Saturday 8th March 2014
Flying Kangaroo Alliance and Midnight Wire
At Pi Bar.
by Keith Jobey
The sun has finally come out, temperatures are rising a little and it’s the weekend. In case you haven’t noticed yet, Pi Bar is on Narborough Road and has been putting on some really good gigs lately and tonight is no exception. Free entry gigs to boot. Feel good factors are plentiful.
Photo Keith Jobey
Midnight Wire are great but I rarely seem to catch them live so I’m really pleased they’re on the bill tonight. The line-up of Alex Van Roose (aka Rooster) (vocals/guitar), Jamie Fallon (guitar), Arjun Johal (bass) and Nik Green (drums) is slightly different from last time I saw them when Chris Merriman was with them on guitar.
Rooster is such a great band front-man, always having something to say, never fazed by anything and as a band Midnight Wire produce some great indie songs. Good enough to encourage a bit of dancing, particularly during Shake It Baby. As is the norm during Excuses, the band stops and Rooster asks someone to sing the next line. He picks out Ali from FKA who does a fine job. The set closes with the upbeat Never Gonna Leave LA, another fine song that leaves Rooster rolling on the floor accidentally kicking drinks over.
We are told their debut album Crossing The Rubicon is due to be released on 16th May with a launch gig at Streetlife, but prior to that there is an EP launch on April 5th at the Firebug. A couple of great gigs to look forward to.
Photo Keith Jobey
There is a definite party mood tonight. It is Flying Kangaroo Alliance singer Meri Everitt’s birthday tomorrow and the band, guitarist Ali Findlay, bassist Keeley Knight, drummer Ivan Hunt and band mascot Little Kangaroo are out to have fun. So before they begin their set there are the birthday necessities to get out of the way. Birthday cake is passed around and party games ‘pass the parcel’ and ‘stamp on balloons for money’ are enjoyed.
On stage it’s what we have come to expect from FKA, competent playing, Meri’s passionate singing, and that warm, friendly, come closer, approachable attitude. We also get the usual selection of catchy songs. Songs I’m yet to tire of hearing or seeing played live such as What It Takes which just keeps sounding better and better. There’s a new song (debuted at their gig in Derby last night) Songs Of Peace, another from Meri’s back catalogue but hey, with such a great back catalogue why not raid it. It wouldn’t be right not to give them an outlet via FKA.
The fine tunes are underpinned with great lyrics. Meri pours so much feeling and emotion into her lyrics. She writes from the heart. She chooses to lay bare her personnel story for us to read. A story that isn’t all nice but song writing is a channel she uses to free herself of her demons. Incidentally, today was International Woman’s day, very apt.
There is also a nice selection of home made merchandise on offer ranging from key rings to tie-dyed hand painted t-shirts and an official live bootleg CD. As well as the vinyl single. Oh… the business cards awesome.
