Mounties at XOYO
XOYO, 15 April 2015
First off, XOYO is a new club to me. Just a stone's throw from Old Street roundabout (bizarrely it's actually opposite a boy's secondary school), it reminded me of the old grotty venues that smelled of horrible incense I remember going to see bands in back in the 1990s.
They also annoyingly took my paper ticket (I like to collect them) which is always a black mark in my book. Then, once we descended the steps to the basement venue, it became apparent that this was a place not usually used for rock shows (the stage couldn't have been tinier) and unless there was going to be a rush of latecomers, this show was going to be woefully under-attended. It wasn't a surprise that the band Mounties, despite being something of a Canadian supergroup (comprising of Hawksley Workman, Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat and Ryan Dahle of Limblifter), would only have a small following here but while I have no idea how popular Hot Hot Heat and Limblifter are in the UK, I do know that Hawksley has no problem selling out venues like The Borderline and the Union Chapel (some of his previous shows in London I've detailed here on this blog). It was quite sad to see really.
We also had to endure one of the worst support acts I've seen in quite a while: a bunch of posh teens who had delusions of rock grandeur called 20 Cent Dreams. The singer, in full on rock stadium poseur moves, tried to get the half empty venue to sing along and clap and make some noise, all the while producing a sort of mediorce Feeder-style sound. It was eye-rollingly bad, especially since at one point the singer attempted to thank the audience by insulting them: we were good to put up with younger music that we probably didn't quite get. If this band makes it I will truly lose all faith in humanity.
Thankfully a few more did turn up before Mounties took the stage so, while not filled out, at least there was a crowd in front of the stage and even a few obviously excited fans (Bays pointed out one young guy who knew all the words and was really getting into it all at the front, telling us "I really like this guy in particular").
Although his vocals sound quite prominent on their one album, Thrash Rock Legacy, Hawksley is primarily the drummer in this group and his drumkit was placed at the front of the stage. I've of course seen him play drums before because he often does so during his own concerts but I've never seen him drum with a full band and it turns out he's a fantastic drummer who is amazing to watch. One guy in the audience even enthusiatically shouted out to him that he was an awesome drummer, to which he amusingly replied in the most laid back way possible, "Thanks, I've been practicing." Because what he was doing was so complicated and full-on, at one point during the show he asked if they could skip the next track, presumably because it was a fast one, in favour of a slightly more laid back song, giving him enough time to recover.
The big surprise was Steve Bays who it turns out is a really cool frontman and a great keyboard player to boot (and had a fantastic head of big curly hair). The main focus of the show was really on him as the main singer and he was entertaining throughout, managing to be funny and laid back inbetween songs and energetic, quirky and charismatic when performing. Along with the main trio of Workman, Bays and Dahle, the band were also supplemented with a bass player and another keyboard player, so there was a fantastic wall of sound, sometimes quite electronic and other times quite heavy rock and even pure pop on some songs, but it always edgy and interesting and fun. Watching them it was hard to understand how they were playing such a tiny venue that was only three quarters full but then Hawksley Workman himself has always had the same problem: he seems too good to not be more popular but I can't deny it's a nice little secret us few dedicated fans have.
At the end the cool guy at the front requested they play Headphones, the single from the album (at least in Canada), a joyful owe to the love of music and listening to songs "from the minute I'm up till the minute I go to bed". It's an upbeat and playful singalong and a grooving beast of a song that sounds very 80s but hugely modern too and not only is a perfect end to the show but also has a great message to leave us with. I can't imagine Mounties will continue on after this, I'm sure they'll all go back and continue with their other bands and projects (Hawksley has even just announced a new solo single), but it was undoubtedly fun to see them all together just this once, it's just a shame more people haven't discovered them.
They also annoyingly took my paper ticket (I like to collect them) which is always a black mark in my book. Then, once we descended the steps to the basement venue, it became apparent that this was a place not usually used for rock shows (the stage couldn't have been tinier) and unless there was going to be a rush of latecomers, this show was going to be woefully under-attended. It wasn't a surprise that the band Mounties, despite being something of a Canadian supergroup (comprising of Hawksley Workman, Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat and Ryan Dahle of Limblifter), would only have a small following here but while I have no idea how popular Hot Hot Heat and Limblifter are in the UK, I do know that Hawksley has no problem selling out venues like The Borderline and the Union Chapel (some of his previous shows in London I've detailed here on this blog). It was quite sad to see really.
Thankfully a few more did turn up before Mounties took the stage so, while not filled out, at least there was a crowd in front of the stage and even a few obviously excited fans (Bays pointed out one young guy who knew all the words and was really getting into it all at the front, telling us "I really like this guy in particular").
Although his vocals sound quite prominent on their one album, Thrash Rock Legacy, Hawksley is primarily the drummer in this group and his drumkit was placed at the front of the stage. I've of course seen him play drums before because he often does so during his own concerts but I've never seen him drum with a full band and it turns out he's a fantastic drummer who is amazing to watch. One guy in the audience even enthusiatically shouted out to him that he was an awesome drummer, to which he amusingly replied in the most laid back way possible, "Thanks, I've been practicing." Because what he was doing was so complicated and full-on, at one point during the show he asked if they could skip the next track, presumably because it was a fast one, in favour of a slightly more laid back song, giving him enough time to recover.
At the end the cool guy at the front requested they play Headphones, the single from the album (at least in Canada), a joyful owe to the love of music and listening to songs "from the minute I'm up till the minute I go to bed". It's an upbeat and playful singalong and a grooving beast of a song that sounds very 80s but hugely modern too and not only is a perfect end to the show but also has a great message to leave us with. I can't imagine Mounties will continue on after this, I'm sure they'll all go back and continue with their other bands and projects (Hawksley has even just announced a new solo single), but it was undoubtedly fun to see them all together just this once, it's just a shame more people haven't discovered them.
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