Few unsigned indie bands get around as much as Ninetynine do. The Melbourne-based quartet have acquired a reputation as citizens of the world, and this is backed up by their periodic self-funded overseas tours. This year, shortly after getting their new album out, they packed their vibraphone and stack of Casio keyboards and did a tour of Japan, Europe and the British Isles. Being in London at the time, I went along to see them.
The gig was at the Metro Club, a small nightclub-type venue down a flight of stairs in Oxford St., Soho, replete with black-painted walls (except for the one covered with mirrored tiles), dim lighting and a bar selling bottled water and a small range of beer.
One of the interesting things about seeing familiar bands in unfamiliar places is what supports they will be playing with. In the past, Ninetynine have played on tour with everybody from pop bands to metal bands, though tonight, indie-pop was to be the order of the day. The first support band was meant to be a band called Kicker, who were described as being inspired by the C86 movement (think Sarah Records, The Field Mice, &c.), but they pulled out for some reason, and were replaced by an outfit named The Projects. They were pretty ,much within the indie garage band formula, with a fairly even split of boys and girls, casual attire, guitars and keyboards (one Casiotone and a Novation analogue synth; perhaps English garage bands do use the sort of kit that gets mentioned in Future Music and is usually associated with dance music?), and short poppy songs with verses and choruses and spiky guitar riffs. They were quite competent, but I got the feeling that they're still finding their sound.
Soon after The Projects finished, the next band, The Lollies, got on stage, plugged their instruments in and started playing pretty much straight away, without the usual half-hour set-up/drink-buying time that you get in Australian venues. Perhaps it's a cultural thing, or possibly a reflection on the somewhat limited range at the bar?
Anyway, The Lollies were pretty good. They're two Canadians and an American who met in London and formed a band, and they're quite good, in a punk-edged somewhat riot-grrrlish power-pop sort of way. From the moment the main vocalist, Kate St. Clair, went on, attired in pigtails, fishnets, a cartoonish-looking vinyl miniskirt, a Powerpuff Girls T-shirt and lots of button badges, one knew to expect attitude, and we got it in spades. They varied between melodic pop songs and punk numbers, with Jane nimbly playing melodies on her bass and Kate windmilling her arm to strike chords on the guitar, and often finishing songs kicking the air. Their songs were somewhat sardonic pop numbers, about things like office romances, imaginary boyfriends, and scenesterism. They ended their set with a somewhat New Order-esque number titled Happy, lambasting aspirational consumerism ("happiness is a myth / dreamt up by advertising men / to sell you mortgages / sports cars and deodorant"), and enumerating all the things that won't make you happy. Anyway, they rocked; I ended up picking up their album, and am quite pleased that I did.
Then after that, Ninetynine came on. They were playing with a reduced lineup, with Iain having stayed at home, but they managed to scale quite well. After some fiddling with a dodgy lead, they started the show in the usual way, launching into their 1-minute opening piece, The Conference. From there they played mostly new songs, with a few oldies thrown in(Mesopotamia, Wöekenender, Super 8 and closing with Polar Angle). They played with their usual tightness and energy, and Cameron was characteristically animated, pounding the drums like a maniac, occasionally letting loose a war-cry in the process, and at one stage, helping Laura along with her vocal duties. The audience, who had by then crowded fairly closely around the stage, loved the show, applauding wildly after each song.
(The audience, incidentally, looked similar in composition to Melbourne audiences. There was a contingent of blokes with sideburns and fur-lined parkas, and one or two people with unusual hairdos, but most looked fairly unexceptional. In total, there were maybe 50 people in the audience, give or take a dozen.)
My only criticism of the gig was that the quality of the sound mixing seemed somewhat down from earlier Ninetynine gigs in Melbourne; in places, it sounded a bit muddy, with vocals and loops being at times overwhelmed by the rest of the mix. Perhaps it's a consequence of them not having their usual sound engineer at the mixing deck, or possibly the Metro's PA isn't all that good.
After the gig, I caught the Tube back with the people I went to see it with. (In London, gigs seem to finish earlier than in Melbourne, while public transport is still running; perhaps it's a cultural thing, possibly a consequence of pubs closing at 11 here?) Both my companions (neither of whom had been to a Ninetynine gig before) were impressed; one of them compared Laura's voice to that of a certain Icelandic singer whom she had seen performing a few years earlier.
When a band play on tour to unfamiliar audiences, it is different to gigs at home to a scene of established fans; the band only get one chance to make an impression before they move on to the next city and the next audience. Judging by the audience's reactions, Ninetynine have made quite a good impression in London. Perhaps next time they come to town, they'll be playing to bigger venues and audiences.
