Katie's Guide to Unsigned and Now Defunct Indie Bands of the Noughties

Perhaps it's the prospect of moving back home again soon that's reminding me of school days (I started this post in the summer but, with all the Social Programme business, I never got to finish it, until now...), but recently I've been oddly nostalgic about the bands I used to follow around grotty north-London pubs. They provided the soundtrack to my late teens, when I was a mega-nerd at school by day but hanging out with (in my mind at least) rock stars by night. When I say follow, I mean it: some of these bands I saw at least once a month, dragging my friends along, dancing like crazy and taking terrible quality videos to relive their sets later. Most of these bands got bored of never getting their big break, split over 'artistic differences', or in some cases got overwhelmed by impending fame and quietly retreated. Whatever way, all are now long gone, but live on in my mind and in my iTunes. The whole reason I first started in radio was to promote the bands I loved (to little avail - probably because very few people listen to student radio!) While the arts took over indie rock in my broadcasts, it's only fair that the music gets a guest spot on my blog, so here's just a taste of some of my old favourites.

5. The Tacticians

As I recall The Tacticians found me on MySpace. At the time, I was writing for a local fanzine (which promptly collapsed before my second issue was published). I used the power and influence this position clearly afforded me to wangle my way in to review their single launch. Then I started seeing them every month at least; they were really lovely guys, brothers Joe and Ollie, and their music was so much fun. They started dedicating Hardcore Porn to me (because the protagonist is called Katie, ok?) which garnered funny looks but made 16 year old me feel special. I had my 18th birthday at one of their gigs (Pete Doherty - who I have to keep reminding myself is not dead - was supposed to be playing after them, so they said, but got arrested earlier that evening stealing a car, so we'll never know). I even got a thank you in their album sleeve. Unfortunately, the album sounded horribly flat, all the energy from their live performances somehow lost. It flopped and the boys were never heard from again.

4. Captain Black

I didn't discover Captain Black until I'd already left London for the musical black hole that is Bath, but still managed to see them once when they came down to play at Porter Bar. They don't count as a band I stalked then, but I put them in the same category as they were an unsigned band whose music I really loved and did my best to share. One of my best experiences of using the university radio station to promote music was when I cajoled the music team into putting their single Sister onto the playlist and it being so popular that it ended up in our top songs of the year Freshers Week playlists, blasted out again and again across campus to the new arrivals.

3. The Mules

I first encountered The Mules at an unforgettable night at Nambucca - my favourite north-London venue - at a night called Toilet, which is fitting as the Oxford five-piece apparently met in a public bathroom. The Mules say they “enjoy both kinds of music, country and western”, and this way of story telling clearly had an effect on their lyrics, but their songs pack much more of a punch than any country and western act. With hits like Polly-O and Tule Lake, taken from their recently released album, Save Your Face, they worked the crowd up into a throbbing, sweaty frenzy, leaving us feeling euphoric and the floor so wet it becomes a safety hazard. Naturally, it was an experience I wanted to repeat, so I returned to see The Mules a few times, but they weren't the most regular giggers, sadly.

They later went on to curate Pick Your Own, which resulted in an album featuring the likes of Johnny Flynn, Noah and the Whale, and even  Emmy the Great covering a Mules song.





2. Crash Convention

Described by Carl Barat as a "cross between The Pistols and The Cheeky Girls", Crash Convention were the band I was most sure were destined for success. From the first time I heard Perfect Constable on Virgin Xtreme (my favourite radio station, which like my favourite bands, no longer exists as it didn't like playing adverts and therefore made no money :s), I was hooked. They worked The Libertines' 'two guys one mic' thing but more punky and The Godfather influenced, and their live sets were riotous. They were being hyped as one of the bands to see in London and won an XFM unsigned competition just weeks before 'artistic differences' got to them. I still play their tracks when I need to get pumped (usually after a long day of essay writing), as they're like a shot of pure adrenaline.

1. The Guilty Hands/God Love You For a Liar/Plastik

The band I first met as Plastik way back in 2004 have a special place in my heart as the first indie band I saw live and the one I went to see most often. Back in Year 11, I went with a few friends to ULU (University of London Students Union) for an unsigned band competition, and was captivated by Plastik's mixture of hauntingly beautiful, poetic lyrics and incredibly catchy tunes. They sung about a town lynching a paedophile, a reluctant threesome, or a man keeping a deceased lover in his bedroom because he can't admit that she's dead - more like fascinating psychological studies than pop songs. In a year, I must have seen them at least 10 times. Later, they became God Love You For A Liar, to reflect the influence of black and white melodramas on the band and the incorporation of a fourth member; then when one of the original members left and the name GLYFAL started to feel a bit too cumbersome, they became The Guilty Hands. Over this time, they released several EPs and singles - including Razor (below) which was voted Single of the Week on URB - and had their music featured on Channel 5 adverts (it was a very surreal moment when I first heard Up on the Hill on an ad for NCIS!) but never found mass appeal. I suppose mass audiences aren't looking for such complicated, and sometimes disturbing, songs, but to me, they were perfect.

Singer/songwriter and lead guitarist Gareth is now performing solo as Vyvyn Howl, with a new EP out very soon (I have a copy already, it's incredibly catchy). Follow +Vyvyn Howl or @vyvynhowl on Twitter.

A slightly different story...

My Red Cell
One of my other favourite bands of this period was My Red Cell, but they were in a completely different league. They were played on XFM and MTV, written about in the NME, above playing grotty pubs. I instantly fell in love with their debut, 13 in My 31, back in 2005, and listened to it again and again ever since, but My Red Cell split and singer/songwriter/guitarist formed Innercity Pirates (who are pretty great too but shortly disappeared).  After six years of pleading from fans, Russell finally relented and played as My Red Cell again for one night only at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff in October 2011, which turned out to be the most exciting gig I have ever been too. Six years of build up had left me pretty excited and I wasn't alone - the club was packed with fans who'd travelled from far and wide to finally see them play again, and we all bounced around like crazy shouting along to all the lyrics while Russ oozed charisma and pulled out all the rockstar moves. I ended up spending the entire night partying with the band and friends - 16 year old Katie's dream come true!! Russell is now working on a new project, which I'm eagerly anticipating. I'll keep you posted.