18/9/2010 Eureka Machines & Jackdaw 4 @ The Borderline

Subject	Eureka Machines & Jackdaw 4 @ The Borderline
PostedDate	9/18/2010
	On Sunday one of my mates dropped round at Dark Towers. He asked if I'd been to see the Pope while he was in the country? I had to say "Yes, I saw him last night actually!" and showed him photographic evidence: I was brought up as a Catholic in case you were wondering - hence my mate's question, but I rejected all religion when I was in my teens and haven't missed it in the slightest. OK, so it's not quite the Pope. It's actually 'Pope Christopher of Oop North', but that's good enough for me. You can tell he's The Pope because it says 'Pope Hat' on his hat - just in case there was any doubt. The venue was the Borderline in the West End - which has had a bit of a re-vamp since I was last there - the club that is, not the West End. Although half the area seems to be being knocked down at the moment due to Crossrail... The reason I was there was to see one of the best live rock acts in the UK - the mighty Eureka Machines. The music is pretty good, with the Wildhearts seeming to be quite an influence, and the band are all excellent musicians - but there is more to this band than that. Their debut album 'Do Or Die' is terrific, but you really have to see this band live to 'get' what they are about. Eureka Machines don't just get up on stage and play the songs - they give a performance. It's not just thrown together either, you can tell quite a bit of rehearsal has gone into their stage moves and shape throwing, poses, etc. This is probably the best band in the country to watch - and you really have to watch them and pay attention to get the most out of their performance. They are highly entertaining!  Eureka Machines have something else which makes them stand out from the crowd - frontman Chris has a great line in banter! He could probably do standup if he wanted and he keeps as amused with a constant barrage of one-liners - he's at least as funny as Ginger Wildheart. Unlike some bands who make a big thing out of image and appearance, the music and the standard of playing is well up to scratch with these boys from Leeds - if only they could play in 'That London' more often. The night's headline band is Jackdaw4. Guess what? Yes - there's 5 of them. There were only 4 people in Silver Ginger 5 so... As they take to the stage I can't help thinking 'kinnell - Glenn Hughes has been at the pies since I saw him at High Voltage a couple of months ago!' This is the current band of ex-Grip, Honeycrack, Sugarplumfairies, and briefly Wildhearts keyboard player Willie Dowling - looking rather different these days to his time sporting a 'Kegan' perm in The Grip. He's got a good band and he can write catchy 'pop' tunes, but it's all a bit too 'nice' for me - I didn't really get into his Wildhearts offshoot band Honeycrack either. Jackdaw4 are a good band if you like that sort of thing, but I prefer my rock music to have a harder grittier edge - so I don't think I'd go and see them again unless like tonight they had a support band I wanted to see.  Unfortunately, the Borderline is one of those clubs that makes the bands finish early so they can throw everyone out to make way for a club after.  It's all over by 10.30 - which isn't the sort of time you are ready to go home on a Saturday night - so we head over to the nearby and much more welcoming Intrepid Fox for a few more beers.