BTDTGTTS-Silversun Pickups May 24, 2007

Hello, people. It was gonna take me a lot to end my blogging hiatus for revision, exams and that. But last night I witnessed something incredible. Silversun Pickups at Water Rats London Wednesday 23rd of April. I am not alone, a brief look over at the Drowned In Sound Message board today:

amyblue: “what a show… what a fucking good show…”

seeingotherpeople: “rock my fucking face! that was brilliant.”

weaklarger: “s/spickups waterrats show last night was amazing – loads of scary fan boys at the front though.

didn’t stay for windmill though”

I must say I thought I had missed Windmill. And SSPU coming on at 9pm I thought they where headliners. The support support act The Midway State who are from Toronto where not bad but could be briefly summed up as a Canadian Coldplay. But to be honest I don’t care, they would have only been anticlimax to the evening. This is a band that has stolen shows from Wolfmother and Snowpatrol on their own tours. They are one of the most intense bands you are ever likley to see. Brian made humerous banter with Nikki and the crowd, receiving a large applause for saying “this is our first gig outside of North America”, in between massive bouts of bringing the rock. Keyboardist didnt miss a beat inhaling a cigarette during pauses in the songs. The drummer never stopped, his crash cymbal now traditionnally at armslength making for some dramatic looking rolls. Nikki hopped around in the corner, while Mr Aubert displayed why he one’s of my favourite alternitive guitarist, the sounds coming out of his epiphone varying between a twinkerling delay to a roaring army of bees. The dude has two DD6 delay pedals, one for U2ey effects, and another for manageable feedback effects.

Must give a shoutout to the crowd and the venue, for a US buzzband their where very few scenesters, or scary moshers one or two Japanese art students but they end up everywhere. And Water Rats is a great little venue, at first sight a friendly pub with welcoming sofas and chairs greets you, past the bar and up the stairs the place opens up into a large (but not impersonal) music venue with two levels so everyone gets a great view. Plus for central London the booze is the opposite of extortionate.

I would not have been anywhere else in the world. And at only £6 a ticket Liverpool fans should just feel embarassed. Silversun Pickups are a band that just love to perform, whether that be a Stadium or a sweaty little club; they will rock your world.

Luckily you can still see them!

UK Tour

Celebrity Spotting: Christian Stevenson (presenter of Channel 5’s R.A.D here to see the “greatest fucking band in the world”)

Media Update

Only because they’ve been embarrasingly under publised here, when I thought they would make a White-Stripes-like leap to fame.

• NME say yes to Carnavas
• The Guardian say yay

Apparently the album has come out in the UK now. Shame I’ve already imported it.

They also did a greta little interview back in the US here:

MP3: Silversun Pickups- Lazy Eye [highly recommended]

MP3: Silversun Pickups- Well Thought Out Twinkles [highly recommended]

Website: silversunpickups.com

Myspace: silversun pickups don’t need anymore friends