks and posing of the two guitarists seems to have been lifted straight from Paramore’s 2008 Give It A Name performance. But, this isn’t a criticism. VersaEmerge will make you remember why you fell in love with Paramore back when they were playing half-empty Academy 3 cupboards, and no-one knew who the hell they were.
VersaEmerge have charisma to spare. Sierra has a huge voice, cutting easily across the bouncing, pop-punk drums and shiny riffs. From the moment they step onstage, they have everyone’s attention. They look the part, they sound the part, and just looking at them, you want to like them. They’re clearly going to be massive.
Whether they’ll release one album that’ll send them shooting to the top of everyone’s Myspace top friends list, only to disappear off the radar before the release of their second album (whatever happened to Cute Is What We Aim For and Hellogoodbye, anyway?) remains to be seen. It could go either way in the long run, but in 2009 we’re going to be hearing a lot more from VersaEmerge.
The same, however, can’t be said for follow up act Lights. Whereas VersaEmerge’s female-fronted status works to their advantage, Lights is really more of a female-fronted solo project, and it doesn’t go down well with the crowd.
The frontwoman’s (who insists on referring to herself as “the Lights,” even on her Myspace and official website) onstage bids to sell “my new record, available at the merch stand” do her no favours. She comes across as one massive ego.
Unable to escape the uncomfortable whiff of solo project, and with an uncharismatic frontwoman, Lights quickly loses audience interest. Once the atmosphere has dissipated, it proves impossible to reclaim, and Lights spend the next thirty minutes playing to a distinctly uninterested crowd. You almost feel sorry for her. You sense that, whereas Sierra looks and acts the pop-punk princess part, the-woman-known-only-as-Light’s tanned, glossy, dyed-and-straightened locks and distinctly mainstream appearance works against her, and prevents the audience from giving her a fair chance. Then she launches into another three minutes of forgettable electro-pop with underlying RnB rhythms, and you don’t feel sorry for her any longer.
The one great thing about Give It A Name is the spanners it willingly throws into its line ups. Last year, festival-goers got the hilarious rap stylings of MC Lars, and the year before that the mind-bending, genre-mangling Mindless Self Indulgence. This year, we get Whole Wheat Bread, three black musicians who specialise in punky, reggae rock that isn’t a million miles away from Skindred, although the lack of metallic edge and Whole Wheat Bread’s gangsta-rap lyrics means they don’t rock quite as hard as Skindred.
Right from the start, their appearance (bassist Will Frazier is even sporting dreadlocks) piques the crowd’s interest. In a genre that mostly attracts a white, middle class, predominantly male audience, Whole Wheat Bread stand out. But, Whole Wheat Bread are far from a passing curiosity, turning out funky reggae beats overlaid with vocals ranging from rap, to melodic gang shouts, to frontman Aaran Abraham’s powerful reggae holler. Even when Whole Wheat Bread go for a punkier sound, that funky underlying beat is still there.
Like the band themselves, Whole Wheat Bread’s groovy reggae-rock is a sound to capture the imagination, although their heavy use of potentially-offensive rap-speak could alienate their target audience.
Whole Wheat Bread are a band that could go either way. It’s difficult to imagine them finding an easy audience but then, it’s difficult to put your finger on Skindred’s target market, and they don’t seem to be doing too bad for themselves.
Tonight, Whole Wheat Bread deliver a groovy, reggae-infused, punk-themed performance, and are the band who put the most effort into audience participation. Whole Wheat Bread might just be this year’s Give It A Name wildcard who turn into 2009’s MSI/Mc Lars cult success story.
And then it’s time for tonight’s headliners, In This Moment. Right from the start, it’s clear something’s wrong. The sound quality is appalling. It’s so bad, even guitarist Chris Howorth has noticed, and spends half of the set gesturing to the sound guy who, apparently, does nothing to rectify the problem. The guitars and the drums are turned way too high, and frontwoman Maria Brink, and the backing vocals, are turned so low that the band might as well keep their mouths shut. It’s a shame, as you can see from Maria’s expression that she’s really belting out those high notes. When she contorts her face for the lung-popping metalcore screams, and nothing translates over the speakers, and Howorth's gestures grow even more frantic, you couldn’t feel sorrier for them.
Poor sound completely slaughters their set, but that isn’t In This Moment’s fault. Indications are that, on another night, with a better sound guy, they could be a great live band. They clearly put the effort in, and look like they’re having the time of their lives. Maria also breaks the mock-rock frontwoman mould by refusing to stand behind her microphone for the entirety of the set, as she headbangs and stalks around the stage. She isn’t quite Candace from Walls of Jericho, but she’s a more hands-on frontwoman than Sharon den Adel, Anette Olzon and Amy Lee combined.
As people file out of the Academy to go home and add tonight’s performers to their Myspace top friends lists, the overall feel is that some of tonight’s bands have secured their immediate future in the UK. VersaEmerge were the surprise stars of tonight’s line up, with Whole Wheat Bread also earned themselves a handful of intrigued new fans. In This Moment are probably a band worth giving a second try, whereas Lights are just another The Secret Handshake / IAMX solo project whom you’ll never hear of again.
A mixed bag of acts but, for £5 you’d be hard-pressed to find a better night’s entertainment than the Give It A Name Introduces tour.
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