London Irish Showcase

Three bands took to the stage, first up Kyle John Suckling, followed by A Plastic Rose with the night rounded off by Reader’s Wives.

To be fair to the other bands, I had come down to Kilburn to catch up with the guys from Reader’s Wives and spent much of my time talking to Disko, we both share a nicotine addiction, which meant not really being in the venue too much.

But I did catch the sounds emanating from Kyle John Suckling, but didn’t get a chance to catch up with him. The acoustic guitar and soul searching lyric were well received in the venue it would be good to get to hear more.

Kyle John Suckling

A Plastic Rose, I did get a chance to catch a few of their songs and even meet up with them afterwards briefly, are on the verge of releasing a single. They gave me a copy to listen to and I enjoyed the one track CD, Kids Don’t Behave Like This to the extent that I played it continually through to a good way up the Barnet Bypass from Kilburn High Road, thats quite a few times in non-geographic terms. I’ll be getting a review of these guys from Belfast up soon.

A Plastic Rose

Reader’s Wives, well I could say the set was great and I enjoyed the music, but you know I am going to write that anyway, so what else did I find out?

Reader's Wives live @ Peter Parker’s Rock & Roll Club by Daniel D'Souza

They dragged themselves out of bed for an early morning flight to London and with Chris heading off to Berlin after the show and Doug and Niall heading back on the 06:00 flight back to Dublin you wouldn’t have had any idea as they took to the stage. Since I saw them late last year, they have become an even tighter outfit and even more natural on stage, making them a superb act to see live. I’m pleased to say I wasn’t the only one singing along to Sexually Attracted to Myself last night, as Niall insisted we all get involved, if only they had given out hand mirrors as we arrived…

In a nice touch, and these really are welcoming guys, it isn’t just a PR stunt, Niall had created a brief reprise to mark the death of Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse), this personal moment wasn’t extravagant and seemed perfectly in tune with the evening.

The ten piece set was played to a mainly new audience, who immediately took to the humour and output from the guys.

Chris continues to confound as the lead guitarist, who manages to appear to play two distinct roles at once, both lead and supporting rhythm to Nialls rhythm guitar. Doug managed to find some space in the set, to unleash his powerful drumming ability. Disko sprang to life on stage as the heavy bass rumbled throughout the evening.

With two songs to go, the audience were ushered closer to the stage, upon which Reader’s Wives in the seemingly innocent step of ‘now we’ll go acoustic’ immediately racked up the tempo and the final song You Must Have Been Crazy was met with demands for an encore.

It was a great round up to the whole evening and when they come back to London in May, it would be a good move to get to see them.

With their soon to be released EP, Victor’s Mother, Juliet marking the transition of the band from Nialls previous material, their album, which is taking shape and due out for release late summer, it should be a good year for the band. An old contact from Disko, Ger McDonnell, is engineering the release, I am looking forward to hearing what they have come up with.

Having been moved out of their old home in Dublin, Disko is moving to London and Chris is now dividing his time between Germany and Ireland. I didn’t check if Doug and Niall have a new home, but they did have on clean shirts, so I guess all is well. I expect as a result the Reader’s Wives trail will quickly start to extend over a broader base, than the home town of Dublin and the odd sojourn to London.

I had the delight of watching a couple of video interviews after the gig and those Balcony.tv clips really are as they seem. On the interview couch it is easy to see why these guys get on so well, making life for an interviewer a little complex to say the least. I hope the two interviews they carried out get released, it was particularly unsettling for the second interview team, from SeeSound to find JackO from Krakatoa take Chris’s place and answer the final interview question.

By comparison, my life is a breeze, I just turn up, have a few cigarettes and watch some great bands, then get home to recapture what I saw.

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Readers Wives photo credit Daniel D'Souza

By the time the band had taken to the stage, the narrow venue was full as people waited in anticipation for the gig to start and suddenly Reader’s Wives were blasting their way through Light up. Niall O has great stage presence and his ability to combine self deprecating humour with serious lyrical content is superb to watch. Sexually Attracted to myself is brought to life by Niall Os’ stage craft.

Reader's Wives by Daniel D'Souza

At this point we were invited to raise our glasses and expectant of a sermon, the audience followed suit, to which Niall O merely wished us cheers and the band played on. This is a band who are in complete control of their music and performance. The staccato guitar and drum need precision timing to work and Reader’s Wives have it down to a tee. Guitars stopping precisely in time and recommencing right on cue.

Doug on drums and Disko on Bass keep a high tempo as the songs demand and are then able to control the slower pieces working really well together. On the guitars Niall O and Chris keep absolute relevance to the mood. The whole perception is of a band who really enjoy their craft and are determined to put out the best of themselves in performance with the skills to do this in a way that makes it all seem so naturally easy. Annabella and Victor’s mother Juliet were played with the band in full flow and confident mood.

Reader's Wives live @ Peter Parker’s Rock & Roll Club by Daniel D'Souza

By the time we had reached the end of the set, A sight for sore eyes, the audience were completely enthralled by the gift of the blarney stone that is Niall O. It was a fantastic set list which encompassed pretty well the essence of Reader’s Wives. It is of no surprise that the following is loyal and rapidly expanding and I would most certainly recommend getting out to see them when possible and in the mean time grabbing hold of their new EP, Secrecy & Sex .

I didn’t get much of an opportunity to meet the band before the gig, as I was stuck in traffic on the way in and afterwards I was able to grab a couple of minutes with Niall and Chris before they had to grab their kit from the stage. Thanks guys, great evening and hope to catch you again soon. For more on Reader’s Wives.

My blackjack and fruit-salad are perfectly safe…

Reader' Wives - Secrecy and Sex

Sexually attracted to myself, is a lilting piece of work which provides a breadth of humour, superb instrumentation and real quality of musicianship as the slightly haunting echos bounce against the crystal clear vocals.

Advertising Heroin is constantly driven forward by the persistent beat of bass and drum, which suit superbly the lyric as the chaos of a life as an addict reaches its stuttering conclusion.

I don’t need to be seduced took me in to a smoke filled jazz room as the pace is slowed down once again. This is a complex piece of work that Reader’s Wives handle with ease.

The acoustic Dublin is all Pubs and Cranes is for me the most challenging track, as we are taken through the diversity of life in the city full of opportunity and extreme poverty.

I know I’m not your hero anymore uses, (I think) a muted megaphone to deliver the lyrics as the band reflect on a life that could have been so different. The use of a distorted voice of Niall H. gives the distinct feeling that the band is talking to a far more general audience. Without being condemnatory the question is clearly posed, do we all really do the best we can, or is the price of change more than we want to pay?

The EP, Secrecy and Sex is a great collection of work, as Reader’s Wives display their musical and songwriting abilities and far more importantly a genuine affinity for the work. There is absolutely no doubt this is an EP Reader’s Wives wanted to release, rather than being a release to meet a deadline.

Now available on . Thanks guys and hope to catch you next week in London.

Follow the link for more about Reader’s Wives.