Written by Catherine Burke from BHONE.co.uk
I'm not a big fan of Centre Stage as a rock music venue, there's something a little too clean, tidy and 'nice' about it. Don't get me wrong, their comedy nights and acoustic music nights work beautifully with a cabaret style seating arrangement and air-conditioning, but when I watch rock, I prefer a slightly sweatier, darker setting where your feet stick to the floor slightly. When I've seen rockier bands there in the past, they've generally ditched the seating in hope that the standing audience will move around a bit, and dare I say, dance?! This would work with a good audience number, but generally it's resulted in the place looking half empty even with over 100 a people in there.
It seemed odd therefore that on Tuesday night the The Velvet Hearts, supported by Ethel, chose to leave table and chairs out. There were fewer tables and chairs out than I've ever seen before at this venue however, and they were all taken by the time Ethel started at 9pm with a few extras stood at the bar and at the sides.
This wasn't an ideal audience or setting for Ethel. They really would suit a smaller, sweatier venue with people stood up and jumping around. They're the type of band that can feed off of an excited audience and a sombre looking, seated audience (there almost entirely to watch the main act play a completely different style of music) wasn't going to give them anything to play off. Ethel are like a slightly rockier version of young pop-rock bands like McFly or Busted. This isn't supposed to be an insult in any way; I like what they do. They are fresh-faced, they wear low-slung guitars, black suits, un-tucked white shirts and white trainers and they jump about thrashing out catchy pop-rock tunes with boyish charm.
They performed quite a short set, the highlight for me being 'Boy Genius' which is a really catchy riff heavy number with some funky bass playing in parts and well executed stops. Planned stops throughout their set were all pretty tight fooling the unsuspecting listener into thinking that they were pretty tight when in fact, throughout the rest of the set, their timing was a bit sloppy. This is unusual for Ethel; when I've seen them before they've been pretty tight and altogether bang on. Unfortunately for Ethel, although the audience were polite and fairly attentive, they weren't really into it. Although still enjoyable, seeing them at this gig in particular was not seeing them at their best.
Anyway, back to the seating arrangements, and here comes the clever bit... As more people arrived, they had to stand by the bar and by the toilets and eventually, as the main act of the evening came on, people stood at the front prompting everyone that had previously been sitting to stand up. Clever stuff!! And, with tables and chairs in the way and the majority of the audience stood up, Centre Stage looked positively buzzing and a really good vibe was present ready for the Velvet Hearts to take to the stage. And, they definitely didn't disappoint living up to all expectations and hype that has building around their name in the last few of months.
What initially strikes you with the Velvet Hearts is that these guys are really enjoying themselves. This is the type of enjoyment that comes with years of performing together, knowing that you're pretty good and having the confidence to know that your audience are going to like what they hear; or the enjoyment that comes from being in a fresh new ensemble that is still exciting and new; or, as in this case, a combination of the two!
The Velvet Hearts don't sound like any one band in particular, they take pinches of bands that no-one can fail to like and mix them together to create a fantastic sound. It's rocky, bluesy, funky and really, really catchy all at the same time and is the type of music that can easily reach across age boundaries and could quickly achieve commercial success. They have occasional hints of an up tempo Gomez, Maroon 5, the Gin Blossoms or the Commitments or Blues Brothers (I realise that this might not be taken as the compliment that's intended,) and altogether achieve a very full and likeable sound.
John James Newman fronts the band on acoustic guitar and vocals and he does so with enthusiasm and great stage presence. He is very easy to watch and has a big and very powerful voice which is complimented perfectly by (probably overlooked by most, stood at the back) Jamie Bruce on backing vocals. Jamie has easily a good enough voice to front his own band but adds infinitely to the Velvet Hearts overall sound. He has a full and husky tone to his voice adds really good harmonies and echoes and is especially useful doubling up with the lead vocals in the falsetto sections (in 'Seratonin') to thicken the sound. I liked that he didn't look awkward at the back being the only one on stage without an instrument and resisted the urge to pick up the tambourine or a shaky egg that most backing singers are embarrassed into playing!
The Velvet Hearts opened with their rockiest, bounciest number 'Heart is Breaking' which a couple of days later, and admittedly a couple of CD listens later is going round and round in my head. And then, very professionally, with no intros went into a big mellow and beautiful jazzy tenor sax solo to start the second number. Wow! The sax was being played by Steve Jones who featured mainly throughout the gig on keys but swapped across to the sax when required, and boy can he play! I was amazed with his ease of switching between the two instruments playing sax parts and then, when not blowing, putting a few jazz fills in on the keys within the same song.
The Velvet Hearts seem to know exactly when to leave the bass out and tone down the drums, and more importantly, when to bring it back in for optimum effect. This in itself added such dynamics to the whole performance, and I'm pleased to say, they even resisted the big cheesy Phil Collins style drum fill when they brought the pace down for their slower rock ballad. The rhythm section was solid throughout the entire performance; Oli Richmond-Jones' on the drums may be recognised from playing within the local music scene for years in bands such as Con 23 and Denzil, and Lydia Cascarino-Close is a fantastic and very solid yet funky bass player. It's good to see a female bass player that can really play, girls generally look sexy with a bass round their neck, but they're rarely this good too!!
And finally I come to the electric guitarist, Quest Quinton. To be honest, I wasn't sure what he added to start off. Obviously he played a few tasteful and well executed guitar solos, however is that enough to warrant a sixth band member? So, I listened a bit harder, and actually, he adds quite a lot. As far as electric guitarists in bands go, he's very understated - this band wouldn't suit a big wangy guitar over everything, but what Quinton did do was add some delicate and sometimes intricate fills throughout the songs. Most people probably don't even notice them, they might not even miss them if they weren't there, but as with the keys and sax fills they're like extra cherries on top of an perfectly iced cake.
The Velvet Hearts are clearly a very good, tight band of fantastic and capable musicians. They've pooled together a set of not only catchy songs, but songs that vary in style throughout the set enough to keep you not only interested, but wanting more. They've got a packed diary right throughout the summer including a couple more gigs back at the Centre Stage. Make sure you get down to see them.